WDW Trip Report Day 3 12/11
12/11 Thursday Day 3
Up at 9:30, met the Mouseforless gang at the Contemporary for the meet - it was really fun. A welcome treat bag, a nametag, and really friendly people, we toured the monorail resorts. The names I remember are Jud, Lindsay, Mike, Binnie...ugh, there were more, but I'm terrible with names! This started the trend of recognizing the same faces (and sometimes hairstyles) all over the parks and resorts. That was kinda nice - a quick reminder that there was a group of a thousand fellow Disneyites. It rained all morning, and hard - I used my umbrella to get to the bus, but after that, all the monorail resorts were inside, and we stayed dry while the storm raged outside. the Mousefest 101 wasn't really what I thought it would be - I thought it was going to be an intro to what the convention was for the newbies, and it was mostly regulars, sharing jokes and such. As an orientation for first timers, it was kind of lacking - it would have been better to have newbies only, and a few greeters or hosts circulating the room to introduce themselves to the fresh meat, asking if they had any questions, etc. There was a question time at the end, but there were only 2 - and one of them was me. Unless you were not shy AT ALL, there was no way someone was going to stand up in a crowd of 300 to ask what may be considered a stupid question.
After the 101 and short reception (free food and energy drinks), I forgot my Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party card back at the room, so I headed back, and the road was lined with vultures all on one side...were they trying to tell us something? Into MK for the Dole Whip meet, and again, it was mostly the regulars talking amongst themselves - I found some Mouseforlessers, but it proved tough to break through the cliques already formed (much like munches). This happened so often, that I cut out about half of the meets and events I was planning on going to - I'd rather ride rides or shop than sit around and talk. That's another thing that separated me from the group - this was only my second trip to WDW, and most of them were old hands at it, so much so that they didn't really have the urgency to do Disney Commando like I did. By the end of the week, I had slowed down a bit, but my inner kid wanted to go play, not sit with the adults. I did the Tiki Room, which I liked (much shorter than the original), Pirates (who doesn't love Pirates?), and made my first purchase on the merchandise card - stuff for Dan.
My inner child sated for the moment, I decided to do a photo meet - which I really loved. Tim from the Magic in Pixels was funny, knowledgeable, and really engaging (when we could hear him over the castle parade). He gave a lot of good tips, and inspired me to take my camera off Auto for the duration of the trip. I had mentioned Flickr as my preferred online backup source, and someone asked what my name was on there. I told them, but also mentioned that it wasn't exactly kid-friendly most of the time. Once I told them what I do, I regretted it. This is not the crowd to mention anything that's not completely mainstream. Ok, I'll be PG for the rest of the trip, but I don't like having to censor myself or being able to share who I am.
Got my MVMCP band, and headed for the rides. Small world, Pooh, Snow White (much longer than DL), then the Haunted Mansion. Wow, that's a lot more macabre! The story definitely is more clearly defined than DL - there's no doubt that she's murderous, and that the groom met a wicked fate by her hand. Next, I headed off to Toontown to meet Mickey and Minnie, and though the line was short for Minnie, Mickey was about 30 minutes - once I got there, the pictures taken for Photopass sucked (I think, I haven't seen them yet). The cast-members in Toontown told me about the sale coming up on Saturday - that tons of stuff would be going on sale: SQUEE!!! Ok, so shopping is being put on hold until Saturday just for that. I didn't know if it was going to be all over, or just in MK. Time will tell...
Ok, back to rides. I did Philharmagic, and I loved it! Super cute, I'd go back to that one again. On my way to my ADR at Liberty Tree Tavern, I got caught by the parade, and I tried out a few flash pictures. Now, Tim from the Magic in Pixels had just gone over how pointless it would be to try and use flash at a parade, but it worked perfectly! Had I known that, I would have staked out the parade to try it out. I got a bunch, though. Dinner at LTT was good, the food was good, and the characters were really interactive. Chip sat down with me, as did Pluto, and Goofy noticed my Mousefest lanyard, and gave me the thumbs up. Methinks that we have a secret Goofy in the ranks! I grabbed my dessert to go, and headed out to catch the fireworks - which I missed. So, I took that scrumptious apple cobbler and amazing french vanilla ice cream to the Noodle Station and mixed the ice cream with the hot chocolate (MVMCP has free cookies and hot chocolate all over the park), and CHOCOLATE LOVE! It was really good, which was heightened by the call to Heather, rubbing it in - I'm in Disneyworld, and you're not! She's definitely only having one bump, but still no word on what sex that bump is. Damn it, how am I supposed to start buying amazingly cute outfits for the bump if I don't know whether to get tuxedos or frilly dresses???
Went home early, around 11 - I couldn't make it all the way to 12. I should have scheduled this one for later in the week, when I was over jet-lag.
Up at 9:30, met the Mouseforless gang at the Contemporary for the meet - it was really fun. A welcome treat bag, a nametag, and really friendly people, we toured the monorail resorts. The names I remember are Jud, Lindsay, Mike, Binnie...ugh, there were more, but I'm terrible with names! This started the trend of recognizing the same faces (and sometimes hairstyles) all over the parks and resorts. That was kinda nice - a quick reminder that there was a group of a thousand fellow Disneyites. It rained all morning, and hard - I used my umbrella to get to the bus, but after that, all the monorail resorts were inside, and we stayed dry while the storm raged outside. the Mousefest 101 wasn't really what I thought it would be - I thought it was going to be an intro to what the convention was for the newbies, and it was mostly regulars, sharing jokes and such. As an orientation for first timers, it was kind of lacking - it would have been better to have newbies only, and a few greeters or hosts circulating the room to introduce themselves to the fresh meat, asking if they had any questions, etc. There was a question time at the end, but there were only 2 - and one of them was me. Unless you were not shy AT ALL, there was no way someone was going to stand up in a crowd of 300 to ask what may be considered a stupid question.
After the 101 and short reception (free food and energy drinks), I forgot my Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party card back at the room, so I headed back, and the road was lined with vultures all on one side...were they trying to tell us something? Into MK for the Dole Whip meet, and again, it was mostly the regulars talking amongst themselves - I found some Mouseforlessers, but it proved tough to break through the cliques already formed (much like munches). This happened so often, that I cut out about half of the meets and events I was planning on going to - I'd rather ride rides or shop than sit around and talk. That's another thing that separated me from the group - this was only my second trip to WDW, and most of them were old hands at it, so much so that they didn't really have the urgency to do Disney Commando like I did. By the end of the week, I had slowed down a bit, but my inner kid wanted to go play, not sit with the adults. I did the Tiki Room, which I liked (much shorter than the original), Pirates (who doesn't love Pirates?), and made my first purchase on the merchandise card - stuff for Dan.
My inner child sated for the moment, I decided to do a photo meet - which I really loved. Tim from the Magic in Pixels was funny, knowledgeable, and really engaging (when we could hear him over the castle parade). He gave a lot of good tips, and inspired me to take my camera off Auto for the duration of the trip. I had mentioned Flickr as my preferred online backup source, and someone asked what my name was on there. I told them, but also mentioned that it wasn't exactly kid-friendly most of the time. Once I told them what I do, I regretted it. This is not the crowd to mention anything that's not completely mainstream. Ok, I'll be PG for the rest of the trip, but I don't like having to censor myself or being able to share who I am.
Got my MVMCP band, and headed for the rides. Small world, Pooh, Snow White (much longer than DL), then the Haunted Mansion. Wow, that's a lot more macabre! The story definitely is more clearly defined than DL - there's no doubt that she's murderous, and that the groom met a wicked fate by her hand. Next, I headed off to Toontown to meet Mickey and Minnie, and though the line was short for Minnie, Mickey was about 30 minutes - once I got there, the pictures taken for Photopass sucked (I think, I haven't seen them yet). The cast-members in Toontown told me about the sale coming up on Saturday - that tons of stuff would be going on sale: SQUEE!!! Ok, so shopping is being put on hold until Saturday just for that. I didn't know if it was going to be all over, or just in MK. Time will tell...
Ok, back to rides. I did Philharmagic, and I loved it! Super cute, I'd go back to that one again. On my way to my ADR at Liberty Tree Tavern, I got caught by the parade, and I tried out a few flash pictures. Now, Tim from the Magic in Pixels had just gone over how pointless it would be to try and use flash at a parade, but it worked perfectly! Had I known that, I would have staked out the parade to try it out. I got a bunch, though. Dinner at LTT was good, the food was good, and the characters were really interactive. Chip sat down with me, as did Pluto, and Goofy noticed my Mousefest lanyard, and gave me the thumbs up. Methinks that we have a secret Goofy in the ranks! I grabbed my dessert to go, and headed out to catch the fireworks - which I missed. So, I took that scrumptious apple cobbler and amazing french vanilla ice cream to the Noodle Station and mixed the ice cream with the hot chocolate (MVMCP has free cookies and hot chocolate all over the park), and CHOCOLATE LOVE! It was really good, which was heightened by the call to Heather, rubbing it in - I'm in Disneyworld, and you're not! She's definitely only having one bump, but still no word on what sex that bump is. Damn it, how am I supposed to start buying amazingly cute outfits for the bump if I don't know whether to get tuxedos or frilly dresses???
Went home early, around 11 - I couldn't make it all the way to 12. I should have scheduled this one for later in the week, when I was over jet-lag.