Bob & Larry Visit Walt Dinner World, February 3-9, 2004 (Completed 2/16/05!) About This Page:

[LLaffinPlace]

Woohoo! We were so pleased to be able to meet up with Rich & Kathy--and what a meal!

But I get ahead of myself.

A couple of addendum-dums:
1. I have a new 2004 Deluxe Passporter. It is amazingly up-to-date and the color maps and sticker tabs are great! Thanks, J&D!
2. I used the Tiffany Towncars coupon in the back of it to save us $8. No problem--just showed the driver the book and he made no move to rip it out!

More to come!

[chezp]

Great start Larry - I'm eagerly looking forward to more and especially hearing about all the wonderful restaurants you visited during your latest trip.

[chezp]

Great start Larry - I'm eagerly looking forward to more and especially hearing about all the wonderful restaurants you visited during your latest trip.

[DouglasE]

Good beginning to your journey. You just gotta love those new meds! I'm really happy the sinus infection didn't wreak havoc on your travels.



Looking forward to the rest of the story

[Colexis Mom]

Great start Larry Looking forward to more

[Leah's Dad]

Very jealous here and biting my nails to see what happens next!!! If this TR is like your past, I am in for a great description. Can't wait!!!

[LLaffinPlace]

Wednesday, February 4, 2004 - Day 2, Part 1: Our Incredible World Tour



Mickey called us around 7:00 AM and told us "up and at 'em" because there were big doin's today. And right he was. Our 'Sunset Savannah view' strikes me as somewhat scruffy and small, with some obvious pens and buildings off to the far left; however, the latter turned out to be something of a plus. Nevertheless, we would not know this until later. The weather today would prove to be absolutely gorgeous, sunny with a high in the low seventies. Our plan is to hook up with Marti and Mike here at the hotel first thing, and then embark immediately on a whirlwind tour of the Animal Kingdom, Disney MGM, and Epcot parks. This is because the last time Mike visited the theme parks was a family trip long ago when Epcot first opened, and Marti is very interested in encouraging Mike to return as often as possible. Anyway, we only have today for this purpose because tomorrow morning he is off to Coral Gables for the softball tourney. After consulting with Marti, Bob made a 12:15 PS for 50's Prime Time Café at Disney MGM; they think that Mike will like the food and enjoy the antics. [That was 'antics', NOT 'ants', okay? Keep up, now!] Marti has an extremely ambitious list of attractions she wants Mike to experience, but we're nothing if not 'game' to try, so obviously the first place to go is AK, right?



After the usual preparations and setting out the first day's Lodgekeeping/Mousekeeping tip envelope, we headed to The Mara, AKL's version of a food court that is somewhat akin to The Wilderness Lodge's Roaring Fork (love that name!), but considerably more spacious. As usual, we picked up refillable mugs. Bob got Cheese Danish, OJ, and Diet Coke, and I had a delicious bagel sandwich (egg and bacon), OJ, yogurt, and coffee. It was relatively slow at Mara, fortunately, because the computers were down and the CMs had to write down what people got and use calculators to figure out the totals instead of relying on those handy-dandy touch screens. But they were pretty quick about it.



After breakfast, we made a quick trip to the room to drop the mugs and then headed down to the lobby to await the arrival of Marti and Mike. Marti called as they were turning in to the AKL complex, and it was about 8:45 AM when they walked up. [While waiting for them to park, I spent a moment trying out the GPS function on my new phone and, oh by the way, the AKL is located at approx. 28 degrees 21 minutes North Latitude, 81 degrees 36 minutes West Longitude.]



We headed immediately down to the bus stop to meet the AK bus. One of the reasons we are starting there is because it is so close and this will still put us there right at opening time. Marti and Mike grabbed some coffee just after we cleared the Oasis, and we headed directly for Kilimanjaro Safaris (KS). [We did however, have to avoid being almost bodily pushed in the direction of Camp Minnie-Mickey by a CM who was standing in the middle of the path to Africa shilling for the first show of Festival of the Lion King (FOTLK). And having once gone to the first show I must admit that my experience is [Tip] it is a really good show to shoot for, especially during crowded times, because it is easier to get in and much more efficient because wait time is minimized. But this was not our plan today.] There was a 15 minute wait posted for KS, so we went ahead and got in line, which gave M&M time to finish their coffees. It did not seem to take that long. [Did I mention how hard it was to trudge by Tusker House and smell the Cinnamon Rolls?] Our safari was good, although I thought our guide's voice was a bit too 'sing-songy'; you know, that tone and cadence that guides everywhere can fall into when they've done something over and over again? You don't really encounter it that often at WDW. We saw a goodly number of animals but would have somewhat better luck later in the week.



When we were done with KS, we took the double secret path across Discovery Island that comes out just behind the Fastpass machines for It's Tough to be a Bug (ITTBAB), where we headed next, walking directly into the theater! This would actually be a preview of how this day would go: low attendance coupled with good timing on our part that would allow us to see an extraordinary number of attractions in one day. The secret path was one of the benefits from our 'Wild by Design' Tour last April. [Okay, okay, the other terminus is back of the Flick character meeting location, but don't tell anyone else, okay?]



After the cute and clever ITTBAB (fewer traumatized kiddies this time, too, but many parents have been 'stung' by this attraction), we hotfooted it to Tarzan Rocks! (TR) where the 10:45 show was just starting. We managed to get good seats--better than we had last April--and once again marveled particularly at the rollerbladers and their jumps.



After a pause for the cause, we went to Dinosaur, where we pretty much walked into the Preshow room. I wasn't sure what Mike thought about TR!, but it did seem like he enjoyed Dinosaur. Although I think Marti may have been skeptical at first--especially not favoring spinning rides--Bob & I convinced M&M to give Primeval Whirl (PW) a go. We snorted at the ride and chuckled at the recorded, "Buh-bye!" that greets you at the end, as well as puzzling as always over the instruction to stand up before exiting the vehicle. We're still trying to figure out how to do it any other way!



Having checked off the list for AK plus PW, we made our way to the AK exit and the Disney MGM Studios bus stop in hopes of making our PS at 50's Prime Time. Our luck was holding and the bus that was waiting departed immediately. We arrived within 5 minutes of our PS time. I do not think I have ever seen the Café less crowded, and we were seated in about 10 minutes.



Coming Up: You're Wearing a Baseball Cap at the Table?!

[luvnwdwgal]

Great update!! Sounds like you had a great time at AK!!
Uh oh, somebody's gonna get in trouble at Prime Time!

[Smiley]

Wow! You had fantabulous luck walking onto all of those rides!!!

Kudos to you!!!

[chezp]

I can't believe how much you managed to do in a morning! I'm looking forward to hearing all about the 50's Prime Time Cafe.

[Colexis Mom]

Sounds like a wonderful day I can't believe you walked by Tusker House and did not get a cinnamon roll I hope there's one in your plan for later in the week Looking forward to more

[Mel & Richard]

I couldn't believe you managed to bypass the cinnamon roll either.

Mel

[Leah's Dad]

Great morning! I hope my days will go as smooth in Sept. Keep up the great TR!

[LLaffinPlace]

Marnie & Mel, you can well believe that I vowed I would not get away from WDW this trip without at least one Tusker House Cinnamon Roll, but it took until the last day in the parks to manage it!

Thanks for checking in everyone, and for all the encouragement. I'll try to get the meal at Prime Time posted soon.

[BritDisFan]

Great TR Bob and Larry , I'm looking forward to the next installment


Karen