Day 2 (Sept 11, 2006)

We got a late start today due to having to pack our suitcases for them to move to new room while we were away in the park. Magic Kingdom.

When we got to the park, my father noticed he lost a pin.  We went to City Hall and they gave us a certificate to redeem a new one at Uptown Jewelers on Main Street.  I found him a nice one, looks like a military service ribbon with Mickey Mouse giving a salute.  My father is a veteran of Korean War and is very patriotic.

After that was taken care of, we went to Tomorrowland.  As we walked by Tomorrowland Noodle Station, we saw it was closed. This is one of the places we wanted to try for a counter service meal. Also found one of the few park water fountains that had cold water, by the bathrooms by the entrance to the Noodle station.

We went on Buzz Lightyear first.  My parents were in the car in front of me.  When the ride started, I had to yell instructions, namely, move the joystick to spin the car so you can aim. I think I got 64 thousand something.  Don't know what my parents got. 

Next we went on Carousel of Progress.  While my mother has been to Disney World several times, this was my fathers first time.  While he went to the 63-64 NY Worlds Fair, he didn't remember this.  Then we went on TTA.  When we got to the sign saying you are entering Space Mountain, my mother got nervous, thought we were going on the ride.  While riding TTA, my father spotted Tomorrowland Speedway, so we rode that next.  We were all on the same row, my mother first, my father, then me.  My father had trouble with his car, my mother was long gone, I was stuck going slow around the track, next time i go first :)

We then trekked over to Fantasyland. We got a fast pass for Winnie the Pooh, as there was little bit of a line.  Then we went on Snow White, no line.  In the beginning, we stopped and they turned on the lights.  Then we went saw Mickey's Philharmagic.  My mother enjoyed this, no biggie to me.  I saw her try and reach out to touch something.  We then went back to ride Winnie the Pooh.  There was no cm standing at the fast pass entry to let us in, my father kept wanting to go on the regular line, but I kept calling him back.  Finally a cm opened the chain for us. My FP was for 12:20, my parents for 12:25.  When I showed her my FP, my finger happen to be covering the 1 in 12:20, she thought I was doing it on purpose, but was just by accident.  I mistakenly put my FP in my wallet. I forget they needed it again.  When we got to the ride entry, took me a half a minute to find it.

After that, we went to Pecos Bill's to eat.  On the way, we went on Pirates of the Caribbean.  The ride looks altered.  The ship in the beginning looks more like a projection then what looked like a ship in the past.  And when you enter the town, the ride looks like it took a different route to get there.

We finally made it to Pecos Bill.  Enjoyed it like last time.  I liked the melted cheese and onions to add to my double cheese burger. I think they add something to the sodas there that makes you drink them fast :)  I forgot this, but was told that you can get the large soda on the dinning plan if you ask. Unfortunately, being what human nature is, there were several tables were people just stood up and left their garbage on the table. This was bad, because it seemed to be a shortage of clean tables for people to site at.

We went on Jungle Cruise next, which was a walk on.  They changed the spiel a little from what I remembered, left out certain things, like what kind of snake is it?  get real its plastic.

We headed towards the central hub for the wheelchair seating for the 3 pm parade.  We stopped by Aloha Isle, and my parents got a pineapple float that they shared.  They liked it, I had a spoon of pineapple ice cream, no biggie for me.

It was a hot day and the handicap seating in the central hub had no shade.  The cm there suggested Liberty Sq area, so we headed back there. The area was across from the now closed for refurbishment, Hall of Presidents. Several people were asked to leave the area as they did not qualify for the handicap area.

The parade was the same as last year, but the globes were removed, everything else seemed the same.  But I am getting ahead of myself.  One of the cm's were teasing the people in the Disney rented ecv's by just walking by them and pulling the key and taking it, walking away from them without saying anything.  My mother who was sitting in my father's offsite rented ECV immediately covered the key with her hands so he wouldn't take hers.  The lady next to me had her granddaughter playing with the horn on the ecv, she thought that annoyed the cm and that is why he took the key.  She didn't realize he was doing that to everyone.  A couple of minutes later he returned the keys, but had the people guess which was theirs.

After the parade, we went on the newly reopened Liberty Sq river boat.  I finally filmed this in daylight, almost completely.

We had dinner ressies/adr's for 'Ohana for 5:40.  My parents wanted to see if it was possible to change it for later.  When we got back to City Hall, the CM didn't even look, said they were fully booked.  It was 4 pm anyway, so we headed and waited at the poly.

My mother got their free pin there and was talking to someone, I think in some type of authority there.  They mentioned it was there 50th anniversary.  After talking about pin trading and such, the cm asked what the name our adr was under and what time.  My father mentioned that he saw the person go over to 'ohanna and talk to
them.  My father and I thought they were going to do something, but nothing happened while we were eating there.

Even though they had fried wontons on the menu still, they just gave us chips.  I had a couple pieces of everything.  My mother just had the steak and pork loin.  My father just ate the steak. I had a couple
pieces of steak, turkey, pork sausage and pork loin.  We finished  the sweet and sour shrimp, asked for more, but never got it.  When sitting down I did ask for the pineapple with caramel sauce.  We didn't know if we were getting it till it came to the table.  My mother enjoyed this immensely.  My father liked the bread pudding.  I mostly had the ice cream and a little bread pudding.  After eating most of the ice cream, remembered.. there is caramel sauce on the table and spooned some on it, tastes great :) The service was so so. Getting the pineapple and caramel sauce was nice. Last year, I always had a new glass of soda before I finished my old one. This year, I waited several minutes for a new glass of soda. Also, last year, when they gave me things off the spit, they gave me several pieces, this year, I had to beg to get more then one. Don’t know if this was a server issue or new policy.

After 'Ohanna, we wanted to go back to Pop to make sure everything was ok with the new rooms.  This turned into a little adventure.  I asked a couple of CM's what was the best way to go from the poly to pop.  We were told to go to Ticket and transport center from poly, then take the bus there back to pop.  The way the monorail resort loop works, the ttc is before the poly, so if we wanted to take the monorail, we would have to do almost the whole loop.  Now I have walked from MK to Contemporary before, and I know the Poly is close to the TTc so I was a little adventurous and walked there.  When it looked like we were lost, I spotted a sign saying this way for the monorail to Epcot, so I knew that this was the direction for the ttc.

When we got to the ttc, we were looking for the bus for the pop.  Found a sign for bus parking and asked someone where the bus was for the pop, only to be told, we were told wrong, there is no bus at the TTC that goes to pop century.  So we headed back to MK and took the ferry there.

One cm at the ferry dock saw my Coney Island t-shirt and asked if i had a nathans famous for him.  The other cm spotted my ny yankee cap and said, he shouldn't let me on cause of it ;) but we got on anyway.

One thing nice about the ferry, on a hot day, they go fast enough to generate a breeze.  Got some nice footage of the trip over. Been years since I was on it.

Finally made it to the pop bus stop at mk, waited for the first bus to be told his lift wasn't working, so we had to wait for the next one.  It was getting close to 8, but my mother was outvoted 2 to 1 about staying for the parade and finally made it back to the pop.  The bus driver was one of those that enjoyed his job and entertained
everyone on the trip.

We got back to Pop Century and had new cards issued to us since we changed rooms. The new rooms were in the 60's wing, We were right by Jungle Book characters, opposite side that faces the pool.

Last year, I could have killed for a Yoo Hoo. This year I came prepared. I packed with me a 10 pack of small paper box Yoo Hoos. I placed two in the ice bucket provided, covered it with ice, and in the am, cold Yoo hoo's. I emptied the water, refilled it with ice, and at night, it was still cold enough to drink. I was concerned that sitting in water, would destroy the paper box, but no problem with that.

Now I don't know if this is misinformation or different policies at different resorts.  A month ago, my brother and sister in law stayed at the POFQ and were able to get a 6 pack of bagels as one snack option, but at the pop, they don't sell this.  I also heard from someone that you could get 1/2 gallon of milk also as a snack option, but again not at the pop.

That brings to a end day 2.

I hoped to be able to post and answer people on the lists i was sending this to, but got overwhelmed very fast with email. I am using my cell phone as a dial up modem and it is very slow.  At this point, there is broadband available here at the pop, but no plans on using this yet.  So when I get home, it will be a little late, but will go through probably 1,000 emails and answer people eventually :)

I like to hear what I missed from the Sunday meet. I know I was somehow supposed to meet Amy here, but I have no clue how :(  going to try and meet Terrie tomorrow, hopefully that goes well.