Alright, folks, I need to move this thing along – after all, CP and I are headed to WDW in under two weeks for our second annual Christmastime trip, and it just seems wrong to be recapping an early fall trip with Christmas nipping at our noses. So, a long and photo-heavy twofer post of the eighth and ninth days of our trip. I think you’ll enjoy this one, though – see what you think.

Wednesday, September 19

After a late night at the Magic Kingdom for the Halloween party, we decided to sleep in this morning before making our way to the Magic Kingdom, well after rope drop. (So unlike us!)  In fact, not only were we late, we weren’t even at the Magic Kingdom to ride any rides or see any shows or eat any wonderfully delicious Citrus Swirls or Dole Whips – our only mission was to pin trade. When we’d had our fill of that, we opted to head over to Animal Kingdom, a park that is low on our list to visit, but one we try to see at least once on a long trip. So, today was the day!

Animal Kingdom was decently busy for mid-day, but that was okay; as I’ve said, we didn’t really have a plan in mind. Sometimes we like to visit Animal Kingdom just to walk around, since it’s really a very pretty park in so many ways:

What first caught our eye was a meet-n’-greet with the characters from UP; remember, before this trip neither CP and I were big on character meets, but in eight days we had managed to sell our souls and outdork ourselves even further. So, you guessed it, we hopped right in line. It was actually a fantastic meet – Dug in particular was hilarious – and we had a really good Photopass photographer.

Next up was a quick ride on Expedition Everest – given the low September crowds, we actually waited in the regular line with little more than a 10 minute wait, when normally we would both use the single rider line.

After a quick trip to Dinoland, we trudged across the park to see if any good characters were out at (the soon to be departed) Camp Minnie-Mickey.  Here, apparently, was where all the crowds were, and CMM was mobbed far beyond what either of us were comfortable with, so we hightailed it back toward the entrance and gave up. It was like every Latin American tour group and extended family of rednecks (sorry) had decided en masse to hit up Animal Kingdom on the same day at the exact same time, and there was no way we were going to wade through that mess.

By now it was solidly midday and really, really hot, so we walked back to the entrance and to the car. Our next stop was to Downtown Disney for lunch.  Feeling emboldened by vacation, we decided the perfect lunch for a hot day would be a sundae at Ghirardelli. CP had a chocolate milkshake, and I deviated from my standard peanut butter and chocolate fare and instead had a Presidio Passion, which was basically a hot fudge sundae with generous amounts of strawberry topping. It was…delicious.

Refreshed, we spent some time pin trading at DTD until ominous storm clouds pushed us back to the car.  As we drove, the rain came down, and cloud-to-ground lightning flashed on every side. We made it back to the BoardWalk, but had to spend nearly half an hour sitting in the car until the deluge slowed enough for us to run across the parking lot and into the hotel.  Soaked like wet dogs, we stopped in the lounge for a snack, and then took a nap – it was the perfect day for a nap, actually.

That night we were off to the Studios to trade pins, but gave up on that when every Cast Member we approached was pretty grumpy about it.  Instead, I decided to take a risk on late-day diminishing crowds and see if we could hop on Toy Story Mania for a ride or two. Success! Our first wait was only 20 minutes or so, and when we re-queued at 7:59 p.m., we literally walked right on the ride.  We departed the Studios in the relative quiet of a closed park, and headed back to the BoardWalk for Kahlua on ice and dessert.

Now, guys…this is the important part. The moment when we encountered something so rare, you probably didn’t think it really existed – brace yourselves.

We met…wait for it….

Golden Oak owners.

What is Golden Oak, you might ask? In short, Golden Oak is a luxury gated community on Disney property, owned and managed by Disney and offering high-level access both to Disney parks and to the nearby Four Seasons resort. Here’s the thing – to own at Golden Oak, you have to put down at least $1.5 million for a single-family home.  Owning at Golden Oak is one of those things you see Disney fans dream about when asked on Disney discussion boards what their ultimate Disney wish would be, but never have I actually encountered a real, live Golden Oak owner in the flesh. But on this night, casually hanging out in the BoardWalk lounge, was just such a thing.

In fact, this couple we met were quite lovely – very chatty and eager to talk about Disney and sports and what we did for a living, where we lived, etc. It turns out that this couple owns DVC at Bay Lake Tower, but they only use it “when the grandkids are present, since otherwise there’s no point to being that close to the Magic Kingdom.” So, when they are sans grandchildren, this couple pays *cash* to stay at the BoardWalk…in a cottage suite. (Cottage suite: $720 per weekend night, low season.)  Not content to merely stay at the BoardWalk monthly “just to get away” (no joke), the couple decided to fulfill their dream of living at Disney, and were in town on this trip to meet with their builder.

Amazing. After a nice chat with these mythical creatures, we said goodnight and headed to our room for TV and sleep.

Thursday, September 20

We were back to our typical form this morning, which meant we were up early and ready for rope drop at the Studios.  We arrived at the turnstiles at 8:45, and were allowed in just moments after. Unlike on previous trips, there was no rope drop to speak of, and so we were allowed to walk right to and on Toy Story Mania. And, for the first time…I broke 200k! A sad milestone, but hey, I’m going with it. (CP did well, too.) We existed TSMM and headed toward Hollywood and Sunset Boulevards to browse the stores and pin trade, and then CP kindly people watched while I took a solo ride on the Tower of Terror. Afterward, we walked back to the car and drove over to Epcot, parking in Journey row 9, a close walk to the entrance. Our first stop was at Guest Relations to browse the pin book (pro tip: every Guest Relations outpost has a book of pins you can browse for trades.), but we found nothing to our liking and moved on to Mouse Gears for some pin trading and chatting with the CMs.

Feeling a bit of the “we’re on a long trip and have done most everything we wanted to do, what now?” uncertainty, on a whim we walked to Innoventions to check out the Vision House exhibit.  The problem was…we couldn’t figure out how to get in it, and spent a few dumb minutes wandering around the perimeter looking for what we were sure was a very hidden entrance. It turns out the Vision House exhibit is accessible only by guided tour, and so we had to queue up on the astroturf lawn and wait for our guide.  At first we were the only two people lined up for the tour, but another couple (of suckers) showed up just as we entered the house.

I feel kind of badly for Mr. Vision House Tour Guide. He obviously had a terrible script to work with – since everything at Disney MUST HAVE A STORY, Vision House told the story of a young family’s efforts to green their home – and he wasn’t very adept at delivering his script in anything but a stilted monotone. While some of the technology on display was interesting, this is 20 minutes of our lives we are never getting back.

After we were allowed out of the Vision House, CP and I ran away and headed toward the World Showcase to do some shopping. We started at what we refer to as Duffy’s House (one of the two International Gateway stores that seems only to carry Duffy merchandise now), and then proceed to Mexico and Norway, where CP bought a fleece. Next up was China to gawk at the always awkward puppets, and then we peeked in the American Adventure store to check out the American stereotypes on display. (In America, we like candy, more candy, and RONALD REAGAN!)  Before a serious shopping outing at our favorite store – Mitsukoshi in Japan – we stopped for Kaki Gori, which absolutely hit the spot on yet another hot and humid September day.

It was so hot, in fact, that neither of us could bear the thought of walking all the way around the lagoon and back to the parking lot, so we instead walked (slowly!) back to the BoardWalk and picked up sandwiches from the BoardWalk Bakery. For twenty bucks for the two of us, we could have done a lot better going elsewhere – the sandwiches were truly meh.

After a nap, some work, and laundry, we stopped in the lounge for appetizers and wine (and said goodbye to our mythical Golden Oak owners, who were heading home the next morning), and then took the boat back to Epcot. Enjoying the somewhat cooler dusk temperatures we walked through the World Showcase and back to our car:

Next stop, the Magic Kingdom.

We parked in Simba 14 and walked to the Transportation and Ticket Center. It seemed crowded, and we were greeted almost immediately with a lengthy monorail delay. I was getting cranky, that’s for sure. Eventually we board the monorail and enter the Magic Kingdom just before the electrical parade begins, which is basically the WORST TIME EVER to enter (or leave!) the Magic Kingdom. Getting crankier. What are we doing – why are we even here? The answer to that is…it’s dessert party time.

Back on our December trip last year, CP and I gave the Wishes dessert party a whirl.  It was…ok.  The desserts were decent and the view was nice, but we both left wondering if it was worth the cost we paid for the experience.  Why we decided to do it again on this trip, I’m not exactly sure – I think part of me rationalized it by saying a) a second go at the party means we can conclusively decide whether it’s worth it; and b) it’s the low season, so it’s not that expensive. Sound logic, eh?

Anyway, we end up being seated at the same table as last time. This is one advantage to being a party of two – they will reserve the tables right up front for you, so your view is (hopefully) unobstructed. The dessert menu was the same as last time, so lots of small bites consisting of tartlets, shooters, and tasting portions.

Unlike last time, our fellow party guests are just plain…annoying. Obnoxious, even. Kids running amuck and screaming while parents are inattentive. Parents taking flash photos and yelling to get the proper shot. As the fireworks begin, said angry yellers all decide en masse that the absolute best viewing location is right in front of our table, so our beautiful unobstructed view vanishes as we get a view of mullets and a few bad perms.

Not. Happy.

Sometimes, though, karma works in your favor, because no sooner did I start fuming did the rain start falling. It was pouring. And suddenly, all of those adults and their screaming kids who crowded us out of our view were forced to beat a path of retreat, back under the eaves and out of our way. It was…perfect. After that, I quite enjoyed the fireworks, as well as my own sense of righteous vindication.

 

The rain persisted until the Wishes finale, and CP and I decided to stay put for a few minutes to let some of the crowds out before we beat a hasty path to the exit. Apparently we didn’t wait long enough, because our walk out of the park was CHAOS. The crowds were wall-to-wall down Main Street, and you could barely exit through the turnstiles without running into the massively backed up line for both monorail lines.  It was clear we wouldn’t be getting back to the TTC parking lot by monorail, so we darted through the crowds trying to make our way to the ferry launch, but the ferry line equaled if not surpassed the line for the monorail.

Not. Happy.

Trying to keep it together, I pull CP aside to again wait out some of the building crowds. We realize it’s futile to keep standing around in the rain; we’re not going anywhere, and we’re only getting wetter and crankier. Finally, CP suggests we walk to the Contemporary, if only to have a sense of control. I gratefully agree, and we join the considerable crowds on the walking path, but hey – at least we’re moving toward something.  We head immediately to the 2nd floor, which was thankfully free of conventions and thus blissfully quiet. We took a bathroom break, dried ourselves off as best we could, and proceeded to the 4th floor to kill some time browsing the shops. Really we both wanted to be back at the BoardWalk getting ready for bed, but we tried to make the best of things.

Eventually, we decided it was time to brave the monorail, and so we headed up the escalator to see what awaited us. The line was long and the first monorail to arrive was packed to the gills – no go. The second monorail to arrive was also packed, but we managed to squeeze on. We disembarked at the TTC, hoping that the worst of things were over.

We were wrong.

I’m a pretty seasoned WDW visitor, and I’ve had my share of tram rides and  seen lots of waits for trams. The line for the trams on this night was worse than I have *ever* seen it.  I just wanted to cry, but instead we sucked it up and jumped in line.  We were queued up next to a large tour group, several members of which kept (accidentally?) groping our butts. Tram after tram came and went, but thanks to the crowds and the number of double-wide strollers, it took at least six or seven trams to come and go before we could board. Not counting our break at the Contemporary, it took us a full two hours to get from the Magic Kingdom to the BoardWalk. By car. In the lowest season of the year.

Miserable.

One thing did salvage the night’s end for us. As we made the drive back to the BoardWalk, we took the exit to Epcot Resorts Boulevard when CP noticed a car by the side of the road. Two shirtless gentleman were walking away from the car, headed for the top of a large drain pipe, obviously with the idea to jump from the pipe and into the drainage reservoir  Suddenly, the last two hours’ stress melted away, and my inner vigilante cop came out. When we pulled up to the security kiosk at the BoardWalk, I rolled down the window to greet the awaiting security guard with a “I know this isn’t a BoardWalk-related thing, but…” And then he stops me midsentence: “Yes, ma’am, this is the BoardWalk Resort. You’re staying here. Please pull through.”

Oh hai, I’m not drunk, thank you very much. A bit taken aback, I regroup and then proceed with our story of the lawbreakers we witnessed on our drive. And let me tell you, this poorly paid and probably bored-out-of-his-mind security guard absolutely lit up. Within seconds, he was on his walkie talkie, paging a roving security team using a litany of acronyms and military terms, directing the team to apprehend the suspects we saw.

We never found out what happened to the shirtless gentlemen, but I like to imagine they are in Disney jail, with Duffy as a maniacal warden.