Friday, September 21

This morning CP and I slept in until the late hour of…8am. After breakfast in the lounge, I convinced CP to forego a car ride to the Magic Kingdom, reminding her of our awful experience the night before. Instead we headed out for our first official bus ride of the trip. Luckily, an empty bus arrived very quickly, so we didn’t have much time to question whether we’d made the wrong decision.  We boarded the bus with a family of four who ended up sitting down across from us. As the bus headed toward the Magic Kingdom, the oldest child in the family kept shooting glances my way. I realized quickly he was checking out my pin lanyard, and what followed was one of my most delightful pin trading experiences ever – trading with a six- and four-year-old.  It appears that the cupcake pins on my lanyard were in great demand, and so both the boy and the girl ended up with trades they wanted. Little did they know, but they made my day trading to me a Stitch pin that is one of my favorites in my collection. A very sweet moment, one I still think of fondly.

We said goodbye to our pin-trading family and exited the bus just before rope drop.  As is our custom now, we entered the park and proceed to pin trade our way up both sides of Main Street. We then made a left turn toward Frontierland to pin trade in the pin store there. After a quick spin on Big Thunder, we stopped in the Briar Patch store near Splash Mountain to see if we could find good pins (we didn’t), and then I led CP back toward the front of the park. Where were we headed?

The Dole Whip stand. Aloha, Aloha Aisle!

I must admit, I don’t entirely understand the Internet obsession with the Dole Whip. Indeed it’s a very tasty snack, but it hasn’t changed my life…at least not yet. I’d also daresay that the Citrus Swirl in Adventureland is better. To each her own.  At least now CP could say she’d had one, and thus we’ll live another day without our Disney credentials being revoked.

In any case, a frosty Dole Whip hit the spot on what was already a hot and humid late September morning.  Feeling a bit cooler, we walked down Main Street, exited the park, and queued up for a boat ride to the Polynesian, where we thought we might have better luck trading pins.  Yeah, we were wrong.  We tried to hop on the monorail to check out pins at the Grand Floridian, but the monorail was down, and so instead we took a swampy walk to the GFlo, where we promptly collapsed on the lobby couches like hobos and rested until our core temps dropped about twenty degrees.

The Grand Floridian pin selection was pretty underwhelming, so it was back to the now-working monorail for the quick trip back to the Magic Kingdom. (Like I said…we are not poster children for TouringPlans. The more circuitous the better, I say!)

So, you know, when in Rome – or when on Main Street – you pin trade, so we once again checked out the Emporium and the other Main Street stores for some pins.  Not finding much, we wandered into Tomorrowland and stumbled upon a lonely Stitch, so we decided to cheer him up with a visit.

The PeopleMover was down (bad day for transportation, it seemed), so we poked around the TL stores  before deciding to kill time at the Monster’s, Inc Laugh Floor. It’s not a favorite of either of us, but the wait was short (and air conditioned!), and the show that day was actually pretty funny.

But why were we killing time, you might ask? Well, up next was CP’s perennial favorite: lunch at The Plaza. It’s a favorite of mine, too: not fancy, not too expensive, but usually pretty tasty and a nice respite from the hustle and bustle outside.  We were seated in the quiet sunroom off of the main dining room, and quickly struck up a conversation with the couple sitting next to us, John and Judy. John and Judy live in Memphis, but Judy hails from a town near CP’s hometown in central Massachusetts, and so we shared tales of New England and of our time in WDW. When it came time to order, we had our usual fare – me the grilled chicken sandwich, CP the club, both of us bottomless Diet Coke. We topped off the meal with a shared hot fudge sundae, and content, stumbled back out into the blinding sun and oppressive humidity. Between the weather and our food coma, it was time for a nap.

Later that afternoon, we stopped in the club level lounge for “dinner” and wine, and then debated what to do next – for the first time all week the weather was bad in a not-just-a-passing-shower kind of way. We ultimately decided to drive over to Downtown Disney to finish our shopping and look for pins.

Apparently we had the same idea as EVERYONE ELSE IN WALT DISNEY WORLD, and so we muscled through the wet and smelly crowds, not exactly in the most Disney of moods. (Whether I’m talking about our moods or the mood of the crowd…I’ll leave that judgment up to you!)  We found and shipped a gift for my mother at World of Disney, and then visited the other usual suspects before making one last pass through World of Disney. Honestly, we were feeling a little sad – the trip was nearly over, and it seemed no matter how long the trip, we’re never quite ready to go home.

We drove back to the BoardWalk, walked the 12 miles from the soggy parking lot and back up to our room, where we dumped our stuff and doubled back six miles to the lounge for dessert. The offerings that night were quite tasty: mini bundt cakes, flourless chocolate bites, German chocolate tartlets, all washed down with Kahlua and cream.  Satisfied, it was off to bed, with one more Disney day in front of us.

Saturday, September 22

No sleeping in today – because we’re masochists, we were up before 7am today, in time to eat breakfast in the lounge before heading to the Studios for Extra Magic Hours. Now, I am a principled opponent of Extra Magic Hours – for people like us who visit Disney often, there’s really no need to get up (or stay out super late, fighting huge crowds) early for an hour’s worth of things you could easily do at another time or on another trip. But, like I said – we’re masochists, and there isn’t much we won’t do to ride Toy Story Mania as many times as possible. It might also stem from my obsessive need to top my own score Each.And.Every.Time. So there’s that.

We were queued up well in advance of 8:00am, along with every other on-property family and their dozens of screaming children. Exaggeration, maybe, but it was one unhappy Extra Unmagical Hour of Crowds.  Finally we’re all allowed in, and CP and I do our best 80s-aerobic-instructor power walk to TSMM and end up walking on twice in a row. On this morning we tried out a new strategy for getting lots o’ points, but I’m not going to tell you about it since my strategy failed MISERABLY. (Oops!) A bit dejected, we walked back toward the front of the park – sadly, there’s not much other than TSMM that we care to do at the Studios – and drove straight to the Magic Kingdom to catch rope drop and pin trading there.  We park in Simba 14, which turns out to be an easy walk to the TTC. The MK is crowded, but not unbelievably so, and since we just care about pin trading, we don’t really sweat it.

It’s a really good day for pin trades, and I leave with one of my prized wish pins, the five-legged goat from the Mary Blair mural at the Contemporary.  After walking and pin trading through Frontierland, Adventureland (where we checked out the Tiki Room for the first time), and Fantasyland, it’s time for another Dole Whip (ok, I guess we did like them).

We walk and eat and soon are in Tomorrowland, where I buy a Stitch pin before we stumble upon PUSH the talking trash can, probably my favorite live entertainment in all of Disney. (Is that a sad commentary or what?)  After watching PUSH harass children for several minutes, we walk to Fantasyland to pin trade, but come away empty-handed.

 

Unsure of what to do next, I notice there’s a bit of commotion near a secret door in the walls around the Fantasyland construction. I figure out quickly from my Interwebz reading that they must be doing test runs of Enchanted Tales with Belle, and I ask CP if she wants to check it out. At first she’s hesitant, but then offers that maybe it’s worth checking out, so we’re ushered in through the secret door. This is old news now, but back in September this was a pretty rare opportunity, and both of us found the queue and the overall aesthetic back there pretty breathtaking.

The line was slow-moving and it was again very hot, but eventually we got into Maurice’s cottage and into the show.  The cardboard props were a little cheesy, but both of us remarked afterward at how refreshing it was to see not only kids, but adults, too, having real experiences and sharing stories with no screens or digital objects in sight.

As we went to exit through the secret door we ran into a guest experience manager, Cody, who shared with us details from his tour that morning of Be Our Guest. It was then we first learned about the “Grey Stuff” to be served at BOG. Happy, we left “new” Fantasyland and walked toward Main Street, hot and exhausted.

On a normal day, this would be about the point where we’d head back to the resort for a nap. Since it was our last full day, our next stop was not the BoardWalk, but Epcot. We parked in Discovery 15, close enough to walk to the front. Our first stop was Club Cool for about thirty tiny cups of cold, refreshing soda, and then we continued our hot walk back to the World Showcase and to Le Cellier. We asked to be seated in Marina’s section, but alas her section had only four- and six-top tables. Instead our server was Marie-Eve from Quebec City. She was lovely, but no Marina. In any case, we both ordered burgers and the cheddar cheese soup, while CP had the chocolate mousse for dessert instead of my creme brulee.

Guys, I think we’re done with Le Cellier. It’s…fine, really it is. Some parts of it I love – the pretzel bread is great, the soup is tasty, and the filet is pretty decent, too, especially when the restaurant serves signature dinner. But it’s expensive, crowded, and the food is awfully rich to keep eating it over and over again. So, that’s my two-sentence review – if you like hot soup and heavy cream and mmmmmeat in the hot sun, Le Cellier is for you. If it were me, I’d wait to eat there in the “cold” parts of December and January, where the food is more appropriate to the weather.

Moving on. After lunch we continued around the lagoon, stopping in Japan to shop before walking counterclockwise toward Mexico. I must make the shameful confession now that it was on this day that a sin was committed: we bought a Duffy. AND I LOVE HIM. (It feels so good to get this out in the open!)

AHEM.  Moving slowly as if in the Sahara desert, we made our way out of Epcot, stopping in Mouse Gears and at the pin kiosk to try and pin trade.  Too tired to walk back to the car, we queue up for the tram, which doesn’t come and doesn’t come, and we find ourselves forced to make the walk anyway. Hot and tired and kind of cranky, we drive back to BWI, where we trudge back to our room. CP instantly falls asleep, and I take the best shower ever – you know, an ordinarily unremarkable shower that is suddenly life-altering after six hours in the Florida humidity and sunshine.

I finally face the inevitable and start some packing before we head to the club level lounge around six for some snacks. We do one last run through the BoardWalk stores for final souvenirs, and then get ready to drag ourselves back to the Studios because, again, we are masochists.  We’re leaving in the morning, but neither of us is leaving without a redemptive ride on Toy Story Mania.  Luckily we find a parking spot in the first available row near the entrance, so our walk in is relatively quick. It’s cooler and we’re somewhat refreshed, so things are looking up.

We get to Pixar Place and see a 45 minute wait for TSMM, which we decide to brave. The line is slow at first but soon picks up, so we’re in line for maybe 20 minutes. The second time, we get back in line right at 7:56 p.m. and walk directly on. Redemption is achieved, as CP gets her best score ever, and I hit 239k, a lifetime high. It’s the stupid things that make me happy, kids.

On that happy note, we make our way to the front of the park, pin trading and chatting with Cast Members, one in particular who takes a shine to CP and wants to talk some serious football.  Feeling a little sad that our park time is over, we walk back to the car, make the quick drive to the BoardWalk, and stop in the lounge for some last desserts and Kahlua. We’ve got an early flight in the morning, so after that it’s packing at Ratatouille on TV, and then…nothing. We’re done.

But not for long – December trip in nine days!