The bus ride was uneventful, and when I got to Music, I discovered that I could actually see my building at Movies from the bus stop. So, it was a quicker walk from Music to my room than from the bus stop at Movies. I didn’t know yet just how handy this information would be.
So I made the stupidly quick walk back to my room, and found that...housekeeping hadn’t been there yet. UGH!
Those who read my April trip report know we had an issue with housekeeping and their room inspections at Pop Century. Although the manager who responded to my email about these issues had said I could schedule future room selections, I’d decided to take a chance and not, based on mixed reviews on how that’s working out in real life.
Side note...I’m not opposed to extra security. However, from what I’ve seen in my own experience, and what I’ve seen reported by others, Disney’s current hotel room check strategy is, much like the TSA, security theater. As an added bonus, I was solo on this trip, and didn’t particularly want to find myself in my room when housekeeping came knocking. I’m pretty sure the entire 10% of Disney’s housekeeping force that is male, had been assigned to my building.
Housekeeping was nearby, and the pool right outside my room had less than 20 people in it, so I decided to quick change, and head for the pool. My foot was bugging me, and I figured that’d be a good way to stay off my feet for a bit and cool down, outside of my room.
I was in the pool for almost an hour, watching to see when housekeeping reached my room. Like a watched pot that never boils, housekeeping didn’t make it to an observed room. Since it was getting close to the time I wanted to leave, I headed back to my room, changed clothes probably faster than I ever have, and got ready to head back to the parks, all before housekeeping finished with the room next to mine.
Refreshed and recharged (both me and the cell phone battery), I headed out, ready to finish the day strong. I got to the bus stop just in time to hop on a loading Magic Kingdom bus. Might as well check the parade off the to-do list.
The trip to the Magic Kingdom took awhile. What a construction mess! Plus, there was a traffic backup trying to enter the bus area that appeared to be the result of a couple of blondes who had tried to enter the bus zone in their personal car. Not kidding.
Once I was off the bus, there was another exceptionally thorough bag check, followed by another not moving Passholder entrance line, despite being shorter than the other lines. Ok, done with those!
Entering the park, I was really pleasantly surprised to see that the crowds weren’t yet thick for the parade. Like if I had wanted to, I could have gotten a front row spot on Main Street. I didn’t want to, though. There was at least another hour until the parade reached Main Street. In this heat, it’s all about Frontierland and being first to see the parade.
I hiked over to the land of the Frontier, and managed to find a spot in the shade at the DVC booth. As an added bonus, it was a totally legal parade viewing spot! By this point, there was less than half an hour until the parade. I passed the time texting, watching the chaos build, trying to avoid being trampled by the kid who couldn’t have been older than 5 with the cell phone that was live streaming the parade, wondering why I thought watching a parade in August was a good idea (hello sweat…), watching the Country Bears wander the street, and enjoying the Main Street Marching Band.
Pretty soon it was time for the parade. It’s been several years since I’ve seen this, so I enjoyed it, despite wondering why I thought watching a parade in August was a good idea. If anyone is wondering, the dragon float is still out of the parade. I didn’t have my big camera with me, but I did decide to take a few pictures on the phone.
Following the parade, I made my way slowly toward Fantasyland, to try to find some air conditioning. When I got there, I saw that the standby line for Small World was “only” 25 minutes (as opposed to Peter Pan’s 75). Knowing that that queue is inside, I entered, because hey, air conditioning!
After Small World, it was clear that a storm was on the way, but things looked lighter elsewhere, so I got the heck out of the park. I made it to the express monorail platform just as the thunder started booming and the rain started falling.
Thankfully, a monorail appeared quickly, and it was off to the TTC. However, we ended up holding over the TTC walkway for a few minutes and all of us in my monorail car were pretty sure it was hailing. THAT was a slight freakout moment. I heavily debated finding a place to wait out the storm at the TTC (I know, good luck with that…), but, once my monorail finally got cleared to enter the TTC, I did step over to, and get on that Epcot monorail. The sky was looking lighter in the direction I thought Epcot was in. The Magic Kingdom was an entirely different story.
I had totally forgotten about the recent incident where a monorail door opened while the monorail was moving. I remembered, however, when I realized that EVERY time the monorail left a station, an announcement was made (following the canned announcement) by a CM to please not lean on the doors. Got it!
The rain lightened dramatically as the monorail approached Epcot. In fact, it was barely raining as the monorail circled Future World.
That did change, and I ended up spending some time under the cover of Spaceship Earth, but the storm didn’t get anything near as wild as it looked over by Magic Kingdom, and after probably 10 minutes or so, I was on my way to the Land. Realistically, I totally could have gone sooner, but I was enjoying the breeze from the storm, so the idea of throwing a poncho over me was just not exciting.
When I got to the Land, I still had some time before the fastpass I had found that morning for Soarin, so I grabbed some dinner at Sunshine Seasons. I ended up with sweet and sour chicken, which really was an amazing value as Disney food goes. And very tasty too.
Once I’d eaten, it was late enough to use my fastpass for Soarin. I breezed through the fastpass line. Actually, that’s a bit of a lie. I limped through the fastpass line. Hmm...day 1 ½ and limping. That’s a successful trip right? So...I limped through the fastpass line. Or, really, the fastpass lane. There really wasn’t a line for fastpass.
I ended up in section C, top row for this flight, on the very end. Soarin was enjoyable, as always.
By the time I was done with Soarin, it had stopped raining, but the sky still looked pretty questionable, so it was off to Nemo. Unlike the Little Mermaid, which I enjoy more with every ride, the more I ride this one, the more I realize I really don’t like this ride. Much like Nemo the Musical over in Animal Kingdom, Nemo the clamshell ride is just missing something.
After I’d escaped the clamshell, a quick look at MDE showed it was time for my Spaceship Earth fastpass, so I made my way over there. Now, when I first entered Epcot, the wait for Spaceship Earth was over half an hour. Somehow, in about 2 hours, that wait dropped to as fast as you can walk. Needless to say, I didn’t use my fastpass, because I would have had to walk through a longer queue than the regular one, with a similar amount of people.
The lack of sleep was catching up with me. Spaceship Earth ended up being borderline naptime. Oh well.
Naptime interrupted by the end of the attraction, I headed for World Showcase. I was morbidly curious about the most recent group to grace the stage in Canada: The Blueberry Grass Band. When I got to Canada, there was about a half an hour until the next set, so, I headed for O’Canada, where, as luck would have it, the next show was starting in less than 10 minutes. I grabbed a seat in the waiting area, and enjoyed the cool air, surprising peace, and the time off my feet. That right foot was really aching.
I enjoyed O’Canada, and then watched the Blueberry Grass Band for a bit. For the first couple of songs, they were fine; they’re no Off Kilter, but they weren’t bad. BUT...then they performed “My Heart Will Go On”. The jury is no longer out. I don’t like them.
When they started pretending they were part of the Titanic movie, I headed for France to get some ice cream before Illuminations.
I think the ice cream I got involved cinnamon and apples. It was really good. After enjoying my ice cream, I found a spot on the bridge between the UK and France, and parked myself on the ground to text, facebook, and wait for Illuminations to start. And I watched some pretty epic parking of Illuminations cruise boats.
It should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with my Disney trips, that the wind picked up dramatically AND shifted direction in the last 10 minutes before showtime, so that it was blowing directly at me. I was bummed, because given the rumors flying, I have a feeling this trip was probably my last opportunity to see Illuminations, but I wasn’t going to try to find a different spot.
When Illuminations started, I pulled my hat down as low as possible and enjoyed the show as much as possible. The ash fallout wasn’t AS bad as I expected, but I was definitely reaking of sulfur by the end of Illuminations.
At the end of Illuminations, I limped to the bus stop. Thankfully, I got a seat on a bus, eventually. These buses really are not coming as frequently this trip as in previous trips! When I got back to the hotel, I hit the mug station for a Powerade refill and then limped back to my room. It was when I got back to the room, that it became a bit clearer just why I was limping. Oh, hey, one of these ankles is not like the other!
With that realization, I got ready for bed, set the alarm for slightly later the next morning, and hoped the swelling would miraculously disappear overnight, before I crashed hard.
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