Cast: Julee, 27 (AKA Happy) 1st trip to WDW. John, 29 (AKA Grumpy) 1st trip to WDW
Tuesday Nov. 14 (Day 3)
After Muppets, we headed over to Star Tours. You should have see JohnâÂÂs face light up when he saw the huge Star Wars thingie (canâÂÂt remember the name of it) out front of the ride. He is a big Star Wars fan and for the first time on the trip he grabbed the camera out of my hands and started taking pictures. He finally appeared to really be enjoying something openly! We grabbed a Fast Pass and walked through the Star Wars store.
By this time we were hungry again so we decided to have a snack and the Sci-Fi Diner. I had read that this place wasnâÂÂt very good, but as you know by now John loves sci-fi so I thought heâÂÂd get a kick out of it. We were able to get a table at the back of the restaurant right away (they didnâÂÂt have any cars available). We decided just to get a snack. We both ordered vanilla milkshakes and some sort of appetizer dip thing that I canâÂÂt remember. I ordered chili and John ordered a salad. We should have listened to the advice. The atmosphere and the milkshakes were great, but the food was pretty bad. DidnâÂÂt think you could mess up a saladâ¦hmmm.
Next we went over to the Backlot Tour, and yes it was still raining. We waited about 20 minutes to get to the water stage show, which was pretty neat. We then waited about another 20 minutes for the tram ride. At least the wait here is interesting since the queue goes through a prop room. We finally boarded our tram and were off. Ok, it doesnâÂÂt take much to impress me especially when it comes to Disney, but come on! This was horrible! First off they were putting up the decorations for the Osbourne Family Light Festival so there were workmen all over the place. Then I kept waiting for something cool and the best it got was Catastrophe Canyon. Yeah this was kind of neat but I couldnâÂÂt believe it was over when we pulled back into the boarding station. If youâÂÂve ever been on the Backlot tour at Universal in California (havenâÂÂt been to Universal FL) then you will be disappointed. That is sooo much better.
After feeling a bit ripped off we went back to Star Tours to use our Fast Passes. We rode this once before in DL and I forgot how sick it made me. I enjoyed it anyway. By this time it was almost 3:00 and people were lining up for the Mulan parade. Believe it or not the sun was finally out! Because of the parade we couldnâÂÂt get down the street to the rest of the park we hadnâÂÂt seen yet. We decide we needed a break anyway and that we could come back another day (unfortunately we never made it back). On our way out we stopped to watch some street performers by the front gate. I asked John if he would mind watching the parade and he didnâÂÂt so we waited. I stopped in the shop with the cool villain clock to ask how much it was. $165! NO WAY! This seemed a bit too pricey for me. I later found out that it was only $65. As the parade arrived I realized we had already seen it in DL. We watched it anyway.
After the parade we managed to find the car with ease and headed back to the hotel. We were wet and tired, but we were both happy to see that housekeeping left us another surprise. This time it was some sort of towel/washcloth animal dangling from a hanger. She went as far as to make eyes out of paper for it. We donâÂÂt know what it was supposed to be but it was really cute and remained hanging above my bed for the rest of the trip.
It was Tuesday evening and Buffy the Vampire Slayer was on which is one of our favorite shows. We couldnâÂÂt find anyone at home to tape it for us and after almost 25 years neither John nor I know how to program a VCR. I wasnâÂÂt thrilled with the idea of spending an evening watching TV, but we were tired and John has handled me dragging him around pretty well (better than I expected). Of course we both fell asleep again and woke up just in time to catch Buffy.
We ordered a pizza from room service. It was better than the pizza from the food court but it took 1 ý hours to arrive. I then called my mom and I was happy to hear that my grandma was doing ok. Not great, but ok.
I reviewed our money situation and I was happy to see that we were ahead. Before we left home I made 11 envelopes that each contained cash or travelers checks: 1 for the hotel, 1 for tips, and 9 for spending money ($100 for each day +$100 extra). I would use the money I earned from the web site rewards program to pay for the car. I only brought one envelope with us each day and I kept the others in the room safe. This was a great way to handle it because I was sure IâÂÂd have enough for each day. Anything left over was extra.
I went to sleep plotting our strategy for Animal Kingdom the next day.
Tuesday Nov. 14 (Day 3)
After Muppets, we headed over to Star Tours. You should have see JohnâÂÂs face light up when he saw the huge Star Wars thingie (canâÂÂt remember the name of it) out front of the ride. He is a big Star Wars fan and for the first time on the trip he grabbed the camera out of my hands and started taking pictures. He finally appeared to really be enjoying something openly! We grabbed a Fast Pass and walked through the Star Wars store.
By this time we were hungry again so we decided to have a snack and the Sci-Fi Diner. I had read that this place wasnâÂÂt very good, but as you know by now John loves sci-fi so I thought heâÂÂd get a kick out of it. We were able to get a table at the back of the restaurant right away (they didnâÂÂt have any cars available). We decided just to get a snack. We both ordered vanilla milkshakes and some sort of appetizer dip thing that I canâÂÂt remember. I ordered chili and John ordered a salad. We should have listened to the advice. The atmosphere and the milkshakes were great, but the food was pretty bad. DidnâÂÂt think you could mess up a saladâ¦hmmm.
Next we went over to the Backlot Tour, and yes it was still raining. We waited about 20 minutes to get to the water stage show, which was pretty neat. We then waited about another 20 minutes for the tram ride. At least the wait here is interesting since the queue goes through a prop room. We finally boarded our tram and were off. Ok, it doesnâÂÂt take much to impress me especially when it comes to Disney, but come on! This was horrible! First off they were putting up the decorations for the Osbourne Family Light Festival so there were workmen all over the place. Then I kept waiting for something cool and the best it got was Catastrophe Canyon. Yeah this was kind of neat but I couldnâÂÂt believe it was over when we pulled back into the boarding station. If youâÂÂve ever been on the Backlot tour at Universal in California (havenâÂÂt been to Universal FL) then you will be disappointed. That is sooo much better.
After feeling a bit ripped off we went back to Star Tours to use our Fast Passes. We rode this once before in DL and I forgot how sick it made me. I enjoyed it anyway. By this time it was almost 3:00 and people were lining up for the Mulan parade. Believe it or not the sun was finally out! Because of the parade we couldnâÂÂt get down the street to the rest of the park we hadnâÂÂt seen yet. We decide we needed a break anyway and that we could come back another day (unfortunately we never made it back). On our way out we stopped to watch some street performers by the front gate. I asked John if he would mind watching the parade and he didnâÂÂt so we waited. I stopped in the shop with the cool villain clock to ask how much it was. $165! NO WAY! This seemed a bit too pricey for me. I later found out that it was only $65. As the parade arrived I realized we had already seen it in DL. We watched it anyway.
After the parade we managed to find the car with ease and headed back to the hotel. We were wet and tired, but we were both happy to see that housekeeping left us another surprise. This time it was some sort of towel/washcloth animal dangling from a hanger. She went as far as to make eyes out of paper for it. We donâÂÂt know what it was supposed to be but it was really cute and remained hanging above my bed for the rest of the trip.
It was Tuesday evening and Buffy the Vampire Slayer was on which is one of our favorite shows. We couldnâÂÂt find anyone at home to tape it for us and after almost 25 years neither John nor I know how to program a VCR. I wasnâÂÂt thrilled with the idea of spending an evening watching TV, but we were tired and John has handled me dragging him around pretty well (better than I expected). Of course we both fell asleep again and woke up just in time to catch Buffy.
We ordered a pizza from room service. It was better than the pizza from the food court but it took 1 ý hours to arrive. I then called my mom and I was happy to hear that my grandma was doing ok. Not great, but ok.
I reviewed our money situation and I was happy to see that we were ahead. Before we left home I made 11 envelopes that each contained cash or travelers checks: 1 for the hotel, 1 for tips, and 9 for spending money ($100 for each day +$100 extra). I would use the money I earned from the web site rewards program to pay for the car. I only brought one envelope with us each day and I kept the others in the room safe. This was a great way to handle it because I was sure IâÂÂd have enough for each day. Anything left over was extra.
I went to sleep plotting our strategy for Animal Kingdom the next day.
