DAY 4 Wednesday, July 13 (The day we lost a lot of Disney Magic)
Thanks for all of the positive responses and encouragement. I know how much I enjoy reading them myself so I this is my way to hopefully give something back.
Day 4 started out with a late arrival to MGM around 10:00 am. We planned on staying in MGM until 2pm where we would leave to head out to Titusville to hopefully see the Space Shuttle launch. Not knowing the MGM show schedule, we didn't realize that the Xtreme Stunt Show only had 3 showing that day and we missed the FPs for around 12pm. The next show was aound 3pm which we would have to miss to have a chance at seeing the shuttle go up. We figured we could go back to MGM to see it at a later time.
We first got some photos and autographs with Pinnochio. Standing on line is when I noticed that it was going to be especially hot that day. If felt like someone turned it up and extra 5-10 degrees. Next stop was Playhouse Disney around 10:45 with a short line-up for the 11:15 show. We promised our kids we would see this as we skipped it on our last trip. As we waited on line, I volunteered to buy us a few water bottles. As I approached one vendor around 11:00, they told me that they were not opened. I had to walk a good ways to find a stand that was open. I found this to be a somewhat frequent occurrence in the parks that rather disturbed me. Years ago, rope drop meant that everything was open, ready to take on the day. I actually enjoyed seeing Playhouse Disney on Stage because of the familiarity my DDs 5 and 7 had from watching the shows and characters.
Next was a FP for the Voyage of the Little Mermaid for 11:50-12:00. The normal line was not that long but the FP gave us the opportunity to not have to stand in the line for the next show, whereby we sat in the shade near the Brown Derby. After seeing the show, they really should change the name of the show to the Short Voyage of the Little Mermaid. It was like Ursula appears, a couple of strobe lights flash, Arial gets her legs, kisses her man, and the curtain closes. What's up with this. It was shorter than I remember 2 years ago, and that was even shorter than seeing it the 2 years before that. Oh well, my kids still loved it.
Next was a cruise down Mickey Avenue to get photos and autographs with JoJo and Goliath, then Woody and Buzz. We were getting hungry, so we thought we would go to the Backlot Express since they had something all of us would like. Well, the Backlot Express was like a Backlot Parking Lot - It was completely packed. MGM itself was pretty packed for that matter. I don't know if I am right, but it seems that the attendance of MGM has been up in the last few years.
Since we were very hot, tired, and hungry, we opted to leave the park aound 2:30 in favor of getting a bite on the road, off property at McDs, and travelling towards Titusville and Cocoa Beach to see the shuttle launch. Little did we know it, but on the drive out on the Bee Line Expressway, the launch was scrubbed. There were no breaks in the grassy median between the east and west lanes so we basically were stuck going east anyway. As we got closer, we could see miles of cars heading back west towards what I assume is Orlando. The kids napped and we finaly got on I95 north and took a couple of small roads back west. When we did get back on I-4, the skies opened up with a torrential downpour and lighting storm, so we were delayed even more in traffic. Once we got through the flooded streets of DTD, the ground was dry near the Poly. It was very wierd going from flood to dry in a matter of a few minutes. Total time of lost magic was from 2:30 to when we got back to the room at 6:15. The kids had some pizza at Capt. Cooks and we watched the Electric Water Pageant. My only complaint here is that the Water Pageant used to give a separate show for the GF in front of the marina and then travel in front of the beach of the Poly. Now there was only one showing with the Water Pageant extending in front of the Poly marina (south of the GF) to a small amount of beach in front of the Poly.
Since we didn't eat very well all day, we ordered room service just this one time. The CM was great. It turned out he had been busing tables since day one of the
Poly's opening. We reminisced a little about the restaurant before Ohanas, Papeate Bay Veranda. We finally saw Wishes from the beach of the Poly while the kids played with their new Mickey shovels in the sand. The evening was capped off by organizing the room a little and then planning the next day.
PiratesFan
