Patty Winter's
Walt Disney World Trip
January, 2007
Day 4 (Monday, Jan. 8)Taking it Easy(Click on any photo to see a larger version. Click on links to see additional information or photos.) After rising so early yesterday, I made up for it today by sleeping in until after 8:00. Unfortunately, when I did wake up, I realized the real reason for last night's sore throat: I had a cold. Oh, joy. So I picked up some Sudafed at Fulton's before getting a muffin, a banana, and some orange juice at Riverside Mill.
Today, Lloyd and Nick and I had arranged to meet at the International Gateway at 1:00 p.m. I went over to Epcot early and caught the World Showcase Players' performance of "King Arthur and the Holy Grail" at the U.K. pavilion. I then headed over to France to see Serveur Amusant. However, by the time those guys got set up and really began, it was getting close to 1:00, so I walked back over the bridge and found Nick and Lloyd. The three of us spent the next few hours wandering World Showcase. We caught the last part of Serveur Amusant's act, heard the Voices of Liberty again at the U.S.A. pavilion, and had something to drink while listening to OrisiRisi (a drumming group with audience participation) at The Outpost. We also found a few benchmarks (ones that we already knew about, but that Lloyd and I hadn't visited previously). While Lloyd was documenting a benchmark at the Norway pavilion, Nick and I went on Maelstrom. I'd never ridden it before. It was cute, but very short. I'm not sure why it's so popular that it sometimes requires FastPass.
One of the things on Lloyd's to-do list for this trip was to take a test ride on a Segway personal transporter at Innoventions, and Nick and I were interested in that, too. So all three of us got in line and were in the briefing room within about 15 minutes. We then each got a couple of minutes of personal instruction by an Epcot CM. Balance is not my strong point, and I was afraid that I'd have trouble with the Segway, but those gyroscopes really work well! Although I certainly didn't get completely comfortable on the machine in that short time, I enjoyed it very much. I'll definitely consider doing the two-hour World Showcase Segway tour sometime. Nick and I then followed Lloyd over to the Contemporary resort, where he was checking in after a few days at Pop Century. I'd never seen the rooms at that hotel before and was curious what they were like. His room was in one of the garden wings, with a lovely view of the canal that boats traverse between the Magic Kingdom and the Wilderness Lodge. The Contemp doesn't appeal to me very much, but I have admit that its glass-and-metal décor is distinctive. Lloyd's room also had a large flat-screen TV, which was pretty nifty, although we couldn't find any high definition channels to watch. Then it was off to the Magic Kingdom to see SpectroMagic, the nighttime parade featuring floats covered with fiber-optic lights. I was not as perky as usual due to the head cold I had acquired, but I figured I could make it until 7:30 before heading back to my hotel. At Lloyd's suggestion, we went up on the balcony of the railway station. We weren't the first ones there, but we were only a row back from the railing, so we wouldn't have any problem seeing the parade. I hadn't felt like eating much today, and when I wondered aloud whether there might be any soup in the vicinity, Lloyd offered to run down to Tony's Town Square restaurant and look for some. He came back about 20 minutes later, having checked the entire length of Main Street. Alas, none of the restaurants that had soup were able to fix it to go. It was very sweet of him to try, though. SpectroMagic was nice, but to me, it didn't have nearly the character of the old Main Street Electrical Parade at Disneyland (now Disney's Electrical Parade at California Adventure). After it ended, we sat on the train platform and talked about our plans for tomorrow. Nick and Lloyd wanted to scout out some possible survey marks outside of the theme parks that we had heard about over the years. I decided not to join them, because I wasn't sure how I was going to feel in the morning. So we set a group meeting at 5:30 at Artist Point for dinner, and Lloyd called WDW-DINE and made a reservation for us. By the time we got that all sorted out, it was quarter of eight, so I decided to stay for Wishes. As far away from the castle as we were, we were nonetheless able to see Tinker Bell fly. And, of course, being above all the trees, we had an excellent view of the fireworks. I said goodbye to the guys a few minutes before Wishes ended and headed to the bus stops. That turned out to be a good idea, as I was able to get on a bus quickly, before the dreaded post-fireworks crowds arrived.
Once back at the hotel, I thought about trying to get some French onion soup to go from Boatwright's, but I was feeling better now (maybe it was that Disney pixie dust from Spectro and Wishes!) and decided to get the combo dinner platter at the Riverside Mill food court. (The restaurant was being remodeled while I was there, so they were only offering one combo platter each evening instead of their usual wide selection of foods.) I asked for small portions, and even at that I didn't eat it all, but still, it was the most I'd eaten all day. Back in my room (which had acquired a towel animal in my absence; I think it's a bird on a nest?), I spent a few minutes watching the remainder of a "Brides of Christ" episode I'd started during the flight to Orlando, then went to bed. Steps today: 18,480 (5.6 miles). Not my best day, but certainly a respectable amount of exercise. |
Planning | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3
Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8
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Last updated 2/9/07