Keane's August 2011 Trip, Part 3
"It Was Hot, Then It Rained, Repeat Tomorrow"
Please see Part 1 for cast and plot summary...
Day 2, August 17th. I go to a meat meet, the Tiki Room,
Rain, and an insane Magic Kingdom. Oh, Boma, too!
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I tell Karen where the meat meet is, and where the Penske rental place is. I pick up the BYPT crew and drive to the BYPT, where Jenny sez she needs a Hess to get diesel, 'cause rental return places charge ridiculous prices for fuel. So Karen gets a few taps, and I find a Hess. Not the one by Epcot, I later find out, but the one by MK. The one by MK is probably better for big trucks, so it works out. Cathy (who was driving at the time) gets to drive through the parking entrance for Magic Kingdom in BYPT before we can get to the Hess.
I am not sure which way to go to get to the meat meet, so I have to circle the gas station for Karen to get her satellites and bearings before we can leave. Sad, no? Once on I-4, I let Cathy take the lead and follow. They not only know where it is, but knows to take a slightly farther route so they can turn left at a light.
The meat meet is in a small church parking lot North of Universal. I note the BYPT only misses the overhead power lines by a couple of feet, and if one is hanging low... But I digress.
There is one car already there, but they wait until a suburban pulls up, and out pops three kids in Peaceful Pastures t-shirts (hell, I even have one) and starts unloading the truck. Wow. Free labor. I'd wait too.
The suburban with the three kids has a *big* order, so she takes most of the dry ice (crank those windows open). Some dry ice must be saved for the employees at the Penske Truck return. (As I understand it: Think dogs in Up. You know, the movie. "Squirrel". Got it? Think Penske Truck employees. "Dry Ice". And there, you have it.)
One person is missing. She forgot. And there, you have it again. Jenny makes arrangements to keep the meat for...forgetful...being kind here... customer in the church's freezer, and it's off to the Penske return. BYPT is pulled into a bay for inspection, and I get all of her stuff and put it in my trunk. Cathy and I waste gas sitting in an air conditioned car, and once Jenny's done with the paperwork, we're off to Disney World! Again!
We stop at Pepper Market for lunch. Cathy wants to rest, but Jenny wants to see the new/old Tiki Room. So we're off to storm the castle. Storm, might be the optimal word...
We bus to MK.
A word about the buses. Crapshoot. Sometimes okay, sometimes dismal. Sometimes two or three MK, DHS and AK buses when you want to go to Epcot. Small things like that. Other times, a bus will be there, and you do the fake Russo jog, and get right on an air conditioned, dry bus.
We arrive at MK and are dropped off way back by the All Star bus stops. Whazzup wit' dat? He could have at least dropped us off at the nearest unused stop...
We get to the turnstiles, and lo and behold, my AP and finger print still match up, and I am granted entry to the most magical place on earth. Jenny, on the other hand, not so much. Something doesn't work. At least she didn't break half the entry terminals. Eventually, she is allowed in.
We get to the middle of main street, and have some blue skies over the castle, and clouds the rest of the way around, so I try a shot I haven't been able to get in several years. It works! Have to do something about all those trolley rails, not to mention Main Street looks 100 yard wide...
We make our way to the Tiki Room, I'm worried that the new makeover will have lines up to the Country Bears (through the tunnel), but am pleasantly surprised. When we get to The Enchanted Tiki Room, we are stopped near the turnstiles, and under an overhang. Pre-show is full. It starts to rain. We pack in a little closer so more people can get under the overhang, but you can only pack so many sweaty bodies into so much space. And I don't mean a wimpy shower, but full on Florida Summer Downpour. Jenny and I are dry, but the poor guests four feet behind us are soaked. And of course, we're stopped for 15 minutes here.
There is room just beyond the turnstile. They could have blocked it off and let everyone in the dry... But once your truly wet, I guess it doesn't make any difference if you're rained on. At least it was warm.
The pre-show still exists, but these guys aren't agents representing movie stars anymore. It is also less impressive when the waterfall stops and the doors open up when the rain is creating its own waterfall. But I digress.
I have seen the version at Disneyland, and would have to go review the video to see how much is the same. I related how Walt showed this version to a lot of people who didn't get what the attraction was about in my May 2011 trip report. So he got the Sherman Brothers to write a song to explain why the attraction existed. And it's pretty much true. Remove the Tiki Room song, and you'd scratch your head. Cool animatronics, thought.
Without the dirty bird there, the music is more laid back, so the mechanics of the animatronics can be heard more clearly. Sorta cool. On the other hand, it makes it sound like all the singing flowers have teeth. I was still waiting for the tiki goddess to pop up out of the center...whatever it is. I wonder if she's still in there.
The rain stops before we get out of the show, thank you, and we cross over to Frontierland, where CM's are standing guard outside of 2-3 inch puddles outside Rivers of America to make sure no guests go through. Yes, we're on our way to Haunted Mansion.
The line is long. Why is the line long? At least we're able to bypass the cemetery, so it's not that bad. (Finally saw the sign differentiating which line is which.)
Jenny once again get's her head ripped off and is traded with the ghost that's going to follow us... well, hopefully her, home. Very well done.
We get out to a Magic Kingdom that is probably the most crowded I've seen. The line to Haunted Mansion is now backed up to the entrance to the Riverboats (which is under rehab), and a CM has a sign that shows where the line to HM starts. Unreal. Well, in true sour grape fashion, we're getting out of here. Besides, we have a date at Boma. No problem getting three people in, so I had cancelled my emergency reservation. I hope I made someone's day. :-)
I get cleaned up and change into a shirt with a collar. I call this "Dressing Up" when I'm at Disneyworld.
I drove. Not going to (a) deal with changing buses, and (b) I'm especially not going to change buses at a park when it could Florida Summer Rain on me. Us. I don't even have Karen with me, and we go.
Arrived at AKL, the guard waves me through, and dropped Jenny and Cathy off at the door and parked the car. It's drizzling and there's no need for all of us to get wet. This seems to be a foreign concept to both of them. We are early, so we go have an adult beverage in Victoria Falls. I have one of these sweet cherry drinks (might have been made with Red Stag), and Cathy has a margarita. Jenny refuses to drink on an empty stomach.
Boma was...Boma. The salmon perfectly cooked, the pork very good and so was the couscous and pretty much everything else that landed on my plate (I'm still trying to remember if any of it was green), and then there's those deserts. Mmmm... I would have gone back for some more of the salmon for desert if the meat line wasn't so long. So I made up for it with the panna cotta, caramel cheesecake, zebra dome...
We drive back to Coronado Springs, and guess what? It's raining! We call it a night. It's been a long drive for me, and a working day for Jenny and Cathy.
End August 2011 Trip Report - Part 3.
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