April 1999- Old Key West
Day 6- Thursday
Breakfast at home again with a leisurely awakening then to the Magic Kingdom. We had decided that we would eat at the Concourse Steakhouse. We arrived at the Contemporary at about 11:30 a.m. The security guard at the gate seemed to have a problem with the fact that we were there early for lunch. It appears that from some of the stories I have heard on the newsgroups that the security guards at the Contemporary are some of the most difficult to deal with. Well, this gentleman was no different. He told us rather indignantly after looking at his watch that it was 11:30am and "you're a little early". Well, maybe we wanted to walk around the shops prior to our lunch. After this he proceeded to tell us that general parking was to the right. He indicated the parking lot that was ALL the way towards the front, way the heck aways from the main entrance of the hotel. It is amazing sometimes compared to some of the security guards at the other resorts. It seems that there is it is a recurring seen with the security guards at the Contemporary. It‘s shame because most of the time you're treated quite well while on property.
After lunch we hopped onto the Monorail and over to the MK. Seemed like another crowded day here. We went straight for Adventureland and for Pirates. Wait time was minimal, only 5 minutes. We checked Peter Pan again, still 25 minutes. Can you tell we like this ride? But, we didn’t want to waste the time. Lunch was PB&J again, this time at Mrs. Potts’. After we walked towards Mickey’s Toontown Fair. Wow, the crowds here were slightly unbearable. I guess because of the "kids" theme here there seemed to be a lot of screaming little ones. Even some screaming parents. We knew it was time to ‘vamanos’ when a parent from behind us started screaming at the top of her lungs, "Jennifer, I am not going to scream at you all day here at DisneyWorld"! Wow, gotta love people like this who scream at their kids in the ‘Happiest Place on Earth’. Oh well, to each his own.
Over to Buzz for one last time and then the TTA again. Walking casually back towards the main entrance we enjoyed one more "Mickey Bar". Although these are So high in fat, they are real good. Another of our traditions.
On the way out we stopped by the Kodak Picture Pavilion. There were several booths you can have your picture taken in front of a green screen and then have another picture superimposed on it. In addition, there were several stations where you could have your picture taken with a digital camera and then you can email it to yourself or others. Here is ours.
Back to OKW we stopped by the pool for a quick dip. Shortly afterwards my dad arrived from Fort Lauderdale for a quick overnight visit. Living up north, we don’t seem him as much as we would like so when we are at Disney, we have him join us. He enjoys Disney, has a FL resident pass so it works out nicely. After washing up, we made our way to MGM and dinner at Brown Derby. We found out to late about the "Fantasmic Dinning" program. To participate, you must make dinner reservations at either the Brown Derby or Mamma Mia Italiano? Restaurant before 11:00am for that day (the reservations must be made AT the restaurant, you can’t make it through the central reservations). When you participate in "Fantasmic Dinning" you get "priority seating" for that evenings Fantasmic performance. The section that is roped off at the stadium is the right hand side. Not only did they seem like good seats, but the folks sitting here did not need to arrive at the amphitheater until just about 8:00pm for the 8:30 performance. We found this out too late.
Our dinner at the Brown Derby was quite nice. I had the Fillet Mignon and it was an excellent cut, very tender. I didn’t even need a steak knife, only used the butter knife. The placement of our table allowed me to look out the window over at Sunset Boulevard. I kept watching people go by, on their way to Fantasmic. Considering that 90% of them were going UP Sunset I figured they must be going to the show. We really wished that we had made reservations for the "Fantasmic Dinning". Out waitress knew we where trying to make the pre-show seating so she moved things along nicely without any excessive wait times. After finishing the meal we also joined the crowd and walked up Sunset Boulevard.
The amphitheater was quite huge! We got a view of the back and side of Tower of Terror and, as it got dark, watched the spooky lighting become more prevalent. We were seated in the Pocahantas section and unfortunately didn’t notice when taking our seats that there was a huge metal pillar used to hold up the rigging smack dab in front of us. Too late to move as the theater filled up quickly. Prior to the "organized" pre-show starting, a group of kids behind us started their own pre-show. They danced the hokey-pokey, the alley cat, the Macarena, chicken dance and even got the crowd started on the wave. For some strange reason the Cast Members kept running over and telling them to stop. What spoil sports! It had really kept the crowd entertained.
The real pre-show began. The two guys were rather funny. They did some antics with a ladder and chairs, doing balancing acts. One of the guys went all the way down the stairs of the theater doing a hand-stand. Towards the end they got up high on the ladder and chairs and false-started juggling a couple of times. Then all of a sudden from the left side of the theater, the wave started and traveled all the way across the theater. Judging from the "organized" nature, (the whole crowd was involved and it started from all the way at the end of the theater) we have to wonder if it was actually engineered by the Cast Members as part of the show. This happened twice. It had even delayed the juggling so that they "skipped it" for this performance.
Fantasmic itself was somewhat disappointing to us. Not only because of the location we were sitting (large metal pillar in front of us), it was also a windy night and some of the movies being shown onto the water fountains were not very clear. We were also disappointed by the small amount of live performers in the show. It seemed as though they were on for only a few seconds then back to the movie. Overall it was a nice show but we don’t think that we will wait another 1½ hrs to see it again. After the show we ‘herded’ down the exit ramp with what seemed like thousands of others. Back to the room for dessert and a chat with dad.