Day 9: August 26,
2001
Disney MGM Studios, Nap Time, DisneyDollarless Meet at
Boma's
The dreaded alarm clock woke us up at 6:00am, and it was quite a struggle to bring ourselves awake. Our bodies were truly feeling the exhaustion now, and the five hours of sleep we got last night just wasn't enough.
But my dad was coming by at 6:30am to get the dress, and we were meeting Bryan and Sharon for breakfast, so we didn't really have much time to dally. Finally we pulled ourselves out of bed and got ready, and then went down to the lobby with my gown to wait for my dad.
He was prompt as always, and found John and I curled up on a couch, half-asleep. I sat up and gave him a huge hug and thanked him for being a part of my wedding and told him how much I loved him. I was really sad to see him go home. It was, in some ways, an ending to our wedding vacation. He and my Dad then hugged, we gave him the gown, and he was gone.
We went back upstairs to finish getting ready, and John walked across to the other side to knock on Bryan & Sharon's door. A few moments later they emerged and we headed downstairs for breakfast. Since concierge was closed right now, Disney Guest Relations had offered us free breakfast every morning of our stay. I had hoped it would be good at the Whispering Canyon Café, but they were only redeemable at the Roaring Forks. Still, free breakfast is free breakfast!
We piled up on food, and then sat down, chatting and enjoying our morning together. I had several cups of tea, partly because I love tea and it makes me feel good, and partly because I was trying to pump as much caffeine into my system as I could. Boy, did I need some sleep!
After we were done, we headed out to the bus stop to catch the bus for MGM studios. We didn't wait long before a bus pulled up, and we were off to the park.
We walked into MGM studios and drank in the sites. We then looked for all the people we were suppose to meet - we had generally agreed to meet near the entrance - but after about twenty minutes, we determined that either they were not showing or had gone on without us, and we moved into the park. We headed first towards the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and the Rock'n'Roller Coaster. We decided whichever had the longest wait we would fastpass, and then go on the one with the shorter wait. The Tower only had a wait of 10 minutes, whereas the Coaster had a wait of 45. So we grabbed FastPasses for the Coaster, and got into line for the Tower. Bryan tried to convince John to go on with us, but he refused. He had gone on once before and once was more than enough for him. I felt bad leaving John behind, but John assured me - as he always does - that he enjoys people watching as much as he does going on rides, and was perfectly content to wait outside and watch people.
We moved quickly to the front of the line, which was great, though it didn't really give Bryan and Sharon a chance to enjoy the scenery. Before we knew it, we were on our way up the Tower. We had great fun, and were dropped four times. We all had a blast. We decided not to buy the picture, because Bryan wanted to convince John to go on for a foursome shot. I laughed, knowing he wouldn't succeed.
Since we still had time before our FastPass time came around, we headed over to Star Tours and took our tour to Endor. We then ran back over to get on the Rock'n'Roller Coaster.
This was our first time on the rollercoaster, and though we had heard some stories about it, we didn't really know what to expect. The pre-show with Aerosmith was fun, and then we were standing in line to get on the coaster ourselves. It was designed to look just like a rockstar's car, and we watched as the next coaster got ready to go through the tunnel. All of a sudden we heard the sound of tires squealing, and then the coaster literally zipped into the tunnel. It moved so fast, like a bolt of lightening, disappearing into the tunnel! You blinked and it was gone!
We gaped at the vacuum left by the coaster for each other, and then John gave me a silly grin. "I think I'd like to get off now," he said, half-joking.
Our wedding ears worked wonders for us, and we were given the first car when we finally got on. Bryan really wanted the front, and John wasn't sure he was so keen on it, so we left them take the very front seats and got in behind it. Though my ears were secured to my head with a half-dozen bobby pins, I took it off. I didn't want to risk losing it.
And then the coaster took off.. it REALLY took off! They aren't kidding when they say it is FAST! We were zipping through the darkness, taking sharp turns and up and down hills, and flying all over the place. The entire coaster is in the dark, with street signs and such in blacklight whizzing by you. It's a really neat effect.
When we got off, a little unsteady on our feet, we instantly began laughing over how much fun it was. Even John, who normally dislikes rollercoasters, loved it, and we vowed to do it again. The picture of us came out great, and as the only photo of the four of us, we had to get it. Bryan bought us one when he bought his.
We then left, grabbing fastpasses for the ride again on our way out. We then headed over to see the Muppet 3D Vision show. I love this show, and we had a lot of fun. Bryan and Sharon talked about how they wanted to bring their kids to see this one.
Sadly, we just missed the beginning of the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, which Sharon had really wanted to see. To be honest, I cannot recall now what ride we went on instead, but we had fun on whatever one we went on.
Our lunch reservation time was now rolling around, and we headed over to the 50's Prime Time Café. I had never eaten there before, and was really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, our FastPasses were during the same time as well. John and I decided to remain and wait for the reservations, while Bryan and Sharon went to ride the Rock'n'Roller Coaster again. In the end, we should have gone with them, as it took them about 40 minutes to seat us, and Sharon and Bryan were back by then.
After what seemed an endless wait, we were finally seated. I couldn't help but look at my watch and notice the team. We were having dinner at 6pm at Boma's in the Animal Kingdom Lodge at the DisneyDollarless meet, and the endless delays in getting seated for lunch was putting us too close to dinner time, in my opinion.
We sat down at our kitchen table, and our waitress was very friendly and motherly when she came to take our order. I made the mistake of ordering an appetizer - I saw "French fries and gravy" on the menu, and just had to have it! By mistake, I mean that it was a LARGE appetizer, as I was about to discover, and filled me up so much that I had no room for my dinner! We were all starving, and had been able to look at a menu while waiting, so we placed our orders immediately. I ordered the meatloaf, as I heard it was really good.
The restaurant was so crowded that we had a bit of a wait before even our appetizers arrived. We had fun hanging out and soaking in the atmosphere, but on retrospect we wish we had skipped lunch. It ate up about 2 ˝ hours of our day. Our appetizers were at last brought out, and we dove into them with a frenzied hunger. Shortly thereafter, our lunches were brought to us.
I tried to eat as much as I could, but I really had no appetite for my food. The appetizer had done me in. The meatloaf was pretty good, though. It turned out none of us had a huge appetizer; not one of us belonged to the clean plate club. Our waitress came by again after we were done, and scolded us for not finishing our food. She let John and I off easy because we were newlyweds. She saw that Sharon hadn't touched her vegetables, and so picked up the fork, speared some veggies, and said, "Come on, you have to eat your veggies. Big mouth, now! Chugga-chugga-choo-choo!" and played "train" with her food. Sharon just stared at her in amazement, and then obediently opened her mouth and ate the food. Afterwards, she just said, "Well, what could I do? I had to eat them." Our waitress also harassed Bryan, but he would have none of it.
Afterwards, we went on one more ride before we parted ways. Bryan and Sharon went back to the Wilderness Lodge, and John and I headed to the Animal Kingdom Lodge. It was still fairly early and the dinner wasn't for a couple of hours, but we wanted time to just enjoy the resort again.
We got onto the bus and sat down, and immediately our exhaustion overwhelmed us. We had full tummies and were seated, and started to doze. When we got to the resort, we were determined to take a nap and catch up on some sleep, and looked for a place where we could rest. We walked around for a bit, took some photos, and enjoyed the resort, before finding a place to sleep. We wound up in the Sunset Room - a beautiful large room, with many couches and best of all, pillows! - and stretched out on couches and went fast to sleep.
I am not a heavy sleeper normally, and I certainly wasn't here at the resort. Aside from the fact that I was determined not to sleep past our dinner time, every time someone walked into the room, I awoke. John, who normally is a heavy sleeper, was also sleeping lightly. We only napped for an hour, and it wasn't a continuous hour, but it still did us good!
We placed the pillows back in their original arrangement, and then went down to Boma's to meet everyone for dinner. Most of the Disneydollarless folks were there, including Pam & Steve who we met last week. Our friends, AJ & Mike, were also already there. Although not DisneyDollarless folks, they joined us for the meet.
We had so much fun! We all sat together at two tables, and talked and laughed our way through dinner. The buffet was amazing - there was so much food to try! This place definitely ranks as one of our favorite restaurants, and you really get your money's worth and then some! We went back multiple times to try different things, including the AMAZING desserts! Yum yum! I think I put back on all the weight I lost on this meal alone. LOL!
The evening went by far too quickly, and before we knew it, it was time to depart. We all gathered around the table for some group photos to remember the evening by, and then we were all making our goodbyes and leaving.
AJ & Mike joined John and I in another stroll through the resort, and we spent a lot of time animal-watching. Finally we went to the Gift Shop and wandered around, looking at all the neat stuff.
All four of us then went to Downtown Disney, to meet Bryan and Sharon at DisneyQuest. AJ was feeling a little under the weather when we got there, but tried to stick through the night. We met up with Bryan and Sharon and then headed on in, and we took delight at their amazement over this place. We got into line first for Aladdin's Magic Carpet ride. It was a fairly long line, but it looked neat, and we were all psyched to go. One of the CMs looked at John and I in our wedding ears and asked if we had just gotten married. We beamed our happy smiles and chimed "Yes!" in unison. He then handed us a helmet and said, "Well, in that case, come on in" and let our entire group cut to the front. We were surprised and happy, and gladly took up the offer, though we could imagine the people in line are not entirely happy about it.
The Magic Carpet Ride is a virtual reality ride, where you sit on a little contraption with a VR headset and controls, and "fly" the carpet through the game. It was a lot of fun, and we had a blast doing so. It was very disorienting for me because my helmet didn't sit right on my head - my head was too tiny apparently - but it was still fun. AJ wasn't a big fan, because it sent her tummy spinning.
We went upstairs to play the Extraterroristial Encounter ride, and divided up into 2 teams, girls and guys. In this, one person is the driver and the others (up to three) arm the guns. You are in a machine that is supposed to be like a tank, and your mission is to rescue the colonists on this planet that has been overrun by aliens, destroying the aliens as you go. We beat the guys first time around, and they beat us the second time.
We then went to the Ride the Comix ride, and all played superheroes. It was another virtual reality ride, except in this one you get to swing around lightsabers. It was also great fun, but the VR didn't sit well with AJ, who was so ill at this point that she and Mike decided to leave. We said goodbye and agreed to meet up for dinner tomorrow.
Bryan, Sharon, John, and I then went back downstairs and did the Dinosaur ride. I forget the name, but you are on a raft - it's an actual raft that sits on an airbag that actually moves as if you are on water. Water jets spray you every time you "splash down" in the game. You have paddles that have wheels on them, and how you paddle determines where and how fast you go in the game. John loves dinosaurs, so this was one of his favorites.
Finally, we ended the night by getting into the line for the Pirates of the Caribbean. This won our favorite ride award!! It was so much fun! I highly recommend everyone try it!
You start by entering a room that looks like the prow of a ship. You are surrounded on three sides by a VR screen that displays the open seas. One person is the pilot of the ship (John volunteered for that), and the remainder arm the six cannons that sit on the sides and front of the ship. A ghost pirate greets you, and tells you that you need to win the gold from the pirates, and then a great sea battle begins as you chase after the pirate ships and shoot them with your cannons to destroy them and steal their gold. It's a lot of fun!!
We wanted to ride it again, but DisneyQuest was closing when we got out, and it was time to leave. We caught the bus back to the Wilderness Lodge, and then bade each other goodnight. We agreed to share breakfast again in the morning, before Bryan and Sharon prepared to return home.
John and I debated using the Jacuzzi again this night, but when we got into our room, the bed called sweetly to us, and we fell soundly, deeply asleep, wrapped in each other's arms.
NEXT: Fairy Godmother remembers us, Sword Ceremony, Coronado Springs, Planet Hollywood
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