I’m awake at 3:30 . Unfortunately, this is not that uncommon for me. After the long day yesterday, I thought I might sleep in a bit but I guess not. I lounge in bed, doze slightly, and finally get up at 5:00 and put on a pot of coffee. I step out on the balcony and it’s chilly but the forecast today is sunny and approaching 80.

After showers, we get dressed and head to the Dolphin for breakfast at Tubbi’s. It’s French toast for Barb and bacon and eggs for me. We get 20% off here through DVC. Tubbi’s is nothing fancy but I like their consistency. It’s billed as a Buffeteria but they do offer service. My meal would have been scooped on to a plate and placed on my tray as we walked through but… they needed to make the French toast fresh. Rather than give me my food, the cook told us to grab a seat and he brought both meals to the table when Barb’s was ready. Not a big deal but a nice touch of service.

For anyone anal enough to want this information: We left Tubbi’s at 8:42, walked across the bridge to the Boardwalk, down the path to MGM , through Security and the turnstiles and were at rope drop at 8:58. I had a problem with my AP last night at Epcot. When I inserted it in the slot, it shot through without my placing my fingers in the scanner. The CM finally got it to work by putting it in upside down. It gave me a problem today at MGM as well. I asked the CM if I should have it replaced and she said “No. It should work fine now.”

Our first stop was Tower of Terror (ToT). We had a slight wait before entering the library. In the basement, they only had the left side working so it took a few minutes there as well. ToT is still a great ride and I really like the theming all the way through. I think I must have had a death grip on the side handle because after the ride was over, Barb glanced down and said, “You can let go now.”

Our plan was to head down to the Lights, Motors, Action Stunt Show (LMA) and pick up FastPasses. I’ve heard that’s the only way to get in. Wrong. When we got down there, a CM greeted us by telling us the next show was at 10:50 . I asked about FPs and they weren’t offering any (the FP machines were shrouded). She said to get there about 10:30 and we should be fine.

We headed to Star Tours and boarded a ¾-full simulator after about a 2-minute wait. I still like it. I still want a new film. ‘Nuff said.

Next stop was the Great Movie Ride (GMR). We walked in and found only two rows in the theater were occupied. There were some crowds here yesterday (the holiday) but it’s really un-crowded today. The GMR is always fun and I’ve been asking for some new scenes in the film at the end. They listened. There are several new scenes but they flash by so quickly, it’s difficult to remember them. The new scenes I can recall are: a scene from ‘ Chicago ”, a quick shot of Jackie Chan (not sure of the film), a shot of Johnnie Depp and Orlando Bllom from ‘Pirates’, the shark from ‘Finding Nemo”, and… I think there were several others but they’re not coming to me now. Damned senility!

We get back to LMA at 10:35 and enter a fairly large queue. They apparently were having difficulties with something (they later apologized) but we were kept in the queue until about 11:10 . The show finally started at 11:15 – 25-minutes late. There’s some real talent and choreography going on with this show, although as Barb said, “If the drivers are that good, why are they working here?” We both enjoyed the show but agreed it didn’t need to be an every trip kind of thing.

We exited the theater at 11:45 and had a dilemma. Do we keep the 12:30 reservation at the Brown Derby or go to Millionaire? I let Barb decide so…

We headed over to Who Wants to be a Millionaire – Play It (WWTBAM) and found about 20-30 people waiting. They let us inside after a 2-minute wait. By show time, the theater was about 2/3 full. Our Stage Manager was Kevin (nicknamed ‘Ken Doll’ by our daughters at the Hoop-Dee-Doo several years ago) and our host was Jamie. The first Fastest Finger was to place the following baseball teams in order, from east to west: Braves, Yankees, Indians and Pirates. I blew it when I placed Cleveland further west than Atlanta . Dammit! I know better. It didn’t matter because a guy from Wisconsin had it right in .802 seconds (although he admitted he just “pushed the buttons”).

This guy was in his 60s and seemed very unaware of anything to do with pop culture. He used his 3 Lifelines in the first 4 questions (he didn’t know that Coast was a brand of soap or that ‘Lost’ was an ABC show about people marooned on an island). I figured he wasn’t long for the hot seat and then… as the questions got harder, he kept getting them right. He insisted he was just guessing but he was guessing right an awful lot. He finally misses at the 32,000-point question. I’m nowhere on the Leader Board when they bring in the next player. He lasts about 6 questions when he misses and… just as they’re ready to bring up the Leaders, the horn blows. Game over. They bring up the board and I’m # 2. Another trip without the hot seat. I would’ve felt worse had I been # 1.

We exited the Studios and walked back to the Boardwalk deciding on a late lunch at the ESPN club. We were seated immediately and ordered a Dinger sandwich for me, although I replaced the mild sauce with hot, and a Club Wrap for Barb. Both were very good and we got another 20% off with the DDE card.

We went back to the room and called the kids to make sure everything was going well at home. We also called our friends, the Goergens. Sue and Wayne were here, at the Boardwalk, with their son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter. They had come down on Saturday (2 days before us) and would be leaving on a later flight when we leave this Saturday. Barb left a voicemail message asking them to meet us in the Belle Vue Room for a drink at 9:00 . We figured that would be enough time to see Wishes at 8:00 and make it back to the Boardwalk.

We left the room at 4:00 and as we’re walking down to the bus stop, I see a Magic Kingdom bus pulling away. Oh, well. We waited and another MK bus was along in 10-minutes. We were through Security (bag-less) and the turnstiles quickly. This time my AP worked fine. I can’t figure it out.

We decided to head to Adventureland first and found a 30-minute wait (we’ll be back) at the Jungle Cruise (JC) and Pirates of the Caribbean (PotC) was down. Damn! We kept walking toward Big Thunder Mountain (BTMRR) and saw a 20-minute wait there. We picked up FPs for 5:45 and walked back to the Haunted Mansion (HM). The HM had a posted wait of 10-minutes but we were inside in 5. We had another great CM who opened the doors, looked at everyone and shouted, “Get in!” After the usual shtick of dragging “wretched bodies” and the like, she waited for the doors to open after the stretching room and screamed “Get out!” HM was, as always, a great ride. I did notice that the ‘hidden Donald’ chair was in darkness – you couldn’t really see the pattern. I’m not sure if that was by design or they simply had a bulb out.

I, once again, struck out trying to find the wedding ring in the pavement outside the HM. I know it’s there… maybe someday. We walked up into Fantasyland and past Peter Pan (40-minute standby). We were heading toward my favorite attraction in the MK, Mickey’s Philharmagic. The standby time was listed at 10 minutes but we walked through an empty queue and into the theater lobby. In less than 5-minutes we were in the theater. I’ve probably seen this 6 or 8 times now and I don’t tire of it. It’s become one of those multiple-times-per-trip attractions for us. During 3D movies, you often see a lot of children reaching out to touch an object that just looks so close. I had a woman, I’m guessing in her 50s, on my left. She reached out at everything in the film… for the entire film! I wanted to shout “Hey, lady. Why do you keep trying? Haven’t you figured it out yet?”

Back to BTMRR where we used our FPs and had a great, and pretty quick, ride. Then it was over to Tomorrowland where we discovered Buzz Lightyear was in rehab (now that I see that sentence I’m hoping you all understand I’m referring to the ride. You knew that, didn’t you?). I now remember reading that but it didn’t occur to me then. Instead we took a ride on the WEDWay. I did notice that the part where you ride through Buzz had the windows blocked with curtains.

Now neither of us are huge eaters (I once was but I’m getting older). Anyway, two meals a day is usually fine and we’ve already had breakfast and a fairly large, and late, lunch. Barb is claiming she’s not hungry at all but I’m looking for at least something light. I suggested the Tomorrowland Noodle Station. I figured some noodles for me and some pot stickers we could share. Barb agreed and we headed over to find it closed. I have yet to see this place open.

We were walking toward Main Street , Barb insisting she’s not hungry and me looking for something to eat. We were outside the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor when Barb decided that, while she wasn’t hungry, a hot fudge sundae in a waffle bowl would make the perfect dinner. Hard to argue with that. We got our sundaes and sat outside the parlor until I was licking the remnants of hot fudge from my fingers. Not that I’m uncouth enough to eat a sundae with my fingers but, once finished with the sundae portion, the waffle bowl screams to be torn apart and devoured.

Suitably satisfied, with made a restroom stop before heading back to Adventureland. The Jungle Cruise now sported a 10-minute standby wait so in we went. We walked through an empty queue to the loading dock where 4 people were waiting to board. They held us up a bit waiting for some others to come through the line and board. Our skipper was good but, in my opinion, just a touch too enthusiastic for my tastes. She did a nice job was added just a bit too much drama. Anyway we enjoyed it (Jeez, I’m starting to sound like Roger Ebert).

After our Cruise, it was time for PotC. We entered and saw a line of people stretching beyond the turnstiles. If the line is back this far, it must be a long wait so I went out again to check the posted wait time. We then saw a number of people leaving the queue. Apparently, the ride had started up and gone down again. Double damn! Maybe later in the trip.

Although we brought jackets tonight, they weren’t needed. It was a bit breezy but still warm. Unfortunately, the forecast had a cold front coming through and tomorrow will be chilly with highs in the low 60s. It’s supposed to warm up on Thursday (high near 80) and stay that way through the weekend.

We thought another visit to Philharmagic was in order so we walked to Fanatasyland and walked right into the theater. No wait at all and we enjoyed it again. This attraction has become my favorite at MK.

We were toying with the idea of picking up a set of Mouse Ears for our new Grandson so we headed to Main Street and into a very crowded Emporium. We found the ears but a CM said we needed to bring them to the hat shop on the other side of the Confectionary for embroidering. We could also buy them there so we decided on that. Unfortunately, when we got to the hat shop it was packed. We’ll try later in the week.

We walked back up Main Street and found a spot in the center (actually against a wall on the right) and watched Wishes. I took a number of photos of the fireworks with mostly good results. I was still playing with settings so I’m hoping to have it nailed down by the end of the week.

After Wishes, we exited with the masses and had only a 5-minute wait for a BW bus. We made it back by 8:45 and made our way to the Belle Vue Room where Sue and Wayne were in a couple of easy chairs by a table near the balcony. Wayne already had a Martini in front of him and a plate of shrimp on order. We chatted for a bit about our respective trips. Over the weekend, they had tried Gulliver’s in the Dolphin (Swan?) for dinner and liked it. Apparently, they have a nightly themed buffet (it was Italian when they were there) or you can order from the menu. Wayne raved about his steak and Sue said the buffet was very good.

Now my buddy, Wayne, is the absolute King of the Malapropisms. He told us that Gulliver’s had that great dessert, Kalamazoo . Barb and I kind of looked at each other and Sue rolled her eyes and corrected him:Tiramisu.” OK, now I get it. Wayne ’s had a number of these over the years but the absolute best one is… if Wayne reads this he’ll probably kill me and, if you’re at all squeamish, please skip to the next paragraph. The four of us were sitting on our deck, enjoying a cocktail as we fired up the barbecue for dinner. Wayne is a carpenter by trade and he runs some fairly large construction jobs for his company. He was telling us that he’s had a female carpenter on his team for some time and that she was often a real pain. He then related a story from that week about something she did that was pretty annoying. Someone asked if she was always that way and Wayne said, “I don’t know. I think she had Post Menstrual Drip or something.” Now we all knew that he had meant PMS but that didn’t stop us from falling off our chairs and laughing for the better part of the evening.

My favorite bartender, Allen, was back and waiting on tables. In October, the bartender never left the bar. We chatted over a couple of drinks and said our goodbyes at around 10:30. Their 1-BR villa was right off the elevator on the 1 st floor while Barb and I made the ½-mile walk to our studio.

Things I Think I Think - I think I’ll never get to the hot seat at WWTBAM. I think I really like Philharmagic… and Wishes. I think WDW is the only place that a hot fudge sundae qualifies as dinner. I think I like the Belle Vue Room. I think I need to keep a pencil and paper handy whenever talking to Wayne .

Day 3...

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