2007 WDW 4 Parks in one day and Private Party at MGM Studios

 Written in April 2007...

For Disney aficionados—my 4 park hopper day at WDW: 

 

My redeye flight arrived at 5am, so on less than 3 hours of sleep I head to Animal Kingdom and wait at the gate 45 minutes prior to the 9am opening.  I rush in and beat the crowd to Expedition Everest (my knee did not appreciate this and would remind me that I’m no longer 20 all day long), grab a Fastpass, ride Expedition Everest (awesome!), go ride Dinosaur for the first time (scary), ride Primeval Whirl for the first time (rough) and then go back to Expedition Everest to use my Fastpass (awesome again!). 

 

I decided to try Kali River rapids wearing a poncho and I managed to stay 95% dry, but really, this ride is too short and rather lame.  I’m glad to know I’m not missing much when I skip Kali, Dinosaur or Primeval Whirl.  I guess there’s a reason I’ve never made them a priority.  (I’m wondering how Kali compares to the Grizzly water ride in CA?) 

 

I now take a bus to MGM arriving at 11:00.  I ride Rock n’ Roller coaster via the very quick singles line.  I grab a Fastpass for Tower of Terror.  I spend a fair amount of time walking through the Walt: One Man’s dream exhibit and seeing the film.  I really enjoyed this as I find him fascinating and inspirational.  I go back to Tower of Terror and use my Fastpass. 

 

I then take a boat to Epcot, arriving at 1:30.  I grab a fastpass for Test Track, but it isn’t good until sometime after 6pm.  I go ride the “orange” Mission Space.  I have been on this before and had forgotten how intense this ride is.  Because it’s not fast or a thrill seeking kind of ride it escapes from my memory easily, but it is the most unique ride I’ve ever been on and I’m so glad I got to ride it again.  It’s simply indescribable.  When I get off I’m always a bit weak at the knees.  

 

I then head back to Mexico for counter service lunch – I sit overlooking the lagoon soaking in the beautiful park.  I rode the refurbed Mexico ride and I must say it is a welcomed improvement.  I then head to Test Track and ride via the single rider line which moves much faster than the estimated time.  Forget about the fastpass! 

 

Next I hop the monorail to MK, my absolute favorite park.  I arrive at 4:00 and just smile all over as I walk down mainstreet.  It’s busy, but I am still able to get a fastpass for Space Mountain for 6:35pm.  I then wait for the Monster’s Inc show.  The line only moves every 10+ minutes, so it feels like eternity with many people giving up and leaving the line, but it took less than 30 minutes to get in.  It’s a cute show but I think I like Crush better because he mostly talks to kids. 

 

I then ride Stitch for the first time.  Lame!  Glad to know I wasn’t missing anything there either.  I catch Philharmagic, which I love, and Carousel of Progress and the Transit Authority ride for a rest while I wait for my fastpass time.  At 6:35 I ride Space Mountain.   Honestly, this ride is in desperate need of a refurb.  I know it is a painfully long process, but WDW just needs to do it!  The Disneyland one is so much smoother it feels like it’s faster and has this cool illusion at the end where it almost feels like you’re moving backwards.   I did like the dioramas at the end when you’re walking out of the ride. 

 

I then head to the other side of the park, grab a fastpass for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, grab a quick dinner, ride Haunted Mansion, ride Big Thunder Mt Railroad via fastpass, ride Pirates (probably the longest line I stood in), walk through the Swiss Family Tree house (spooky in the dark but a lovely view of the park at night).  By now it is 9pm and I’m beat and my knee is not happy.  I head to mainstreet to watch the Spectromagic parade and be close to the exit.  The 10pm fireworks are a must see and amaze me every time.   I’m back at my hotel at 11:10pm, exhausted but thrilled that I got to do everything I wanted and so much more on my adult-thrill-ride-4-park day! 

The private party at MGM (Disney Studios): 

 

While attending a work conference in Orland we were given a private party night in the park. It was amazing! The park closed to the public at 7 p.m.  Buses from the hotel dropped us off on the back side, near the extreme stunt show arena at 7:30 p.m.  We walked in down the Streets of America and it was all roped off with a red carpet and screaming fans.  We were all very surprised by the hoopla and had no idea who these cheering people were and why they were asking for our autographs.  LOL.  (I later confirmed that they are Disney cast members.) 

 

My co-worker and I headed straight back toward ToT and RnR.  We passed various tables of food and beer and wine, but we wanted to ride first!  Sections of the park were closed off to us and most of the shops were closed.  It was kind of eerie that the park was so empty.  (There are an estimated 4000 attendees at the conference so probably many less than that at the park.) 

 

We rode ToT and RnR with hardly any wait.  We then stopped to eat a bite. All of the food was free so I got my traditional pizza at Catalina Eddie’s and then later got some popcorn.   We road Star Tours and then decided to part ways so he could see the Indiana Jones show and I could see the Mermaid show.  While waiting for my nearly private showing of Mermaid (there were around 12 of us at the show) I talked to a CM for a bit about the private party.  She said they do around 1 or 2 a month and that being a screaming fan at the red carpet is one of her favorite roles.  She said our party was “big” because we had so many attractions – that most parties just “buy” a few showings and ToT and RnR and don’t open so many attractions.  (Honestly, it seemed very silly to me that our party had a Beauty and the Beast showing as well as several Mermaid showings because kids weren’t even allowed!  In addition to the rides I mentioned above, the following were also open:  Narnia, Great Movie Ride, Sounds Dangerous, Muppet Vision 3D, Magic of Disney Animation, and Walt Disney One Man’s Dream.  So, as you can see, nearly the entire park was open for us.)  A fellow attendee told me he’d heard the party cost a cool million.  Knowing that spouses cost $200 to attend this party and an additional happy hour, we did the math and figured $1,000,000 was probably ball park. 

 

After the mermaid showing it was nearing time for Fantasmic so I headed back and did one more quick ToT ride.  The Fantasmic theater was empty!  I counted and there are 10 seating sections.  For our showing there were people scattered in 4 of them, and I mean scattered.  We could have easily fit into 2 sections and probably even crammed into one section.  For the first time ever I got the sit in the middle of the stadium and see the show head on.  It was fabulous!  There also wasn’t anyone sitting in front of me for several rows so I had an unobstructed view.  I could have cried I was so happy.   After the show was over at 10:30 a few stores on Hollywood Boulevard were open for shopping and we were bussed back to our hotel.   It was a fabulous night. 

Bangkok Thailand - Fall 2015 - The City!

Bangkok Thailand - Fall 2015 - The City!

We lost our first day to travel delays, so no city or temple touring. We sleep and then rise early for our Elephant Bath and Tiger Temple tour.  The elephant ride and bath is our number one priority.  This trip is for my daughter and it's what my daughter talked of doing in Thailand.  We have a private tour with a driver and guide and it's a 3.5 hour drive north to the hills where the elephants are.

The camp is mostly empty, I think we are the first customers of the day.  We ride on an elephant with a guide ''driving".  It's impressive how the elephant responds to verbal commands.  We ride sitting on a bench and it is really bumpy but fun.  For the last little stretch my daughter gets to sit on the elephant's neck and really loves this. It makes me nervous that our "driver" is now walking around away from the elephant, but the elephant seems very responsive to his commands.  Next we get in the river one at a time on our elephant to give it a "bath".  Of course this is just tourist fun but a real thrill in so many ways.  First to be on these majestic creatures and second to take a dip in the River Kwai.   The water is surprisingly warm and we rub shampoo on the elephant before she goes under to rinse her head off.  She's a good sport.  She splashes the water with her trunk to get us wet. 

The last thing we do is feed the elephants bananas and watch them do some tricks with includes giving kisses and massages.  Our tour of Thailand involves a lot of animal interaction because this is what my teenager wants to do and the opportunity exists here.  It has sparked a lot of discussion between us about how animals are treated.  We used Trip Advisor to get a feeling for how each place was viewed by the general public regarding the welfare of the animals.  We have talked about the use of animals in tourism and the ethics behind this, also about zoos and how far our zoos in the US have come.  There is much to learn about how cultures treat their animals and not always easy answers, but we are here to observe and enjoy.

After a Thai buffet lunch and a stop to feed some monkeys along the road our next stop today as at the Tiger Temple, which is supposedly like an animal refuge for tigers and other animals.  We walk along dirt paths and dozens of deer and water buffalo and wart hogs roam freely.  This seems more dangerous than the tigers we are about to see.  One at a time we get to sit and touch several tigers and have our photo taken.  It is after lunch and HOT so most of the tigers are sleeping.  That's what cats do - sleep most of the day.  One young tiger is awake and being fed and we are allowed a quick photo of him together, something they normally won't do but our guide worked some magic.  It is hot, hot, hot out so we are ready to end our day in the air conditioned car for the 3 hour drive back to Bangkok.

For our second city day we have an Uber driver taking us to our destination and acting as our guide. We are headed to Muang Boran the Ancient City.  This is like a park with many replicas of temples and famous buildings.  It is shaped like Thailand and has buildings representing all the different areas and also different time periods.  Here we'll get our chance to see some temples.  Most people buy a ticket that includes bicycles.  Riding a bike in 90 degree heat with a "feels like 100" temperature rating?!  Not me!  We rent a golf cart and our Uber driver is kind enough to drive us around.  The buildings and the grounds are well taken care of and we enjoy seeing the beautiful buildings and also going inside some of the temples.

  After lunch at a little cooking stand that costs less than $10 to feed 3 people we head to the zoo that is near the Ancient City.  I had read some rather scathing reviews on Trip Advisor so I knew it would not be a delightful experience overall but I knew they had baby animals and my daughter decided seeing them was worth it even if the zoo made us feel sad.   She had wanted to feed a tiger at the Tiger Temple, but that option was full so this will give her that opportunity.  I'm still filled with sadness at the chimps in captivity, but my daughter got the thrill of a lifetime when she was able to hold one.  She also fed a baby sun bear, tiger cub, and a leopard cub.   She was just beaming with joy over all these baby animals. 

Some parts of the Samutprakan Crocodile Farm and Zoo seemed clean and nice.  We saw your standard alligator show and an elephant show with some rather impressive tricks.  Some of the animal enclosures even seemed quite large and spacious, like the tiger, bear, and alligator areas.  But other parts of the zoo, much of the zoo,  just felt old, dated, small and very poorly cared for.  Sad, sad, sad.

Our last day of our trip and our last city touring day is spent shopping at Chatuchak weekend shopping market.  This is stall after stall of shopping for anything you can imagine.  There are handicrafts and trinkets, clothes and shoes, household items and food, pet food and pets, antiques and beautiful furniture and lamps and home décor.  All price ranges to choose from and the merchants are polite and helpful and are not pushy at all.  At one booth I bought something for 89 baht, less than $3, and the merchant came running after me to give me 10 baht because it really was supposed to only be 79 baht.  That's an honest merchant!  It's kind of like shopping at a flea market as it's huge and easy to get lost and turned around.  We see several exotic pets like hedgehogs and flying squirrels and tiny monkeys.  We even see a bunch of hairless rats with a sign that says not to ask how they became hairless because they don't know!  It is hot, hot, hot inside there.  Thankfully you're mostly out of the direct sun and many places have fans to generate a cool breeze, but it's still HOT!  We buy a lot of fun gifts and souvenirs as we shop in the heat.

My daughter was surprised with how crowded, busy and dirty the city is.  Worse than NYC she declares.  I think we understand why we saw daily trash pickup in NYC.  In cities this size it just seems to pile up too easily.   She actually enjoyed seeing all the graffiti here.  We both marveled at the traffic and how many cars and motorcycles maneuver in such tight places without touching each other.  There is a lot of skill in that.  Her favorite activity was the elephant bath and the photos with the baby animals and the tigers.  Being able to touch so many exotic animals is not something she will soon forget.

Special thanks to our Thai friends for hosting us!