{"id":6857,"date":"2004-12-20T11:57:44","date_gmt":"2004-12-20T18:57:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2004\/12\/20\/wdw-day-4-monday-13-dec-04.html"},"modified":"2014-11-10T11:43:25","modified_gmt":"2014-11-10T18:43:25","slug":"wdw_day_4_monda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/12\/20\/wdw_day_4_monda.html","title":{"rendered":"WDW – Day 4 – Monday, 13 Dec 04"},"content":{"rendered":"

Margie did actually have to work while we were down here — the IHI<\/a> conference being the excuse for our travels — so early Monday morning she got up, got dressed, and slipped out. <\/p>\n

Kitten — and, thus, I — stayed sacked out until 9. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

My first thought was to Swing Into Action and head directly to the day’s park, Disney-MGM<\/a><\/strong>, feasting on a breakfast bar along the way, but I discovered I’d not charged my cell phone. So I quick plugged it in, and we wandered over to the lodge for lunch, passing by the renovation work being done to one of the buildings. All of Port Orleans is getting internal makeovers — and we were in some of the last sections awaiting it. Though, to be honest, I didn’t feel our room was particularly run down.<\/p>\n

We returned, grabbed the cell phone, grabbed the gorp (a delightful mix of peanuts, cashews, plain M&Ms, raisins, craisins, and dried dates), and headed off to the bus depot. As trips past have demonstrated, you can get anywhere you want at WDW, just by bus, and we took advantage of that while Margie had the car. <\/p>\n

I was reminded, as the bus pulled up, how I had used their color scheme during a particularly unfortunate period of early blog design here …<\/p>\n

*&nbsp&nbsp *&nbsp&nbsp *<\/center><\/p>\n

We got to MGM, took photos of the big Christmas tree (Kitten’s idea), got our backpack inspected, rented a stroller (which is handy both for transporting short legs and for holding a backpack), and hallooed off toward the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror<\/a><\/strong>. We’d not gone on that last time here, given Kitten’s tender years, but this time I was determined to give it a try. <\/p>\n

The atmosphere — the exterior and interior of the old Hollywood Tower Hotel — are fabulous, and the Twilight Zone elements are decently done (even if the Rod imitator is only so-so). The ride itself — random high-speed ups and down in the elevator — is quite fun, if short. Enough so that Katherine decided we had to go on it again, and, given the 10 minute line, we did. <\/p>\n

Definitely worth a visit.<\/p>\n

Alas, the Aerosmith Rock-n-Roller Coaster<\/a> had too tall a height requirement for Kitten (48″), so we grabbed some ice cream and headed onward. The Indiana Jones stunt show<\/a><\/strong> was more fun for me than her (I was particularly amused that they managed to show several key scenes from Raiders <\/em>while avoiding any swastikas (using the German cross insignia instead).<\/p>\n

I made it up to Kitten by buying her a Bag of Jewels at the gift shop.<\/p>\n

Then on to Star Tours<\/a><\/strong>, which is just like the Anaheim one, except that when you get to the end of the first queue chamber you turn … left? <\/em>T’ain’t natural.<\/p>\n

Star Tours is getting a bit long in the tooth (or, perhaps, just over-familiar after several dozen ridings). Wish Disney and Lucas would pony up for some updates.<\/p>\n

Katherine’s most fun for the day (Tower notwithstanding) was going through the Honey I Shrunk the Kids<\/a><\/strong> playground (which we always think of being a Bug’s Life tie-in, probably because of the Flick who stands nearby). Kitten ran around through tunnels, across webs, glommed onto a very nice English girl who helped her with her shoes, and generally had a blast until the Evil Daddy called time to leave.<\/p>\n

*&nbsp&nbsp *&nbsp&nbsp *<\/center><\/p>\n

From there, we headed over to the Animation Studio<\/a><\/strong>, which (after an amusing presentation) was focused around Incredibles goings-on, including a photo-op appearance by Mr. and Mrs. Incredible (and, later on, Fro-Zone). That was kind of entertaining (though I might have wished for more info on the movie). The adjoining Studio Store had the best collection of Incredibles <\/em>swag at any of the Disney parks, but …<\/p>\n

… well to be honest, the Incredibles <\/em>swag has been terribly limited, even at Disney. There were items I saw at the local Disney store that weren’t at the parks, and a very few vice-versas (a Violet t-shirt, a Violet figure). Almost every gift shop had the same kiosk with the same ten items, and that was about it. Something less than incredible.<\/p>\n

We were beginning to flag by this point, but, after warding off a request for a Princess Outfit (dresses, hats, crowns, shoes, jewelry), at which time Katherine decided that Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty<\/em>) was her favorite (blond hair, pink outfit, what’s not to like), we moved over to the Playhouse Disney<\/a><\/strong> show.<\/p>\n

It was a tad shocking to realize that Katherine was one of the oldest kids there, and that, really, she doesn’t watch most of the shows referred to there any more. She had a good time, danced in the Bear Cha-cha-cha line, and all that, but there’s no question that, if we return in another two years, this feature won’t be on the menu for her.<\/p>\n

*&nbsp&nbsp *&nbsp&nbsp *<\/center><\/p>\n

We met up with Margie back at the ranch, and, much to Kitten’s delight, went swimming at the “quiet pool” just near our room. Katherine was on a swimming and water kick all week, which the temp made a scosh problematic. After trying off in our teeny little hotel towels, we went off to the Contemporary Resort<\/a><\/strong> (driving directly there). We found the Secret Location to watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks (there’s a patio on the 4th floor, north end of the building with chairs on it, though some folks also stood up in the outdoor stairwells on the northeast arch wall). You get a great view of the fireworks over Space Mountain from there, at least as good as anything in the park.<\/p>\n

Afterward, we had dinner at the Contemporary Steakhouse<\/a><\/strong>, which was passably yummy. We bought some fudge from the gift shop, and wandered downstairs.<\/p>\n

Getting back into the car I realized that I was with my wife and daughter, at Disney World, a full stomach, the taste of maple fudge in my mouth, and some marvelous Gabrielli antiphonal music on the car CD. My friends, it does not get much better than that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Margie did actually have to work while we were down here — the IHI conference being the excuse for our travels — so early Monday morning she got up, got…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[263,51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disney","category-travel-wdw-04"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":135994,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/03\/28\/spring-break-walt-disney-world.html","url_meta":{"origin":6857,"position":0},"title":"Spring Break at Walt Disney World","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 28-Mar-18 10:24am","format":false,"excerpt":"Not a recommended date selection, though since it is a school trip, there are reasons. Never seen the plaza in front of \"Pirates of the Caribbean\" full before. View on Google+","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG_20180328_121315.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG_20180328_121315.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG_20180328_121315.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11154,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/03\/28\/we_interrupt_this_blog_fo.html","url_meta":{"origin":6857,"position":1},"title":"We interrupt this blog for a short vacation","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 28-Mar-07 11:48pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Though I expect I'll be photoblogging via my cell phone whilst we're at Walt Disney World.\u00a0\u00a0...","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging & Internet"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging & Internet","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14921,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/06\/01\/disney-pictures-up-wdw.html","url_meta":{"origin":6857,"position":2},"title":"Disney pictures up (#wdw)","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 1-Jun-09 12:36am","format":false,"excerpt":"I've gotten all the camera-based Walt Disney World photos up in Flickr.\u00a0 What's still missing are pics taken from either of our cell phones, or any of the official Disney photographer PhotoPass pics. Those will come anon. Feel free to enjoy if you're interested (or not if you're not). \u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Disney\/Pixar"","block_context":{"text":"Disney\/Pixar","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/franchises\/disney"},"img":{"alt_text":"Magic Kingdom","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3607\/3584409078_a36bfba574_m.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":135987,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/03\/26\/the-serendipitous-collector.html","url_meta":{"origin":6857,"position":3},"title":"The Serendipitous Collector","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 26-Mar-18 6:03pm","format":false,"excerpt":"+Kay Hill is jazzed over the random collection of Star Wars pins obtained this evening. View on Google+","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG_20180326_200112.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG_20180326_200112.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG_20180326_200112.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":135991,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/03\/27\/padding-through-pandora.html","url_meta":{"origin":6857,"position":4},"title":"Padding through Pandora","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 27-Mar-18 10:13pm","format":false,"excerpt":"We're off this week on a school band\/orchestra trip that took us today to Walt Disney World and Disney's Animal Kingdom. DAK has always been the red-headed stepchild of WDW. Built at a time when Disney was strapped for cash, the original plans were scaled way back (including putting off\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG_20180327_131508.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG_20180327_131508.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG_20180327_131508.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":136020,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/03\/30\/thursday-park-crowds.html","url_meta":{"origin":6857,"position":5},"title":"Thursday in the Park with Crowds","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 30-Mar-18 9:43am","format":false,"excerpt":"As the last day of the big high school band\/orchestra trip, and after two days at Walt Disney World (at one of which the kids actually did a very interesting clinic involving sound tracks ), our partial last day before heading to the airport was spent at Universal Studios in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG_20180329_152002.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6857"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6857\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47600,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6857\/revisions\/47600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}