MouseFest 2008: Day 02

My alarm went of at 7AM, just as I set it, but it took a bit of time for me to recall why it was going off.  I eventually remembered that I was supposed to be calling 407-WDW-DINE to see if I could get an ADR for Boma for four of us.

After getting through the multiple levels of prompts where you are expected to speak your response (as opposed to hitting a number on the keypad), I eventually got to a human being.

I asked about Boma and was told that there was an 8:50AM timeslot available.  I told the Cast Member that I needed something closer to the 8 o’clock timeframe and she looked again and told me that there was an 8:10am slot too.  She also checked Tusker House for me as well and there was an 8:30AM time. 

I decided to secure the 8:10AM timeslot at Boma because when it comes down to two restaurants for breakfast and Boma is one of them, it’ll always win out.

That meant that Enchanted Rose was going to need to arise immediately because she needed to shower.  I always shower at night so I just needed to brush my teeth, brush my hair and get dressed.

Enchanted Rose got ready and we were out of the room by 7:30AM.  We got to the Harkness Hideaway (aka The Animal Kingdom Lodge) with time to spare, so we looked around the gift shop and then I took some pictures of the tree in the middle of the lobby. 

Since we were waiting for Tim and Gary (one of the very prolific contributors to The Magic in Pixels) to arrive, we just sat down at the entrance to Boma.  While we were waiting we saw one of the largest factions of the Red Hat Society that I have ever seen.

Tim and Gary showed up shortly and we were able to sit down.  We all ordered the “Jungle Juice” and some coffee then hit the buffet.  My first course was the bread course with lots, and lots of pancakes.  Then I followed up with a meat course (carving station ham and sausage).  I had eggs with both courses.

After the four of us felt stuffed, Enchanted Rose mentioned that she’d like to stick with our traditions at the Harkness Hideway and go outside to look at the animals on the savannah.  As soon as we stepped outside, we knew the weather had changed.  When we left the room it was a bit chilly, but now there was a really fine mist associated with it and that wet cold just digs deep into the skin.

There wasn’t very much exciting going on at the savannah near the pool, so we decided to go to the main savannah accessible from the main lobby.  Once again, no animals.  A cast member told us that this was the time they went back in for breakfast.  So, we decided to just head over to the Animal Kingdom for the days meets.

Tim had already gone ahead of us since he had to scope out locations for his Tree of Life meet.

When Enchanted Rose and I got to the Animal Kingdom, the parking lot was really packed.  We ended up parking at Unicorn 29.  Since the tram was just pulling away we decided to walk it.  It was at this point we ran into WillCAD and we walked to the entrance with him.  When we got to that big Animal Kingdom sign near the bus dropoff, we had to stop so I could take our traditional photo of Enchanted Rose in front of it.  Will was kind enough to take a picture of the both of us, as well, so I could be in the picture.  One of the downsides to sporting a nice dSLR and being the one who takes the pictures is that you end up with a ton of pictures with just one person in them.  The Photopass folks are pretty reliable to hand your nice camera too, but those dSLR cameras are a bit intimidating to your average park guest, unless they have one themselves.

When we rounded the corner, you could quickly tell it was going to take a bit to get through bag check.  Between 9:30 – 10:30 seems to be the most popular time to show up at any of the theme parks.  So, when you show up in the time frame expect to stand in longer lines to get into the park.

Once through bag check, we got to stand in a line to get our Annual Passes scanned to so we could make it through the turnstiles.

At this point, we got to be entertained by an individual that didn’t seem to grasp that you needed to put your index finger on the finger scanner.  His adult daughter kept grabbing his hand putting his index finger on the scanner, but he’s quickly remove it and replace it with his thumb and then start to walk through the turnstile to only be stopped.  He did this over and over again and then started getting irritated with the Cast Member, who in addition to the guest’s daughter, was trying to tell him he’s using the wrong finger.

I don’t know if that fellow ever made it into the park, but we did and we proceeded to head toward Expedition Everest.  It wasn’t long after making it past the turnstiles that we ran into Angel and his friend and co-worker that he brought to not only his first MouseFest but his first trip to Walt Disney World®.  Angel and his friend are from Puerto Rico and many members of the community know him.  I met him last year, but didn’t really get to speak to him much.  But, they were going to Expedition Everest as well (to meet up with Jennifer, Lisa, and Trace).  So we walked together.  This allowed us to get to know him a bit better.  We ran into Lisa and Trace somewhere near the  monkey enclosure on the way to Expedition Everest and they explained that Fast Passes wouldn’t be necessary.  They were on their way toward Finding Nemo to stake out a location to have everyone to gather before their meet at 11:00am.

When we got to Expedition Everest, it was listed as a 40 minute wait, but we went into the standby line anyway.  It  really wasn’t 40 minutes and we were to the front of the line in no time.  Angel wanted his friend to ride up front.  We found out that he had already been dragged onto Rock N Rollercoaster on Wednesday (our Day 01) and that was his friend’s #1 favorite attraction thus far.  We were hoping to get Expedition Everest high on the list too.

We were put to the front of the train and away we went.  They Yeti was once again, not functioning and it was masked with a strobe light effect.  But in the greater scheme of things, it doesn’t detract too much from the attraction which is a grade-a kick butt fun time.

After finishing up at Everest, Angel and friend made their way to Lisa and Jennifer’s meet while we went to catch up with Tim Devine at the Tree of Life.  We were already 5 minutes late but it didn’t seem to matter because he was just getting started when we arrived. 

Once again, he had quite the turn out.  Tim and Gary had broken out the monster zoom lenses for this meet, which for all practical purposes was a safari scouting out carved animals on the Tree of Life.

I got to run into Brian Fee (Magical Aperture) again and chat with him some while the others wandered through the trails around the Tree of Life.  Occasionally, I’d answer a question about Nikon’s for someone since I was considered to be the most knowledgeable Nikon owner in the group.  In addition to seeing Brian, I was also introduced to some of the other members of Tim’s forum.  Previously, I’ve only known them by their screen names.

It was during this meet, that Enchanted Rose tried her hands and shooting with a dSLR since she’s inherited my Nikon D80 after she bought me the Nikon D300 for Christmas.  I think she was getting frustrated because there is a lot to learn, at first, about shooting with a dSLR when you don’t want to use the Green Box Mode (full auto).

After completing the wandering through the paths, which ended with us standing around talking near the exit to  It’s Tough to be a Bug during 3 attraction dumps, about 10 of us headed over to Kilimanjaro Safari, to see how well we could do on the bumpy Simba 1.

I could definitely see the improvement with my new camera and lens.  But, once again, looking at them on my laptop screen will truly tell me how good they were.

After the Safari, Enchanted Rose and I decided to hit our favorite stores, grab a bite to eat and then head on over to Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

We really didn’t buy anything this time, but we didn’t get some food.  We stopped at Pizzafari and grabbed a Pepperoni Pizza, some breadsticks and a large bottled water.

After eating it was off to the parking lot to get our car and head over to DHS.  On the way back, Enchanted Rose asked me to drive so she could get a “power nap”.  I obliged, naturally.

Apparently, the trip between Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studio isn’t that long and she didn’t get much of a “power nap”.  We had to park even further out at DHS (Music 55) and this time we took the tram.  Walking back to the car, the sun came out and I got really hot, so I took off my fleece hoodie.  I tied it around my wait when getting out of the car at Disney’s Hollywood Studios but quickly realized that was going to be one of those days of putting it on and taking it off when we got in the tram and started freezing.

We made quick time through the bag check and turnstile and quickly headed to Rock N Rollercoaster.  This is always a fun ride.  After that, we hoofed it over to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror to allow ourselves to be dropped several times over.  I love to ride this attraction with only the seat belt holding me down.  I do not hold onto anything while in descent.  It gives a great, yet brief, feeling of weightlessness.

After Tower of Terror, we decided to hit up Toy Story Midway Mania. The wait here was the longest thus far and I was worried that we’d be late for the PodFest meet put on by Lou Mongello.  I should point out that I kicked my wife’s butt on this attraction [editor’s note:  I don’t know if 10,000 point difference constitutes a butt kicking].

After getting off Toy Story, we had about 5 minutes to make it to PodFest.  We walked pretty briskly and got there just after Lou started giving his talk about the podcasting community.

We got to go say hi to Lisa and Jennifer.  We also got to say hi to Lou.  But, it was really nice to stand around talking to Greg Grimsley (aka DOC from The Disney Obsession, Ryan (from the Main Street Gazette), Lori Burke (from We Wants the Read Head blog and the WDW Radio Show’s Co-Host for the day) and Glenn Whalen (aka Doc Terminus from Celebrations Magazine and Passamaquoddy).

We also got to once again meet Beci Mahnken and Annette Owens from MEI-Mouse Fan Travel.  They were excited about their Illuminations Dessert Party later this evening (and so were we).

At this point, we knew dinner was going to have to be soon or we’d not get to eat before the 8:45pm Illuminations Dessert Party.  So, we said our goodbyes and headed out looking for food (Tim and Gary and a couple of some new friends he made during his meets headed to Muppets 3D).

We tried the 50’s Prime Time cafe, but knew when we approached that a snowball had a greater chance of surviving in hell than us getting in there.  But we asked anyway and were quickly proven right.  Enchanted Rose asked the lovely Cast Member if there was any sit downs that might have room to accommodate us, but were told they were all solidly booked.

At this point, we decided that Beaches and Cream was going to be dinner and we just needed to kill time till the  Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights began and then head over to the Beach Club to get Beaches and Cream.  So, to kill time we went to the Great Movie Ride.  Well, the wait was long and my feet hurt.  So that made the wait feel even longer.  WE got to watch the movie reel a couple times in the queue line before getting onto a ride vehicle.

Once again, we got the gangster scene.  I don’t think we’ve ever seen the western scene.

I was quickly reminded that the Great Movie Ride isn’t really for really young kids when the young child behind us became quickly terrified during the gun shootout during the gangster scene and really never recovered.

After disembarking off the Great Movie Ride, we noticed it was dark outside and knew the lights must be on.  So we headed toward the Streets of America.  Apparently, the were limiting ones access into the attraction through one of two locations.  So we followed the glowing light sabers till we got to the Muppets area. 

We were to meet Tim and Gary so we were standing at the fountain outside muppets since it made a good landmark.  While we were there, the Tagrel people were meeting up and we got some nice glowing accessories to go with a trip into the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights.  After about 15 minutes, Tim called me and told me there was another entrance and they were already inside.

So, Enchanted Rose and I made our way in.  This display lived up to it’s name.  It was a spectacle and the lights truly danced.

I was really nervous about setting up my tripod in this location since it was a sea of people.  So, I hung in the back were there were less people and tried to take some pictures.  When 7PM rolled around, we decided it was best that he high tailed it to the Beach Club to get some grub at Beaches and Cream.

It didn’t take us long to get to the Beach Club and once again, we used our DVC membership to get free valet parking.

We made our way to Beaches and Cream to get our taste buds disappointed to find out that there was more than an hour wait and that even included the seats at the counter.  Even in June we didn’t have to wait this long to eat here.  We were devastated.

So, we were a bit frustrated because we hadn’t eaten since Pizzafari.  So, I went and took pictures of the carrousel in the Beach Club lobby while Enchanted Rose tracked down a restroom that didn’t have a long line in it.  Nothing is more frustrating than not being able to eat where you want and then not even being able to go the bathroom because everyone is wanting to use it at the same time.

So, we decided to try our luck at the World Showcase.  Enchanted Rose grabbed a breakfast bar out of the backpack to tide herself over and I decided that I wanted a pretzel from Germany.

On our way to Germany we stopped in France to pick up some make-up supplies in Guerlain.

So we walked briskly to Germany only to find out that they were out of pretzels. This was starting to look really bad.  But, we got a bit lucky in that the beer cart outside had a few left.

It was 8:30PM at this point, so we needed to get to the International Gateway by 8:45PM to not get left out of the dessert party.  We knew we weren’t going to be late when we passed Beci and her crew on the bridge between the UK and France.

As we approached the group of other Mousefest people attending the party, we ran into Tim Foster.  We did some general chatting about how excited we were about Celebrations Magazine and talked a bit about what we’ve been up to.  At this point, Annette grabbed us and told us that we needed to get “registered'”, so she led us over to the person who was handing out badges and checking names of lists.

At this point, we ran into Ryan and his wife from the Main Street Gazette.  Now I was happy to see a face that I knew.  Then we saw Matt Hochberg and Mike Newell from the WDW Today podcast.  Lori Burke was also there.  So I knew there were people I could talk to.

My wife can talk to complete strangers without any fear, but I’m not that good.  So, I like to have people I know to fall back on in case I cannot work up the nerve to talk to people I don’t. 

I noticed Ryan had a tripod for his camera, so I decided to setup mine.  At first, I wasn’t going to shoot it, but when I saw that Ryan had his, and saw the viewing locating we had (between UK and France), it couldn’t be resisted.  I setup my tripod behind the bench that was near the railing so as to not get in the way of those sitting down.

I think I go some real keepers this time.  This was my first totally obstruction free viewing location of Illuminations in all the times I’ve seen it.  So I was excited and cannot wait to see what the final results looked like.

I must also mention that the hot chocolate that was served was fantastic (hot cider was also an option) and the dessert spread was to die for.  Chocolate and other sugary treats were the order for the evening.  I had a few chocolate chip cookies, some rice krispy treat thingies, a treat that looked like a brownie but was more of a cake like substance and a peanut butter treat.

After Illuminations wrapped up, I had a nice conversation with Mike Newell and Beci about the WDW Today podcast.  At this point the Cast Members were very subtly asking us to move on which we quickly complied with.  We said our goodbyes and went our separate ways.

We were both freezing at this point so we decided to get our butts back to the room.  There was a 6:30AM special sale at the World of Disney the next morning for Annual Passholders.  So, if we had any intention of attending, we needed to get home pronto.  I had blog writing to do and I knew that was going to keep me up at least 2 hours.

While waiting for our car to arrive from the valet, a car pulled up and Scott Thomas and his wife got out.  It turns out they were coming back from that new bar called Ice at the Gaylord Palms.  He was with Deb Wills and the other AllEars.NET people checking out the joint.

We talked a bit about lenses and photography, but when our car came we let them know we needed to jet cause it was cold and we’d see them at the MegaMeet the next day.

I drove back to the room instead of Enchanted Rose because she wasn’t feeling that well due to the lack of proper eating during the day.

When we got back to the room, our voice mail indicator was on.  The message stated that there was a package at the desk for us.  So, I went to find out what it was.  After waiting forever for a lot of late arrivers to check in, I found out it was a very nice backpack from MEI-MouseFan Travel.  It was a very much needed item for us since Enchanted Rose was using one of my old hiking backpacks since her shoulder bag died on our last trip. 

I have a feeling this new bag will be put into use over the last days of MouseFest and future trips to Walt Disney World.

Well, now it’s time to hit the hay.  We are either going to the World of Disney sale, Steve Barrett’s EPCOT hidden Mickey Tour at 8am, or just wandering over to the MegaMeet at 10am.  You’ll find out what happens in the next chapter of this trip report.

Technorati Tags: MouseFest 2008, Trip Report

MouseFest 2008: Day 01 – Is Anyone Else from Oklahoma?

I went to bed around Midnight after working on my trip report.  Since the first meet we wanted to attend was the MouseFest 101 meet at noon, our main concern was finding food in the morning and getting switched over from Port Orleans Riverside to Port Orleans French Quarter.

So, I decided to set the alarm for 8am.  That should give me a good eight hours of sleep.  Enchanted Rose called it a night an hour before I did.

When the alarm on my iPhone went off at 8am, it was quickly reset to 8:30am.  When it went off the second time, my wife awoke and hit the showers.  I had showered before hitting the sack, so I got dressed and headed over to Port Orleans French Quarter to see if I could get us checked in.  I felt this was the best utilization of time.  After all, we still had the dilemma of figuring out where to eat.

I had not problem finding my way to the French Quarter main building and there was no lines waiting for me on the inside.  The check-in process was speedy, but our room wasn’t ready.  I was told that I could leave my bags with the Bell Station and we could call them when we get into our room and they’ll deliver them for us.

I didn’t have our bags, so it was back to the room at Riverside I went.

As I was driving back to Riverside, it started raining.  It was more of a drizzle at this point.

I was able to secure a parking spot closest to the stairs we’d be coming down from the 2nd story from our room.  When I got back to the room, Enchanted Rose was all ready to go.  We quickly re-packed all the stuff we used the previous day and I grabbed some bags to take to the car.

At this point, it was now raining pretty hard.  After a couple trips the stuff was in the car.  We had two options at our disposal.  We could let the Riverside Bell Station hold our bags and deliver them to French Quarter, or let the French Quarter Bell Station hold them.

We decided to let the French Quarter Bell Station hold them since that was the resort we were ending up at.

Enchanted Rose drove up to the covered area where guests are dropped off and picked up.  I talked to the guy as the Bell Station and he called someone over to collect our bags.  He commented on how nasty the weather was and asked if we had eaten.  He then proceeded to tell us all the places at Riverside and French Quarter to eat, but finished off by stating that the bad weather has caused all of them to be pretty busy anyway.

So, we decided to head to the Magic Kingdom to see if we could get some food on Main Street U.S.A.

On our way over to the Magic Kingdom, I decided to text Lou Mongello to see where he might be.  At this point, he was the only person I knew that was here and I had their contact information.  Lou was on his way to the Magic Kingdom but was not in any real rush since the weather was less than spectacular.

We got to the Ticket and Transportation Center and managed to secure a parking spot at Pluto 14.  It wasn’t that far away and was in walking distance from the Monorail.  We had on good raincoats (purchased from Bass Pro Shop) and hoofed our way to the Monorail.

There were quite a few people on the Monorail to the Magic Kingdom, but we were able to get on the Express Line, so we didn’t have to stop at the Polynesian and Grand Floridian before getting to the Magic Kingdom.

Now that I have a new camera bag, it doesn’t take a really long time to get through security anymore.  I can quickly unzip and rezip the bag with ease.

We managed to get behind someone who couldn’t remember which finger he used to scan on the finger reader so we quickly had to find another line to go through to get into the parks.

Once in the park, Enchanted Rose needed to ask a question at Guest Services and she asked me to go check to see what the wait was like at the Main Street Barber Shop.  Since I was very busy with work I didn’t have a chance to get my hair cut before leaving for Disney World.

I didn’t need to ask because the line was out the door. 

I met my wife back at the Guest Relations desk and then we headed down Main Street to go to the Main Street Bakery.  As we rounded the corner we ran into Lou.  He was thinking of also going to the Main Street Bakery and we decided to head on over together.  My wife got an Apple Charlotte, I got a Rocky Road Brownie and Lou got a Cinnamon Bun, but his was so large I’d call it a Cinnamon Loaf.

After finishing our delicious breakfast of sugary carbohydrates, Enchanted Rose and I headed toward the Haunted Mansion and Lou decided to hang around on Main Street and soak up the wonderful aromas and atmosphere.

There was absolutely no wait to get on the Haunted Mansion and I decided to take out my camera and see what kind of pictures I could get with my new lens and body.

I wasn’t able to take impressively better pictures but I think a shot or two was better.

As we were heading out of the Haunted Mansion we could see the crowd of people not moving and just knew it was because of the weather.  Sure enough, the sky had opened up while we were cavorting with the 999 Happy Haunts.  We pulled out our rain coats and went on our merry way to the Pirates of the Caribbean. 

Once again, there was no wait, so we were on our boat in no time.  Once again, I managed to score a picture or  two better. 

After completing Pirates it was 11:30, so we decided it was best to head over to The Contemporary to go to the MouseFest 101 meet.

So, off it was to the Resort Monorail which was packed.  I guess people were just tired of wandering around in the rain.

We managed to get to the Contemporary without getting crushed and starting wandering in the direction where we thought the meet was located.  I stopped momentarily to take pictures of the Pinocchio and Geppetto diorama that was constructed of  chocolate and other tasty goodness.  It was at this point we saw Jennifer (from Those Darn Cats) come around the corner.  I called out to her to get her attention.  Then we saw Lisa (the other half of Those Darn Cats).  They introduced us to a couple of their friends and we all started wandering over to the meet together.

When we got there, the room hadn’t opened up yet so there was a large throng of people milling around in the lobby outside the conference area.

We didn’t have to wait long before they opened the doors and we could  all pile in.  The conference room was spacious, but it quickly filled up.  There were a lot of people here for MouseFest.

I must admit that I didn’t pay much attention to the speakers at this meet because it wasn’t my first MouseFest and I was more taken in by getting to see and talk to a few of my real-world and online friends like Tim Devine, Scott Thomas, Gary (member of The Magic in Pixels), Lou Mongello, Glenn Whalen, Greg Grimsley (DOC from The Disney Obsession) and others.

Enchanted Rose kept giving me “that look” because at times some of my conversations with people were getting a bit loud.  Especially since many of us were talking photography.  Scott Thomas loaned me his Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens to give a try if I promised to return it at Tim Devine’s Photography 101 meet later that day.

During the MouseFest 101 meet, Mike Scopa awarded to one neophyte couple 2 tickets to the AllEars.net  Illuminations party as a “Magical Moment” on behalf of Deb Wills.  You could tell it really made their morning.

After the 101 Meet wrapped up, they decided to let everyone partake of the refreshments outdoors regardless of ones registration status.  The only word that comes to mind to describe the process of getting out of the room was “cattle call”.  It was packed and slow moving.  The refreshments consisted of power drinks, chocolate and trail mix along with some fruit.  My wife and I grabbed some chocolate and a banana.

  After quickly scarfing down the chocolate and banana we decided to mingle a bit.  We got the opportunity to have a nice chat with Beci Mahnken from Mouse Fan Travel.  We also got to have some nice talks with some other people that were knew to us.

Around 2:30 we decided it was time to head back to the Magic Kingdom.  We were pleased to be greeted by sunshine on our way back to the Monorail.

After re-entering the park, Enchanted Rose decided that the Main Street Barber Shop needed to be reinvestigated.  The line was much shorter and I was not going to get out of getting a haircut.  So, we waited patiently while kids in front of us got their ears lowered. 

Eventually it got to be my turn and I told the fine Cast Member sporting the scissors what clipper guard number I wanted and how I wanted it cut. 

My wife got great joy out of taking pictures of my first haircut at Walt Disney World.  I just hope that if we end up having a boy one day, that he doesn’t have to wait until he’s 37 to get his first haircut.  There isn’t anything different from the haircut you get back home, except that it’s IN THE MAGIC KINGDOM!

After getting my fabulous haircut, we started heading toward Tomorrowland because we decided we needed to get some “real” food.  The only problem was that the Dream Can Come True Parade was going on and it made it impossible to get from one side of Main Street to the other.

So, we just decided to stand and watch the parade go by.  I was able to get a few pictures, but our positioning wasn’t the best for photography.

Once the parade was over we quickly headed over to Cosmic Ray’s.  I got the grilled chicken sandwich while my wife got the 6-piece chicken nugget meal.

We sat down with Sonny Eclipse (the audio-animatronic not the member of the Disney Community) and enjoyed our food.  I must admit the chicken sandwich was one of the best I’ve ever gotten at the parks.

After I completed my meal, I switched out my lens for the Tokina that was loaned to me by Scott.  From Cosmic Ray’s we went to Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin.  I managed to score in the 400K range, but it was only due to the fact that the ride stopped several times for extended periods.  I was able to just lock in on a target and keep racking up points.  I was also able to get some great photos using Scott’s extreme wide-angle lens.  Since it was a f/2.8, that meant that I should be able to get a descent amount of light in the lens.  I cannot wait to see how they turn out once converted into JPEGs.

After Buzz Lightyear, we decided to continue our traditions and partake of the Tomorrowland Transit Authority.   It’s always a nice ride around Tomorrowland.

After disembarking, it was time to go to Tim Devine’s Photography 101 meet at the Tomorrowland Noodle Station.

When I got there, I realized I forgot the head to my tripod for using with my video camera.  I offered to  video record it for Tim and I knew it was going to be a pain to do it by hand holding.  But, I did it anyway.  I found that if I rested it on top of my dSLR camera while sitting in a chair, my shoulders didn’t start to burn like they were on fire.

Tim’s meet lasted about an hour and was interrupted a couple times by the little stage show that takes place in front of Cinderella's Castle.  But, I felt his meet was a success and it had a very large turnout.  Tim even provided visual aids and handouts this year.

After Tim’s meet we decided to head to Greg (The Disney Obsession) and Ryan (The Main Street Gazette) Rocking Chair Meet at the Town Square Exhibition Hall.  I was finally able to have some nice talks with these guys, and my wife got to meet April Baker who recently launched a site devoted to Disney-based crafting, Scrapping the Magic.  I also got to have a nice chat about photography with Brian Fee who runs the Magical Aperture website. 

Eventually, we got kicked out of the Magic Kingdom because we weren’t attending the Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.  So, at 7PM, we decided it was time to hop the Monorail back to the Ticket and Transportation Center to get our car and head back to Port Orleans French Quarter and see if our room was ready.

Sure enough, our room was ready but it was really close to the Bob Jackson meet being held by The Disney Podcast Network (DPN) at 8PM at the Port Orleans Riverside Resort.  So, we decided to not mess with our luggage and we’d deal with it when we got back.

We had no problem finding our way to Bob Jackson’s show at the River Roost Lounge at Port Orleans Riverside and got there before the show started.

At first, when we walked in, we didn’t see anyone we knew.  So we grabbed a table near the back of the room.  Then we saw Jennifer (Those Darn Cats and Broke Hoedown) walk in with a couple other people we knew were in her and Lisa’s entourage.  We didn’t want to lose our table, so Enchanted Rose went over to their table, right in front. 

When she came back she reported that Lisa (Those Darn Cats and My Life on the WDW D-List)  had earlier in the day got stung by a bee at Mike Scopa’s Dole Whip meet.  Talk about a non-Magical moment.  But  Lisa is a nurse and felt that she’d be fine but authorized my lovely wife (an ER Nurse) to perform recitation procedures if necessary (I’m sure she was joking because at this point, she had a noticeable sting, but it wasn’t like she was looking like Will Smith from the movie Hitch).

At this point,I went over there to say hi.  It was at this point that Lisa had the brilliant idea that we should sit at the bar.  It wouldn’t be at their table (which was tiny and already populated by 5 people), but it was literally right behind them.

So, she stood there and saved 2 chairs while I went back to grab my wife.  Unfortunately, Enchanted Rose had already ordered a lovely adult beverage and didn’t want the person taking care of her to think she ran out on her.  So, I went to occupy our chairs at the bar and she’d join us as soon as she got her drink.

Our new seat at the bar was fantastic (thank you Lisa!).

I also got to meet Lou from the Beyond Main Street and the In your Ears Experience podcasts. 

I must tell you, if you haven’t seen Bob Jackson perform, then you don’t know what you are missing.  He’s truly a magical moment at the Walt Disney World Resort®.  The best I can describe it is he’s a one man show that performs music with the same energy and comedic styling that you would’ve found at the Adventurer’s Club before it closed. 

He plays a lot of rousing tunes and audience participation is expected and enjoyed but not forced.  Poor Lisa and Jennifer (more Lisa) got picked on a lot.  I think she was made to perform as the Partridge in a Pear Tree when he sang the Twelve Days of Christmas and he often called her name out.  He also recognized and frequently acknowledged the fact that the podcasters from the DPN were there.  He also initiated the request of a group photo with all the podcasters.

My wife was called up along with Jennifer, Lisa and a few other women in the room to perform a kick routine like the Rockettes from Radio City Music Hall.

Bob is an amazing performer.  Before he started his first set, he went around the room and talked to several of us.  He never forgot your names and locations.  Often he’d work it into the routine.

I must say, I had an absolutely fabulous time and took lots of pictures and even got to try out my new flash unit.   Scott Thomas (PS Calculator and AllEars.NET photoblog and The Magic in Pixels uber-member) gave me some tips on how to use it best.

I really like his song choices.  We had such childhood classics as the Oscar Mayer weiner song and Bologna song,  Oldie but goody songs from another generation like Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, good ole boy drinking songs like American Pie and songs that were off the radar until a movie made them popular again like the Banana boat song (Day-O, Day-o, Daylight come and I wanna go home).

I don’t drink much these days and since my wife partook of an adult beverage, I abstained this evening (maybe I’ll get to have a nice Guinness Stout during the EPCOT Drink around the World Meet on Saturday), so I could drive us home.

I must say that I’m a person who cannot sing, cannot dance, and has absolutely no rhythm and gave my wife fits of laughter when I kept clapping out of step, but we both had a blast.

When 10 o’clock rolled around Bob decided to take an intermission and we said our goodbyes.  But, before we left, we felt a nice tip was in order because he earned every penny of that.  My wife gave him the tip, he even remembered her name and where she was from.  He posed for a picture with her and we went back to our room at Port Orleans French Quarter.

When we got to our room, we called down to the Bell Station and they brought our bags to us.  We also called to the Concierge to find out when we could call Disney Dining to start calling around to find a place to eat tomorrow near Animal Kingdom.

We have decided we are hoping to either eat at Boma’s at the Harkness Hideaway (known to the rest of you as the Animal Kingdom Lodge) or Tusker House at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

My lovely wife curled up in the bed reading her book, Eclipse, while I worked on this blog post for you all.

My computer is still dumping the 354 pictures I took today (many, many, many of them from the Bob Jackson meet).

So, that is it for today.  Today started out rainy, ended up sunny and was an all around good day.

I got to meet some new people, some people I’ve only known online, and hang out with people I’m friends with and talk to frequently in the real world.

Technorati Tags: MouseFest 2008, Magic Kingdom, Bob Jackson, The Magic in Pixels, Tim Devine, Trip Report

MouseFest 2008: Day 00

Technically, MouseFest 2008 begins tomorrow, December 11th, 2008.  But Enchanted Rose and I wanted to get to the Walt Disney World Resort® a day early so we could feel like we got some activities accomplished that didn’t have to be squeezed in around a tight schedule of the MouseFest Activities.

Our day began bright and early at 5:45 AM and we immediately reset the alarm for another 15 minutes.  The previous night I had to work pretty late trying to finish up some stuff (which didn’t get done and was tabled until I got back) and good ole Enchanted Rose was doing her best impression of Belle from Beauty and the Beast by having her nose buried in a book, unable to put it down.  The book she was reading was the second book in the Twilight series of books.  She kept telling me, “one more chapter”.  Eventually she put it down and started packing.

Needless to say, we were exhausted when the alarm went off again at 6:00AM.  But we quickly threw our toiletries in the luggage that was eagerly waiting by the door and climbed into our freezing vehicle in the garage (it was 22 degrees) and made our way to the airport.

Fortunately, we don’t live far from the airport and were able to get to the parking garage by 6:35AM.  We had to look really hard for a parking place, but were eventually successful. 

Our trip through security was uneventful and we didn’t have to wait long to get on the Southwest Airlines flight to Orlando which involved a switch of planes at Houston Hobby Airport.  The plane seemed to be fairly new.  The person on twitter who represents Southwest Airlines swears that the newer planes don’t have rows that are closer together, but I fly a lot, only 5’3”, and have a very athletic frame.  So, it’s not normal for me to not be able to keep my elbows in my own space.  I felt like I was crammed in there and started to get claustrophobic.  Plus, my knees were really close to the seat in front of me.

We had a 1.5 hour layover in Houston which allowed Enchanted Rose to devour a few more pages of her book, Eclipse.  We did make a quick stop off at Wendy’s to try and get some breakfast food, but nothing appealed to me.  So, I got a medium Coke® which looked like a large when I got it.  Enchanted got the French Bread Sticks.

Enchanted Rose bought me a new camera for Christmas.  It is a Nikon D300 and it has more buttons and knobs than the control panel of our ride vehicle on Mission:  Space.  While Enchanted read her book, I decided it was a good time to get out the manual for my camera and external flash unit she bought me and read up on it.  After all, I didn’t want to be fumbling along at Walt Disney World.  If, at the bear minimum, I could make the same setting adjustments as I did on my old camera, I’d be fine.

Since we were both reading something engrossing, it didn’t take long for our flight boarding time to arrive.  Unfortunately, it arrived 20 minutes late because our plane was late arriving from Dallas.

As one would expect, a flight to Orlando would have a lot of children on it.  Our flight was no exception and there were quite a few pairs of feuding male siblings which, being one half of a pair myself, knows is par for the course.

Instead of sleeping this leg of the trip, I decided to keep reading my manuals and Enchanted Rose kept reading her book.  I noticed that I had a lot more wiggle room in my seat, so I feel justified in my belief that the other plane’s seating areas was built a bit more cramped.

Unfortunately, that large Coke® was working it’s way through my system and it wasn’t easy to get out of the row so I decided to just hold it.  Well, that made for a very, very uncomfortable flight since I thought I was going to die. 

We eventually arrived to Orlando and I’ve never seen so many people try to rush the front door to get out.  There were a lot of excited family going to what I supposed was Walt Disney World®.

The first stop was to the restroom.  The second stop was to the baggage claim.

We knew were were back in our second home when we heard the spiel on the tram to the baggage claim area.

I waited for the luggage while Enchanted Rose headed to Alamo to get our rental car.

I didn’t have to wait long because our bag was something like the 3rd or 4th bag off the plane.  So, I headed over the rental agency to meet her.

When I got there, quite a line had developed so it was a good thing she went on ahead.  But, the line was moving slowly.  There were only a couple people working the desk and one person was tied up by a couple who was asking a million and one questions.  I think they had never rented a car before.

This time, we were prepared with lots and lots of quarters.  When we came to Walt Disney World in September, we got lost and ran out of quarters.  Our GPS system, once again didn’t want to lock in on a Satellite but I decided to give the iPhone a shot.  It had a bit of trouble locking in on us when we were still in the parking structure. 

So, I looked carefully at the signage and this time noticed a sign I must’ve missed last time because it became quite apparent how we went wrong last time.  We went South instead of North.

So, this time it only cost of $2 in tolls and we were to the Downtown Disney area in 20 minutes.

At this point, we were both so hungry we swore a hole was being worn in our stomachs.  So, we decided to divert from our previous plans and go to Downtown Disney to get some food from Wolfgang Puck Express and get our new Annual Passes.

After looking for awhile to get a parking spot (Downtown Disney was really crowded), we made our way to Guest Relations to get our Annual Passes.  We had the most friendly Cast Member who managed to drive home the point to Enchanted Rose that we were finally back at Walt Disney World.

After getting our Annual Passes, we headed over to Wolfgang Puck Express.  There wasn’t a long line and the dining room was practically empty.  But, once again we were in a line that didn’t seem to want to move.  From the sounds of the conversation occurring at the cash register, that involved several employees and someone that appeared to be managerial, a Dining Plan snafu had occurred.

I didn’t point out how warm it was outside.  We were coming from 22 degree temps with freezing rain and snow.  So we decided to just eat indoors.  We probably should’ve eaten outdoors because the air condition was freezing us out.  It was so cold, I was only in the mood for one Coke.

After eating we decided it was time to go check out the 25 Days of Christmas.  It wouldn’t be a trip to Walt Disney World if we didn’t get to check out our favorite store for acquiring Christmas decorations.

The trip was quick because we were meeting a friend later at Epcot and we still needed check into the hotel.

We had no problem finding our way to Port Orleans Riverside and got ourselves checked in.  Then it was back to the car to drive to our “Mansion” building.  We were a bit shocked to see that our building was inhabited by Pop Warner cheerleaders.  We were hoping that we weren’t going to experience the nightmares we’ve heard about when it comes to sleeping near these rooms.

But, if it did happen we were only here for one night and moving to Port Orleans French Quarter the next day.

After dropping our stuff off it was over to EPCOT.  It turns out that the semi-annual SALSA (Spend a Little Save Alot) sale was occurring while we were here.   You need to know a cast member to get in and we knew one so we went and did some shopping.  Our total came to $340, but after the discounts were applied, the final tally was $88.

Now it was time to go to EPCOT and walk around.

After getting a bit turned around trying to find our way back to the “regular” EPCOT parking lot (the SALSA sale was in a far off corner of the EPCOT parking lot), we finally found our way to a parking spot.

We made our way through security and met our friends on the other side of the ticket gate.  This was the first opportunity I had to take out my new camera and give it a go.

I decided my inaugural shot was going to be of Space Ship Earth.  It was already dark and the geodesic sphere was all aglow.  I must say, on the LCD screen it looked fabulous.  Only time and a larger monitor will show the truth.

One of our party needed food, so we headed to the world showcase so they could get some eats.  They decided some Chicken Nuggets from the McDonald’s stand would suffice.  We took a quick respite in the art gallery in the Morocco Pavilion.  I never knew this was here and it made for some good photographs.

When we decided to resume walking we decided that we were going to complete the circuit and then head to Space Ship Earth, then to get some ice cream, then see Illuminations.

When we got to the America Pavilion, the Candlelight processional was finishing up.  So I decided to see what kind of pictures I could get with the maximum zoom on my new 18-200mm VR II lens.  Then we resumed walking.

The walk was nice, but I was glad when we got to Space Ship Earth because my feet were killing me.

I also wanted to see what kind of pictures I could get inside SSE.  I was still using my new zoom lens.  On another ride through, I’ll switch to my faster 50 f/1.8 and see how it does

After disembarking, Enchanted Rose informed me that she almost fell asleep in the ride vehicle so she needed sugar if she was going to make it to the end of Illuminations.

At this point, our friends needed to go home because, unlike us, they weren’t on vacation and a job was waiting for them in the morning.

So, we they went home and we went to the Edy’s Ice Cream Shop.  We both got hot fudge sundaes.

We finished around 8:50PM and knew we needed to get moving if we were going to find a good viewing position by 9PM.

We decided to plant ourselves in one of the lower areas near the water near the French pavilion.

9PM came and went and Illuminations hadn’t started.

At this point I decided to start asking people on Twitter, what was going on.  It was at this point, that I found out that IllumiNations was starting at 9:30PM when the Candlelight processional is going on so as to ensure the final show isn’t ruined by fireworks.

I must say that if you are only given the ability to see Illuminations once a year, I’d try to make it during the Holiday version.  They final, holiday tag, is just phenomenal.  The amount of shells that end up in the air, just causes the ground to rumble under your feet.

When Illuminations ended, we knew the night was over.  So we gave people some time to head out before we joined into the throng migrating back to whatever mode of transportation that was taking them back “home”.

On our way out of the World Showcase, I wanted to try and take a picture with one of the Christmas Trees near the entrance to Le Cellier in the Canada Pavilion.  I took a couple pictures of Enchanted Rose and a guest came up to me and asked if I’d like to have my pictures taken with my wife.  I told her that it was a new camera so I was just taking practice shots.  She insisted, so I handed her the camera and went to stand next to my wife so we could get our picture taken.

We got into our car and headed out.  As usual, we got lost trying to go “home” from EPCOT.  But we easily got ourselves pointed in the right direction and made it back to Port Orleans Riverside.

Tomorrow, is going to be an early day because we have to move rooms.  So far, as I’m writing this, the cheerleaders have been quiet except for the occasional teenager sprinting past our room.

I dumped my pictures off my Compact Flash card while I wrote this.  So far, the pictures look good.  Hopefully some of them will make it to this post.  If you cannot tell, I’m writing this before I go to bed.  Sleep is calling me.  I haven’t had a decent night’s sleep in months.  So with that I bid you adieu, until tomorrow

Technorati Tags: MouseFest 2008, Trip Report