DAY 9 - FRIDAY 10th DEC 2004
Up around 7.30am to pack and get ready to leave the Boardwalk. It’s a real shame to have just one night in the grand villa, but it was amazing to stay there, if only for a short while.
The luggage is
collected by bell services to be moved across to the Contemporary
and we are off.
We check-in at the Contemporary around 9.00am. The rooms are not
ready at this early stage of the day and Deb is disappointed
because we don’t get an upgrade after our luck yesterday.
We are in the Magic Kingdom by 9.30am and it is looking resplendent in its Christmas decorations. The first port of call is to see the new Stitch attraction in Tomorrowland. I have to agree with most things I’ve seen written about this, it is no real improvement over Alien Encounter. I quite like the Stitch audio-animatronic, but that’s not enough to make it a ‘must see’ attraction.
It's always the ugly blokes that pull the best birds!
Next is Buzz Lightyear. Deb says she has always ridden with Matt before and he controlled the spinning. Tam and I say she should ride on her own, so she does. At the end we compare scores. Deb wins! Matt and I are suitably embarrassed by being beaten by a girlie (I should be getting used to it by now), although I do have to mention that I finished second. Not that I’m gloating in any shape or form.
The Carousel of Progress is open and this is one of Deb’s favourites. Me and Deb clap and sing along at the first rotation, only to be met with disapproving glances from Tam and Matt. We are forced to sit in sullen silence through the rest of the attraction. Spoil sports.
On to the TTA
where it starts to rain really hard as we glide around. Luckily
it has eased off by the time the ride finishes, so we run over to
Space Mountain. We ride the left track, which is not something I
can recall doing before.
As we exit, the sun is shining again. It rains on and off all
day, but our luck holds and we miss the heavy downpours every
time.
Through to
Fantasyland where Mickey’s Philarmagic is about to start.
This is both good and bad news as we have no wait, but have to
sit in the very front row. I don’t think the 3D effects work
so well this close.
Peter Pans Flight is next. The lines have been minimal everywhere
and this is the longest to date at 10 minutes. We follow a father
and young daughter through the line. The girl is probably about 4
years old and not a happy bunny. She struggles in her fathers
arms, screaming as loud as she can. When she is put down she
refuses to move an inch, so is picked up for another bout of
screaming. The last time I saw a tantrum of this magnitude was
when Matt thought we had run out of beer.
The Haunted Mansion is next and this is still probably my favourite all time WDW attraction. As soon as you walk through the doors you are instantly transported to a world of ghosts and demons. I love it.
Lunch is taken
at the Columbia Harbour House where a reserved section has just
been opened, so we eat in a quiet part of an otherwise crowded
restaurant.
Deb is getting nervous as we have been in the Magic Kingdom for a
few hours and the lack of shopping is beginning to show, so we
take in the Christmas shop with the promise of more to come.
Big Thunder is next where it hammers it down with rain as we are under cover queuing. With our ever increasing luck it has stopped raining by the time we ride. Result.
Tam is too cissy to ride Splash so we continue on into Adventureland to take a trip on Pirates. Unfortunately it is down, so we go back to Frontierland and jump on the train for a lap of the Magic Kingdom. The rain has made the seats wet and I alight from the train with a slightly moist bottom, which amuses the ladies for some reason.
We head back to Pirates, but it is still down, so Main Street beckons for Deb to get her fill of shopping. The 3.00pm parade is just about to start, so I stand and watch with Tam. It’s the first time I’ve watched it completely and I guess it’s ok. As you can probably tell, I’m not completely overwhelmed.
We have done
just about everything we want to do by this stage, so we exit and
get the monorail to the Contemporary to find our rooms. We are in
the North wing and have a sort of side view of Bay Lake. We were
anticipating a car park view, so this exceeds our expectations.
The décor is a little patterned and garish for my tastes, but
the room is a good size and we are happy to be staying in a
resort we would not normally try.
With the
luggage delivered it is time to try the delights of the Outer
Rim. Tam decides this is vaguely rude and we all look at her with
pity.
We enjoy a couple of drinks while looking out of the window at
Bay Lake. Conversation covers such diverse topics as the DIS,
incontinence and Matt’s sexual prowess. I don’t think
the 3 are related and I don’t think I should go into any
further detail than that due to the delicacy of anyone that might
be reading this.
Back at the
room we have showers and are out by 8.00pm for the evenings
events.
We are dining in the California Grill tonight and go to the desk
on the second floor to check-in. They have changed the system
here and you can only go to the California Grill if you have a
PS. This seems a very sensible idea as it used to become packed
with people going to look at the view and to see Wishes.
They still don’t seem to have got it quite right though as
there are lots of people waiting for their tables and not enough
seating to allow them all to wait in comfort.
We grab drinks from the bar and chat away until our table is
ready at 9.15pm.
We are seated
by the window, but at the far end of the restaurant and so cannot
see the Magic Kingdom. Ron is our server and he says we should
get up at any time to go out and watch Wishes. Not long after
this the fireworks start and we go outside. Strangely, there is
no music for a while, then suddenly the Thompson Twins begins to
blare out from the speakers! This is all well and good, but I
don’t really want to hear this while watching Wishes.
The fireworks are still beautiful and at the end of the display
huge rockets explode all around the perimeter of the park,
lighting up the whole area. I don’t remember this before; I
presume it’s a Christmas addition.
We also notice
that they no longer dim the lights in the restaurant. Ron says
this is no longer done for safety reasons. Another example of the
litigation society gone mad I suppose.
We start our meal with the wild mushroom flat bread, which is
lovely. For the appetizer Tam and I split the Fois Gras with date
scone and sauce. It is very flavourful, but a little sweet for my
liking.
For the main course I have the pork tenderloin with goat cheese
polenta and Tam has the braised lamb shank with apple cider
sauce. Both are excellent.
Desserts are taken by Tam and Deb. Tam has the citrus trio and
Deb tries the butterscotch crème brulee.
This is certainly not a cheap place to eat, with a bottle of wine
and a decent tip for Ron the bill runs to $300 for the 4 of us.
That said it is one of the best meals of our trip.
Oh, I nearly
forgot. Ron brought us all a glass of port for free. Good lad.
We are back in the rooms and ready for bed around 11.30pm.