Day 2 - Magic Kingdom Birthday!
Well, May 1, 2008 - my big Three Eight was spent at the Magic Kingdom. I got my birthday button and hung with Louis for a bit. Had a "nice" ride on Space Mountain. By nice I mean, most violent ride ever. Wow.
I got a lot of "Happy Birthdays" and my lunch was at The Liberty Tree Tavern, which is in Liberty Square (Duh!). During lunch there were no characters but the waiters got together and did the Birthday Proclamation which consisted of ringing a bell and yelling that it was my birthday. It was nice of those around me to play along, since I was sitting by myself in a corner.
heheh
It really was a nice day and I hit "The Country Bears" and watched the Dreams Come True Parade, which I only caught the tail of last time. The parade was good, not great. Much to my surprise, Louis informed me the guy at the start of the parade was a "Walt Disney" look-a-like. I didn’t get a picture but WTF? The parade song was good but like several Disney parades, it just repeats over and over and over again.
I got to meet Jimny Cricket!!
Dinner was at the Crystal Palace, which is a character meet & eat. The food wasn’t really that great and doesn’t come close to Goofy’s Kitchen BUT I had a great time because of the characters and an excellent wait staff that actually cared that I was by myself. Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and Eeyore made their way around to me and the staff was happy to take pictures. Highlight was my little cake and candle that was presented by Piglet. It was very (Geek) cool. Piglet hung out with me as the staff sang Happy Birthday and they presented me with a Birthday card signed by all 4 characters - Awesome!! It was a great experience. Awwwwwww...
The evening closed with "Wishes" fireworks from Main Street and a prime viewing spot of "Spectromagic," which I love. The Chernabog float actually worked this time - Awesome.
So I made my way back to my hotel and much to my surprise - the hotel left me balloons and an autographed picture of Ariel. Awwwww
DAY 3 - Universal Studios -
Well, not too much to report on this day. I took the early Mears Transportation Bus to Universal and when I got there I was disappointed that the Simpson’s Ride was closed because of problems. They hoped it would reopen later in the day, so headed to JAWS and caught "Beetlejuice’s Graveyard Revue" which was GOD awful. I remember the one they had at Hollywood and that was pretty good. This one was just terrible. I must be getting old.
So, I took a couple of spins on The Mummy, which is just an awesome ride - some much more fun that Hollywood’s version. By that time, Simpson’s opened and I got to ride it!
Afterwards I headed to Islands of Adventure and with the short time I had rode Spiderman, Cat in the Hat and had a nice lunch over at Mythos. The park closed at 6pm and I had gotten my ticket to see CHICAGO who were playing at Hard Rock Live in the CityWalk area. As always, it was a great show and a nice cap to the day. The venue is not very big but it sounds great and it seems like every seat was a good one.
More to come!