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My plane landed at 10:40am. I had reserved a car at Alamo. The line was SOOOOO long there. I got the car and was at EPCOT by 12:15. I rushed right past Spaceship Earth and through Information Central to the Fast Pass machines at Mission Space.
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The stand-by singles line was short, so I skipped the fast pass. They gave me a credit card device to give to the cast member at the other end of the line to let them know how long the line was.
It only took about five minutes to get on the ride. Here are some pictures of the interior queue area and the exterior.
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Mission Space is a GREAT ride. It is very intense, not your normal Disney ride. I think the best part is the launch and breaking through the clouds. Incredible.
What a difference from the solenoids in the seat cushions on Flight To The Moon (later Mission To Mars)!
There was no line for Universe of Energy so I decided to take advantage of the oportunity. It was especialy fun this time because there were several children in the vehicle that had never ridden before. They were very concerned about the dinosaurs.
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I walked over to The Wonders of Life pavillion and found it closed.
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I walked around the lake to take in all of the countries. There were some young acrobats performing at China.
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Behind Canada the ride building for the new Soarin' attraction can be seen. This is a great ride at Disneyland. I can't wait to see what this one is like.
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I can't pass by the Fish & Chips shop without stopping. The tables were all full so I continued toward the lake and ate in what has been referred to as The Secret Garden. They call it that because it is well hidden and not many people know about it.
A bagpipe band was performing at Canada. I don't remember this McDonald's french fry stand being here by Canada.
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There are several special, limited time, quarter presses to celebrate Mickey's 75th year. They take five quarters and one comes out smashed with the decoration.
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I rode the Monorail to the Magic Kingdom. There are great views of the park during the trip.
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Back on Main Street in the Magic Kingdom. It feels like home.
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Approaching Cinderella's Castle.
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I was pleased to see the Carousel of Progress open. It has been closed on many previous visits. I grew up with the "Now is the time" theme song, so I would prefer it. I understand that they switched back to the original song.
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The Carousel is a little tired. There is a large mended rip in one of the scrims that was very visible. The boy in the final scene talked, but his mouth didn't move.
I noticed two things with the dog. First, in the 40's scene he has a "Nyla-Bone". These are from the 90's. In the present scene his ball is stuck in a large, visible wad of stuff to keep it from rolling away.
Small things, but Walt wouldn't have put up with them.
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Tomorrowland Transit Authority (PeopleMover). I always enjoy the old PeopleMover. It is one thing that WDW has over Disneyland since they replaced their's with the Rocket Rods, which they later closed.
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There are two great places for twist cones, Mrs Potts in Fantasyland and Auntie Gravities in Tomorrowland.
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I grabbed a spot on the bridge to set up my tripod for the fireworks show.
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Tinkerbell lights up for her flight. In my time exposure photo she streaks across the night sky.
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The bridge turned out not to be such a good place to see the fireworks. Most of them were behind the trees. I moved around to Main Street where I could see them. It was a great show. It is called Wishes nightime spectacular.
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Then back to the motel. This year we are staying at the Knight's Inn Main Gate. They have redecorated the rooms. It is one of the closest motels to WDW. The rates were about $40 a night.
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I returned my rental car to Alamo at the Disney Car Care Center. I rode the Alamo bus to MGM Studios. I was surprised at the low cost of the Alamo rentals, about $24 per day.
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A scene from Fantasia's The Sorcerer's Apprentice in the garden.
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Beautiful flowers on the Brown Derby and some architectural details of the period Hollywood buildings.
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My first ride on the Rock N Roller Coaster. 0-60 in less than 3 seconds! Amazing! The standby line moved very fast, too fast to see all of the vintage audio equipment in the queue.
I was surprised to see how short the ride was. Maybe it just seemed fast because it was the first time. I need to try it again.
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I was able to get a table at the Brown Derby for lunch at 11:55 with almost no wait! I had their wonderful Cobb Salad and great rolls. I figured it was a good idea to do the Rock N Roller Coaster before lunch.
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After lunch I got in the standby line for Tower of Terror. It moved for a while and then stopped. They announced that one of the elevators had malfunctioned so the line would be moving very slowly. I thought the whole point of the ride was to get on a malfunctioning elevator!
They are now calling this Tower of Terror 4. They have added drops and it is better than ever.
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These places to eat are behind the small stands on Sunset Boulevard, the street that leads to the Tower of Terror. In all of my trips to MGM, I had never walked back to see them. I figured it was time!
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Okay, so I can't stop taking pictures of the flowers at the Brown Derby!
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Gertie's is a great place to get a twist cone and sitting by Echo Lake is a perfect relaxing way to enjoy it.
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There is a lot of construction happening at the end of New York Street. I think this is where the backlot used to be. The poster looks like they are building a thrill show.
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A game show host picked a guy out of the crowd to be the bachelor in the Dating Game.
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Back to EPCOT for one more ride on Mission Space! I tried to take some pictures inside the ride but I had some problems focusing, so this is all I got.
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I needed to get to Downtown Disney on Disney transportation. The only way to get there from EPCOT is to take a bus to a resort and then take the Marketplace bus from there.
Old Key West was the closest resort. I had never been in here. It looks very nice. It is a Vacation Club resort, so it is a timeshare. It looks like guests can park their cars right in front of their rooms.
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The bus from Key West dropped me off right at the Marketplace entrance. Here is a picture of the new Saratoga Springs resort taken from the Marketplace pier.
We had a good dinner at The Rainforest Cafe and then did lots of shopping at the HUGE World of Disney store.
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Today is our last day at Disney. We spent it all in the Magic Kingdom.
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The boat dock offers a great view of the Polynesian.
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Back in the Magic Kingdom. The were lots of characters signing autographs in the town square.
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There was a very colorful Barbershop Quartet performing on Main Street USA.
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We went to the new Mickey's Philharmagic. It is a great 3D movie by Kodak. There is an incredible scene where Donald is reaching out for help, and another with spinning gems floating just inches away.
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On to It's A Small World. I had never noticed the windows from Pinocchio's Village Haus overlooking the loading area.
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We rode the paddle wheel boat around Tom Sawyer island.
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We found a very tame egret hanging around Frontierland. There were many people eating in the area and the egret would slowly walk up to people to see if it could get some food. One mother was not pleased with how close it got to her children and shooed it away.
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We had lunch in Fantasyland at Pinocchio's Village Haus. Hot dogs and hamburgers. Pretty good. We sat by the window looking out to the Small World loading area.
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A cast member told us that this tree, pictured below, was recently planted near the Swiss Family Treehouse. It had lost its leaves and had 5 or 6 inch pods and large cottonballs all over it.
As the wind blew, individual seeds were released inside of a 3 or 4 inch cottonball that floated away. The balls on the tree must be tightly packed because hundreds of the seeds came floating by, but the tree was as full as ever.
We sat beneath the tree for quite a while, resting, watching the crowds, and enjoying Pineapple Whips from Aloha Isle.
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Another ride on the Tomorrowland Transport Authority Peoplemover. On our way out the parade was on. Here are a couple of the floats, Mickey and Fantasia.
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Today we drove down to Hollywood Beach. We were running a bit early and decided to stop at Jaxson's for HUGE hot fudge sundaes.
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This is the wonderful beach view from our room. The weather was still incredible, highs in the mid 70's.
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Here is the view from one of my favorite places to eat on the Broad Walk. Oasis by the Sea. Great Gyros and french fries.
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Disney and other Theme Parks
