Since My Disney Experience allows favorite character selection as icons, and my wife graciously and correctly linked me with Buzz Lightyear (She’s Cinderella and Anabelle’s Ariel for those playing at home) the lead up to this trip is in the form of a countdown to blast off.
November 10, 2010: T-1055
Y’know Anabelle, by your tenth birthday, the Fantasyland Expansion will be completed…
January 12, 2011: T- 964
Reality imitates the ending of the show. A fire in the Tiki Room: Under New Management irreparably damages the Iago animatronic. I’m so upset I’m molting!
February 12, 2011: T-933
Toontown Fair closes forever to make room for New Fantasyland. The Barnstormer is spared! There is much rejoicing, mostly by me since I won’t have to console my daughter.
May 20, 2011: T-836
Star Tours reopens…the call is born.
June 3, 2011: T-822
As part of New Fantasyland, the Ariel dark ride opens in Disney World; the call strongly reaches Anabelle.
July 3, 2011: T-792
Flynn Rider fired from Tangled Play and Greet! OK, maybe not. They cancelled the “play” part a while ago and are trying to speed up the line more for Rapunzel fans. Perhaps I’m still bitter for her usurping Belle’s Story Time before the Beast’s castle was ready.
August 15, 2011: T-749
The Tiki Room reopens with a shorter version of the original show. Sad for the loss of gags, happy for the loss of giant volcano goddess that scares the bejeebers out of my daughter.
February 10, 2012: T-570
Farewell Little Red. Disney announces the last vestige of the “Catch the Poachers” story on Kilimanjaro safaris will be replaced with a new zebra exhibit. They cut so much out over time; it didn’t make a lot of sense anymore anyway.
In other news: YAY ZEBRAS!
May 18, 2012: T-472
The Usurper dethroned! Merida boots Rapunzel out to take over the Fairytale Garden. Perhaps when Enchanted Tales with Belle opens in December, I’ll be less bitter.
May 31, 2012: T-459
Snow White’s Scary Adventures closes to make way for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Disney’s special treatment of Ben Miles for this occasion shows, once again, how awesome they are.
June 23, 2012: T-436
I CALLED IT. On our lastDisney Trip, I asked, “I wonder when they’re going to change the Kim Possible World Showcase scavenger hunt to something based on Perry the Platypus?”
The answer is today. Agent P's World Showcase Adventure opens.
September 29, 2012: T-338
Anabelle gets a giant pile of Hogwarts gear. Insists we definitely need a day to see Harry Potterland at Universal when we inevitably return to the World. The call grows.
October 2, 2012: T-335
A post summer car wash knocks my Disney World bumper sticker half off. I cover it with packing tape because I refuse to replace it unless it’s with one from the parks.
Subliminally, the call is affecting me.
October 30, 2012: T-307
Disney buys Lucasfilm for 4.05 billion dollars. As awesome as this combination is, I am very concerned that between Star Wars and Marvel, Disney now completely owns the eight to twelve year old boy market and will forget TRON exists.
December 6, 2012: T-270
Test Track reopens after a restructuring. There are World of Motion references and much of the inside looks like TRON, perhaps my concerns were unjustified.
Even without Magnetic Levitation Man, it adds a bit to the call.
December 30, 2012: T-264
Amidst all the usual science fiction / fantasy movie and snarky joke page a day calendars, I pick a Disney animation one for the first time in my life. The call is heard.
January 10, 2013: T-235
The Diamond Horseshoe Review returns in a shortened form as part of Limited Time Magic to packed houses and rave reviews. Complaints from some guests about the Can Can dancers and Miss Lily flirting with the audience kills any chance of a permanent come back when the limited run ends February 4th. This is why we can’t have nice things. They should start giving people personality evaluations before allowing them into Disney World.
March 6, 2013 T-180
The first day I could book meals for our Disney trip. Also, likely the only day I’d have any shot at booking dinner in the Be Our Guest Restaurant in the Beast’s castle. As I have no idea we’re going yet, looks like we’ll be waiting forever in line for a counter service lunch if we want to see the inside of the New Fantasyland restaurant.
April 17, 2013: T-138
As we’re both about to pass out, I mention feeling the call, and that I’d like our daughter to get in another Disney trip while the magic will still be unconditionally, completely real for her.
(As opposed to it being only completely real for me.)
April 30, 2013: T-125
The bumper sticker packing tape gives up. The call is too strong to take any action, and the torn bit of paper hangs determinedly to the car as best it can.
May 7, 2013: T-118
Out of the blue, Rosa admits feeling the call, and says she agrees with the sentiment of the statement about our daughter’s trip timing I made almost a month before.
(We communicate well, but not always on the same timeline.)
May 10, 2013: T-115
Disney World announces free Dining Plan with packages in September. It’s like they can smell when we feel the call.
May 11, 2013: T-114
Merida coronation ceremony makes her the eleventh Disney princess today. There are mass complaints of her redesign to look slimmer and girlier for the commemorative drawings. Oddly there are no complaints of Cinderella’s massive, bleaching, liposuctions and jaw and ribcage surgery in the same pictures, Mulan still being stuck in the dress that symbolizes everything she hates, and Gisselle’s complete omission due to not wanting to pay Amy Adams for her image forever.
May 15, 2013: T-110
Mickey Mouse turns 85! Looks pretty good for his age, don’t he?
May 16, 2013: T-109
Rosa goes to visit her Mom in Peru for two weeks, encouraging me to start scouting planning options. I didn’t really need encouragement to increase the strength of the call.
May 17, 2013: T-108
Daily checks of the World’s website and Allears.net commence as the call fever grows. The question of is it worth losing an extra day of work/school to trade a holiday Monday for an uncrowded Thursday is put forth.
May 21, 2013: T-104
How to get to Hogwarts? Rental Car, taxi and shuttle options are all identified.
We were really hoping for a Thestral, Broom, or Floo Network option.
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4 comments:
Loved it! And found myself trying in vain to remember the original version of the Tiki room. I find it unnerving not to be able to remember. Why do they keep cutting things down??
Many thanx for reading and posting.
It'll come back. "The tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki room" "Lets all sing like the birdies sing" "Ta hoo wahi wahi etc etc"
They do shorten things, anything to increase throughput. And it works. In 10 days in the parks, I can count the number of times I felt like I was really "waiting" on line on one hand.
thanx again
We hit the Tiki Room last time we were there (summer 2012). It seemed very much like I remember it but boy, us old folks with cricks in our necks after leaving that show.
Thanx for sharing. That can be a painful one now. My trick is to sit near the back row and look at the stuff across from me. Less detail, but less neck pain too.
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