Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Nov 9 – Extra Hours ... Of Waiting?
Disney offers something called Extra Hours at some of their facilities. It either opens one of their parks early or leaves them open later than normal but only people who stay on Disney property can go. It is supposed to make things a little better for those staying at Disney but, like many things in life, this does not always live up to it billing. We noticed when we were at MGM during their Extra Hours that it still seemed pretty crowded. I asked some people working there about this and they said that the crowds were not really much smaller, it was just a different mix of people. A bunch of Disney people thinking that they are going to beat the crowds. Today, however, proved to be much more frustrating to say the least. Let me explain.
Our day started with a boat ride from Camp Wilderness over to Magic Kingdom. Not a bad way 
to start a nice sunny day. Magic Kingdom was opening one hour early for some Extra Hours so 
we thought we’d take advantage. We wanted to do the Splash Mountain ride as well as the Big Thunder Mountain ride. The plan was to FastPass one and then while waiting for the FastPass to become active, we would ride the other. Ideally we would be able to ride both before 9:00 and then we could do other stuff. Well once we arrived we found out that only part of Magic Kingdom was open for the Extra Hours. Of course, the part of the park with the two rides we wanted to try was NOT open for extra hours! It did not actually open until 9:00, like a normal day. How convenient. I am so glad we got up early for this. Anyway, I decided to retain my positive mental attitude and we did a few other things while we waited and then once that part 
of the park opened up, we headed right over. Once we arrived where these two rides were, we took a quick look at the number of people in line to decide which one to FastPass and which one to wait for. It looked like Splash Mountain had the 
shorter line so we decided to FastPass Thunder Mountain and line-up for Splash Mountain. After getting the FastPass, we head over to the Splash line-up. Then, after about 10 minutes of nothing happening, a cast member informs us that they are having technical difficulties and Splash Mountain won’t be open for at least another 30 minutes, but they did not know exactly when it would be ready. Great, it is now well after 9:00 and we haven’t ridden either ride yet. At this point, retaining my positive mental attitude is becoming more challenging but I am able to do it. 
We decide to check out some other stuff until our FastPass time comes up for Thunder Mountain. When we return for Thunder Mountain at around 10:15, we find out that it is now closed temporarily due to technical difficulties! Are you kidding me? Of course, to exacerbate the situation, Splash Mountain is now running smoothly. If only I had decided to line up for Big Thunder and FastPass Splash instead. AAAARRRRGGGG!!! By this time we were allowed to obtain another FastPass so we got one 
for Splash too. We had to wait for this new FastPass to be active so we headed over to check out a live Pirates of the Caribbean show that was taking place in the street. I am not a big fan of these mini-theatrical pieces but the guy playing Captain Jack Sparrow 
was unbelievable! He looked exactly like Johnny Depp and played Captain Jack Sparrow’s movements, mannerisms and voice to perfection. I really should have captured a video of their show to give you an idea but I got so involved in watching that I forgot to do that. By the time we returned to Thunder, it was going again so we rode it. It was fun but it was no Tower of Terror. Then we did Splash right after that. Well, Morgan and I did. 
Splash has a great finale but the rest of the ride was more for younger kids. On the bright side, at least we got another chance to get some use out of those rain ponchos we bought yesterday. So, we finally got to ride both mountians, even if the Extra Hours provided no benefit. Then we headed for Epcot to FastPass the Soarin’ ride that had such a long wait time the last time we tried. This time we were going to do it regardless of how long we might have to wait. We took the 
monorail on the way over and we even got to ride in the front with the pilot of the Monorail. That was a blast as we got a fabulous view of everything from this vantage point. We also happened to be on the train that gave us a bird’s eye view of Epcot as we rounded the big sphere as we came into the station. When we got to Soarin’ the earliest FastPass was 4 hours hence! We bit the 
bullet, got the FastPass and decided to do other stuff, again, until our time slot came up. We did some shopping. The kids and I went back to Mission SPACE and this time I did the intense version of the ride. It was quite impressive as the little capsule simulator you are in gives you an even more realistic feeling of a blast of with major g-forces pushing you into your seat as you take of into the sky. You can hardly lift your arms out in front of you to grab the joystick or press the buttons. It really gives you a realistic feeling of listing off a launch pads into the atmosphere and beyond. Well, not that I have ever done that before but that is how I would imagine it would be. Then I decided, since we are doing home schooling, or 
should I say, MoHo schooling, we were due for a lesson in Fine Arts. In particular, the fine art of enjoying a drink on the patio by the water on a beautiful sunny day. I think it was a slightly more enjoyable lesson for Chantal and I than it was for the kids. After that we made our way back to the Soarin’ ride and jumped the line with our FastPass. I though this ride was very cool although I think the kids were expecting 
something very grandiose given the huge wait times to take the ride. It was a ride where you are seated with a safety bar but you are lifted off the ground so your feet are dangling. In front of you is a half-spherical OmniMax screen on the wall (as opposed to the usual ceiling orientation) that is showing imagery that was taken from a plane or glider or helicopter. The chair you are sitting on moves in harmony with the film and accompanying music and sounds so that you get the feeling that you are flying through all of this scenery, which happened to be mostly different parts of California. I loved it and it was fun to see some of the places we had already been to. After that it was time to make our way back to the MoHo as we were getting pretty tired given our unnaturally early start this morning due to the Extra Hours fiasco. Another day at Disney could be crossed off the calendar.
Today’s word:
exacerbate \ig-ZAS-ur-bayt\, transitive verb:
To render more severe, violent, or bitter; to irritate; to aggravate; to make worse.
