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Cootie Girl: oops I crapped my pants and other Disney stories
2.10.2004
So Disney wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. In fact, I actually ended up having fun all because of three words - Tower of Terror. I'll get to that in a moment let me go back to the beginning. Tisha, Claudia, Tricia, Michele and I were all on the same flight down to Orlando; Jim was to meet us at bag check since his flight was in 30 min earlier. We flew Song to Florida. The flight was fun going down especially when we found the music trivia game on the individual TV's in the seats in front of us. I joined the game and noticed Michele had been playing for a while and was in the lead position I tried my hardest to beat her but I joined the game too late by the time the next game started we had to land so we planned on a re-match on the flight back. We were sadly disappointed to find out the flight back didn't have the TV's. Tisha arranged for a taxi from the airport to the hotel with a stop at the grocery store (tip #1 food is mad expensive in Disney if you can bring some snacks and water do it). As we are leaving the airport we get a call that Claudia picked up the wrong bag and had to go back (I wasn't sure if this was an omen or not but it all worked out and we were on our way).
We get to the Hotel Pop Century and it looks just like the photos on the website there were 5 different complexes for each era. The 50's had giant bowling pins on each end, the 60's had giant yo-yo's, I'm not sure what the 70's had, the 80's had giant Rubik cubes, and the 90's had cell phones. Catch phrases were across the top of every building. I didn't walk around to all the complexes so I don't know what all of them had. We were put in the 50's building (not the 80's like I thought) but that was OK with me since our building was close to the front desk and food court. All these hotels are on these massive properties and well if we were spending the day walking around all the parks I didn't want to walk a mile to get to my own room. The pool in our complex was shaped like a bowling pin. Tricia and I did some night swimming on the 2nd night it was fun because no one was there (tip #2 if you want to have a relaxing time do night swimming especially if the pool is heated). It took us about 45 min to check in but when it was all sorted we wouldn't have to check out we could just leave. Tisha, Michele, Claudia and Jim had rooms on the 4th floor and Tricia and I were on the third. Oh and Pop Century does the twist at 9am in the lobby and at 6pm they do the hustle. I was never up or back in time to get to join in but I am sure like the rest of Disney it is corny.
So now, to the good stories, on the first night we went to Epcot. It's the park that is open the latest (9pm). As soon as we got there, I jetted over to Mission Space and well it was so awesome we rode it twice. We had dinner in Mexico that night. The chips were horrible but the salsa was ok. After dinner, we took a boat ride that told you all about Mexico. We thought it was so much fun (especially the tacky 70's movie clips that just kept looping) we went to the next country to check out their boat ride. The next country was Norway and their boat ride was even better than Mexico's. Who knew that Norway was all about trolls? We left Norway and headed for China, the next country on our tour only to find that they did not have a boat ride. In fact, the woman told us that Mexico and Norway were the only countries with boat rides so the rest of the night pretty much sucked. We walked the mile around through all the countries (I got to pee in Morocco) and watched the fireworks display at the end of the night (I think they called it reflections on water or something just as corny). That night we played Left-Right-Center by the pool for money. I wanted to go swimming but I was just too tired from the day.
The next day the 4th floor crew got up and went to brunch at Chef Mickey over near the Magic Kingdom. They do this character brunch where every so often this song comes on and everyone starts waving their napkins around (like they are at a sport game) and the kids get all excited and dance with the characters. The only reason I know this is because Jim made me and Tricia go the next day because he needed his 3 plates (no joke) of biscuits and gravy. That crew went to Magic Kingdom that day, Tricia and I headed over to MGM Studios. I wanted to make sure I got to go on the rock n roll rollercoaster. It was about 11:30 when we got into the park and bee-lined right over to the coaster. The wait wasn't too long and we soon learned about this cool thing they have at Disney called FAST PASS. You can get a fast pass to the cool rides and it lets you jump the line. You can only have one issued with in I think 1/2 hour intervals and are usually good within 30 min of issue. The Rock n Roll coaster was AWESOME we went right back on.
As we were standing in line, we could see the Tower of Terror right next to us and noticed that the doors on the top of the building opened and we could see the car jumping up and down. I have a big fear of falling and I guess it also applies to elevators dropping. Tricia always admitted her fear of dropping in an elevator it was soon time for us to face our fear. We get in line for T.O.T. and after the little movie intro we are lead into the boiler room I felt like I was in the movie Nightmare on Elm Street. As we get closer to the ride I notice that the cars have seats which is a bit of a disappointment since I saw this video and thought we stood up in the ride. There is no bar to hold onto and the only thing holding you down is a seatbelt (tip #3 make sure your belt is TIGHT on your lap). Our first ride down we sat in the front row and Tricia was next to the wall that had this little handle. My seatbelt wasn't tight because well I didn't know. The elevator goes up to a floor and opens to a hallway where you see some ghost and then it all goes black and there are stars with the window at the end of the hall starting to float towards you. The doors close and you are taken up to another floor and when the doors open the car goes out into the hallway (I think this is where I crapped my pants) then rides thought a black curtain into another shaft in complete darkness. At this point, you hear a bunch of clicks and locks and then you drop (although the ride is random one time we did go up). It then zooms back up, the doors open, you can see out into the park and then you drop AGAIN. This happens a few times. Did I mention my seatbelt was loose and well I was literally flying out of my seat. I tried to reach out to Tricia but I couldn't find her arm so I reached over her to grab that little handle on the side of the car. I almost broke her arm when I did find it. I have never been as scared in all my life. When we got off the ride and still shaking headed over to the other side of the park just to relax. Three beers later, we were ready to go back on. At that point, the others met up with us. We got fast passes for the T.O.T. and headed to the Rock n Roll coaster. It was later in the evening and the lines were even shorter. We were able to do the coaster twice, the second time we were delayed because Kobe Bryant was there and he got to ride the coaster all to himself. Kobe must have gotten on where everyone gets off the ride but he still had to pass us. We weren't sure at first if it was him but then saw him later that night at pleasure island and well he really is hard to miss being 90 feet tall and all. I bought the photo of us on the rock n roll coaster (T, Michele, Tricia and I all in our rock star poses). After the 2nd pass at the coaster, we headed to the tower. It was hard to hide the fear in Tricia and my eyes but we did a good job. We ended up in the front row again, I had the space next to the wall and my seatbelt was tight to the point where I couldn't feel my legs. My last words to T, Michele and Jim was you might want to lock arms on this one. As we move out into the hallway T was like "I didn't know we went off the track" I had to chuckle since I had freaked at that moment as well. What can I say I LOVE this ride.
We went back to our hotel, had dinner and got ready to go out to Pleasure Island - like most of Disney this was LAME. We went to that one club with the revolving dance floor. Some girl helped me onto the floor I really thought I was gonna fall it was spinning a bit too fast. I kind of thought it was moving slow like that bar/lounge in the Marquis hotel here in NYC. I had to run off the thing to make sure I didn't fall on my dismount. The hip-hop club was the only place I saw police officers or security guards. The stage hosted this really bad 80's cover band complete with cheesy wigs and costumes. T, Michele and Tricia did a recording (complete with video) at Superstar Studios. They sang No Doubt's "I'm Just a Girl". Michele is gonna try and post it up on her site I'll let you know if she can figure that out. When we got back to the hotel that night, I went for a swim. It was lovely since there were no screaming kids in the pool, in fact, it was just me and Tricia and it was very peaceful (I guess what a vacation should be).
It's late and this is getting too long already, I'm gonna have to finish it tomorrow. I need to get to bed. Sorry.
To be continued ......
