Wednesday, January 28: Where'd the Tourists Go?

I have a thing about the Magic Kingdom. I am pretty sure I've mentioned that before. I could wax poetic about my childhood fascination with things Disney and try to justify my love for this place, but in the end the only thing that matters is this:
IT MAKES ME HAPPY! I wear a tiara. I go on rides. Animals hug me. I smile, a LOT. I see happy children. I walk through a castle. Nothing is real, nothing is bad. There is ice cream, and Mickey Mouse, and you can even see pirates.There are two moments in the Magic Kingdom day that hold more fascination for me than any other. The first is opening. The train comes steaming along 'round the bend from Tomorrowland. The second is closing, after close, when the streets are nearly empty and everyone's gone but clean-up crew and naughty dawdlers (that'd be me). Opening on a Wednesday in January means a nearly empty park.It means a chance to be nearly first in line, and an opportunity to get great pictures of my second home. We started with Tomorrowland.I'd heard that Space is going in for rehab in a manner that will change it forever. It was pretty important, therefore, that we get in one last ride.I love the bumpy rattly old rat trap of a coaster. Not a huge amount of speed or air-time, but dark and tradition can go a long way toward my happiness. Next we headed to Buzz, and lo and behold, a miracle happened.I FINALLY kicked Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger ass! I dusted the man by 100,000 points at least. There was great rejoicing.
Wandering through Fantasyland I saw a familiar face...it's the lady from the vacation DVD. She's also on the closed circuit Disney tv channel in the room that tells you all about parks and events and things not to miss. Generally she looks like she's either sucked down a gallon of coffee, or snorted some wicked good coke. Today was no exception. As long as the camera was rolling she was all vivid action, all the time. WOO! Then the camera stops and she looked like a perfectly normal woman. No spastic hysterical elation. Just a normal person, standing under an umbrella that she holds herself - no diva here!
Last year I don't know if we got to the Haunted Mansion.This year we did! We also saw a friend of Mary's - Donald, in his frontier garb, signing and hugging.For lunch we had a turkey leg and a baked potato. I always think I want a turkey leg, and then once I have it I question my sanity. It's like a pterydactyl leg, I swear. Huge. And smoked. And delicious, but this one, which I did not get a picture of, was bigger than my head. I made Gene eat half, then stole his potato skin so I could pretend lunch was healthy. We jumped on Big Thunder, and Splash, and got so soaked on Splash it was too funny. We've never gotten wet BEFORE the drop! We were soaked by another boat before we even headed into the ride. Temperatures were up into the mid 70's, but we were a little chilled anyway. The guy behind us in the boat got it worse than we did. Eventually we dried off, and went on a few more things - Pirates, and Jungle Cruise. Where two days ago we'd confronted lines, today we walked on and off of everything. We headed out of the park as evening approached and caught the tail end of this performance on Main Street.We followed them down Main Street, and headed for a bus back home. Again with the napping. I know. Napping, and us all grown up? But you've got to understand...tonight was Cirque Du Soleil La Nouba! Rest is a must.
After our nap we made our way Downtown.World of Disney is huge. I am more of a vicarious shopper than an actual shopper. I wander, touch, look, but buy little. We took a boat down to Westside, to the Cirque du Soleil "big top".This is all I can show you, and this was taken under penalty of death. All I can say is...GO. If you're there, GO. Find a way. Skip meals. Starve the kids. Skip the t-shirts. But GO. You don't need to go for tier one tickets, either. Shoot for tier 2 or 3, close to the center, and as close to the middle of the theater as possible. Awesome show, kids love it, worth every penny (twice we've been and I can still say that!)
Pleasure Island is dark, which is odd. The clubs are all closed, and there's not a lot of people out and about.Used to be open till 2am. I get why they closed. But it means that there's not much for a girl to do of a evening.
Dinner, after Cirque, was at Wolfgang Puck Cafe. Something happened here, and I got contaminated. By 1:00am it was apparent that this would be a long night. No harm no foul - by morning I was walking and talking, if tired and a bit dehydrated. The chef and I had discussed my meal selection before I was served, and I said I was gluten intolerant. He recommeded the sushi with the caveat that he did not recomment it for celiacs as they dip the fish in something, but I eat sushi all the time at home and never get sick, so I felt pretty safe. Gene ate some of my sushi and his own and was fine, so it wasn't the fish. I don't use soy sauce, so we've got no clue what went wrong. The worst part for me, really, was the knowledge that I was keeping Gene up with my running to and from from the bathroom all night long.
In the Virgin MegaStore we found these:look familiar to anyone? Between the two of us we owned a fairly respectable portion of the albums pictured here. Ah, vinyl. How I miss you...
Tomorrow: the last full day!