Disney 2008 is Done

It's always a bittersweet occasion upon leaving Walt Disney World to return home. It never last long enough, but after a week I'm also ready to sleep in my own overly comfortable bed, and pet my cats. This year was certainly no exception.

We stayed at Coronado Springs Resort for the second time this year. We miss Animal Kingdom Lodge a little, and having outdoor-entry rooms at Coronado isn't as comforting/private as it could be, the convenience of travel to the parks is really unequaled at CSR. Ten minute or less bus rides from Animal Kingdom, Disney's Hollywood Studios (yes, the MGM name is no more), and Epcot makes mid-day rests or swimming (weather permitted) much easier. Just don't bother eatting there.

The Weather this year was certainly an improvement. Though a large overcast and low visibility ceiling in Atlanta resulted in flight delays leading to an Orlando arrival hours after scheduled on Sunday, Monday through Saturday provided the sunniest days we've ever had in a week at WDW. There was an almost negligibly fine mist Saturday morning that dissipated by 10 am, leading to a reasonable warm, partly cloudy day.

The highlight of the trip was, by far, Toy Story Midway Mania. When we first arrived at DHS on Wednesday a mere 20 minutes after the park opened, the standby line was already up to 50 minutes, and Fast Pass distribution had already worked it's way in to the 12 o'clock hour. Obviously we grabbed Fast Passes and ran for the other side of the park where we were treated to walk-ons at Tower of Terror, and a surprisingly long 30 minute wait for Rock'n Roller Coaster. After several turns on each ride, we made our way back to use our Fast Passes for Toy Story.

The standby line was now up to 80 minutes, and Fast Passes were completely distributed for the day. By 11:30. Sorry Soarin', but it was looking pretty bad for your reign as most popular ride at Disney World. After riding, the case was closed.

Toy Story Midway Mania is the most fun I've had on a ride at Disney World. Instead of the slow meandering tour of it's cousin, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin at Magic Kingdom, TSMM zips you along on a quick run through of a number of stationary midway styled games enhanced by 3d glasses. You'll stop for a short time at each game before being whisked quickly along to the next one. Instead of firing visible spectrum lasers in a mess of blinking lights where you can't tell your dot from the guy 10 cars down, the 3D screens provide the virtual projectiles launched from your spring action shooter attached to the front of your car. And you are only competing with the person in your car. It's a fast paced 3D video game ride that appears to appeal to almost EVERYONE. Disney Imagineering really outdid themselves on this ride and with it's addition to DHS really increased the appeal of that park.

Since we only got to ride one time on our main DHS day, we went back Saturday morning for Extra Magic Hour after checking in for our flight at the resort. We were one of the first 50 people in the park and when the rope finally dropped letting us in, I looked back and discovered that nearly the WHOLE crowd that arrived after us was following the leaders back to Toy Story. We walked on for the first ride, and by the time we got off, Fast Pass distribution was again already three hours into the day, and the standby line was up to 60 minutes. I'd call it a hit. We only ended up getting to ride it three times while we were there - my top score was only 195,500, a little shy of the 291,000 posted record of the month. But given such little practice I think I did ok. Most people I watched around us were posting scores under 100,000.

No trip to WDW is complete for us without a lot of pin trading. This November saw the release of what is likely to be the most popular series of Hidden Mickey cast lanyard exclusive pins (pins which you can't buy in the parks, they begin their lives on cast trading lanyards and you have to trade with cast members to obtain them) - each pin in the series represents a letter of the alphabet and a character whose name begins with that letter. All week we were only able to find 6 letters. Six. Hopefully by next year they'll be in better circulation and we'll be able to find the other 20. We also managed to complete a number of sets from last year including the princess eyes, the muppets, the fast passes, the villain crystal balls, and the feet. Out of last year's sets, the ones that we want but are still missing are Figaro (the black cat), Uncle Sam Donald, the Pineapple, and Goofy and Donald driving. From this year's set (October releases, November releases) we still need the Pie, the Tomato, the DDP symbol, and 20 (cry) of the letters (shown on page 2 of the November releases).

It was, as always, a wonderful time. We're pretty sure we're going back again next year, but you never know what the future will bring, especially with the economy in the sad state it's in now. It's always a long year, but it's always worth the wait.

We were pretty bad about getting pictures this year. Truth to tell there wasn't a lot to photograph. It seemed like the Christmas decoration was a little on the light side this year. I did get some decent pics outside of Toy Story, which I should have online sometimes soon.