DISNEY: Two Weekends Left

After spending all of my free Friday in Melbourne (omg), I rewarded myself with another trip to Disney on Saturday. Granted, much of my Dis"Need" was satisfied last weekend, I only have two more weekends left on my Annual Pass, and although I'm about 80% sure that I'm going to renew, I still felt the need to go... and go early... again.

I decided on Epcot (for the Test Track), and I brought my new Sparkle Stitch (his first time out to the parks) and Sweetie Bear who hasn't made it out since the trip to the outlet mall a couple months ago.

I ended up heading towards Soarin' first. I was going to hold out on the ride until September, when my older sister and I go to Disneyland for the Half-Marathon, but it's been a while, and I remembered that there were some queue refurbing happening. I met a group of lively and friendly early 20-uns (?) from Lakeland who were fun to joke around with and all. There was a wall set up along the length of the queue, so the walkway was narrow but moved quickly (I wonder how they would manage the crowd once the wait gets longer than 50 minutes). Anyways, when figuring groups, I wasn't included, which was fine, but it sent me back to reality, which was that I was there by myself, which is something I get asked more often than not, but which I'm used to/immune to/okay with.

(Wow, I used 3 which's and 2 but's in that last [run-on] sentence.)

Anyways, afterwards, I walked ahead, realizing that I could either try to assimilate into the wild-and-crazy group (they were going to try to do all four parks in one day) or I just go do my own thing. I know better than to hope or strain, so I went ahead to Test Track and their single-rider's line. I think it's the best single-riders' line in all the parks, though the single-riders' line for Rock'n'Rollercoaster is pretty fast too, though Test Track is definitely the most fun for a single rider because of the fact that we'd be put with a couple other people in the row (so no awkward it's-only-you-and-me moments). Plus the other people get a kick when I do my Britney Spears impression. And this time I was able to do it with Sparkle Stitch the first time and Sweetie Bear the second time:
In the gift shop, I looked at the "Here Comes Trouble" [Stitch] window decal and saw that it was Finally on sale (for $3.99). I got two of them! Anyways, afterwards, I headed towards the front entrance. I skipped Spaceship Earth because I still wanted to savor the memory of my last time on it, when I was with my guy... the guy... a guy(?)... guy(?!). Anyways, the music being played at the front wasn't the theme to Soarin and wasn't from Peter Pan. I think it was from the POTC3 soundtrack... hmm... that'd be good synergy, plus I didn't like the Peter Pan audio.

Anyways, I somewhat hesitantly got on the monorail and headed to Magic Kingdom. I say 'hesitantly' because otherwise I would've headed right then to Downtown Orlando to the tea house, but I figured that I needed to do at least two parks.

First thing, I took the railroad to Frontierland (to save some walking, plus it's relaxing, like the parking lot trams). I saw thatSplash Mountain was only an estimated 30-minute wait so I rode it. Then after getting a Jungle Cruise FastPass in Adventureland, I walked through the center of the park to Tomorrowland. I felt the urge to ride the TTA (again, relaxing), afterwhich, I bought a bucket of popcorn (crisper than the microwave popcorn I have at home, plus the souvenir bucket!) and then made my way counter-clockwise through Fantasyland and Liberty Square, where I stopped by the Haunted Mansion -- I knew that it was going to be down for a more-than-a-couple-weeks refurb soon and just wanted to get it in. It was crowded, but pretty fun since I was talking with a family from Tennessee who are new to the parks and everyone was excited.

Then it was time for Jungle Cruise! I didn't see my favorite Jungle Cruise guy:

. But I saw someone who could've been:
Unfortunately, I was put on a boat after the Could've-Been guy, whose guide was obviously new, nervous, and not my type. Yeah, it was painful, but oh well...

I took the monorail back to Epcot and engaged in some small talk (about FOOD!) with my fellow riders. It made me feel good. Happy, smiling, friendly people. Yay! So I was done with the two parks by 2:30pm and headed onto the tea house.

I spent the rest of the sunny day inside the shop, helping with the cleaning and serving (not so much the sandwich-making or the ringing-up). I was so happy to see Cori -- I haven't seen him in the longest time -- and Trace, Nigel, and I met Kathy(sp?). Cori and Kathy made "frappucinos" while I made coffee with chocolate-and-simple syrup. I had a large cup of it but quickly got really tired (reverse action?).

After a couple hours, it was just down to Cori and me. We handled a good rush, and at the end of the night, he gave me all of the tips. I totally wasn't expecting that, because I was there just to help, and I was had a wonderful time. But I did take it. It was my gas money, which is both a depressing thought and also one that gets me to feel more appreciative of where I am. I do miss the tea house.

And to cap off the day, I went to a Shindig at my friend Minish's. It was fun to hang out with Disney people. I miss the feeling of being part of a group with a common bond... like being on an All-State Math Team bus playing Egyptian Rat Screw... or going to Cookie break in pajamas with people from down the hall in college. Anyways, it was fun, and I safely made the hour-drive home listening to some Savage Love podcasts.

It was a full and nice day -- Disney, Tea House, Shindig. There was variety and sociability. Why don't I just move to Orlando?