soneevda: DISNEY: John Anderson!

I went to Disney on Friday, but I think I would've taken a Melbourne Day if I hadn't signed up for the Annual Passholder's preview of the KP WS game -- I have so much to catch up on -- but I'm very glad that I did go. It was a beautiful day, and touring the parks without much pressure allowed me the chance to be very flexible and allows some fortunate surprises find me.

My KP reservation was for 11:00am, so left the house at 9:15am. The drive was easy, and an hour later, I was at Epcot. I headed to Innoventions West to play a game of Where's the Fire? before heading out to the Odyssey Center bridge KP station, where I exchanged my confirmation slip for a mission ticket. I had to get to Italy quickly but soon after boarding a World Showcase Friendship boats, discovered that it was visiting every port except for the one that I wanted -- oh well, I enjoyed the ride. I checked in at Italy and told the KP CM to send me to whichever country needed my help the most, and she sent me to... Japan!

The game was pretty much the same as last week -- three missions then the conclusion -- but what was different was what came after... instead of a mission to drop off the Kimmunicator, Kim Possible reminded me that there are villains in some other countries and asked if I wanted to help her out. Cool! So I opted to help Germany, then China, and then Norway before I got hungry (the other countries will just have to wait).

At the end of my Norway mission, I met a KP CM coming by to collect the Kimmunicators. I talked with her about the KP upgrades among other things -- and she mentioned how they recently retrieved one from Downtown Disney (yikes!). Anyways, I asked to watch her collect the Kimmunicators, and she let me. Even though it was simply a bag in a trunk, I found it really interesting.

KP done, I rode Maelstrom since there was no line. I really do love the end film because I suppose that it's what I imagined Vancouver to be like (when in actuality, the city more resembles the Reflections of China film...).

Where to eat? I stopped by Cool Club for drinks then went onto the Land Pavilion. I picked up the delicious 1/2 rotisserie chicken (w/mashed potatoes and salad) from Seasons, and the eating area was PACKED. Anyways, the food was satisfying. And afterwards, I started towards the park exit. I took the shortcut through Innoventions and took a picture with the firetruck, which was novel but fun.

If I decided to then head into town, I don't know what I would've done, so I decided to hit another park. I did want to check out the new street party at Magic Kingdom, but the next showtime was 5:45pm, and it was only 1:30pm. What about some American Idol? To DHS!

When I got there, ESPN the Weekend was on its way. I didn't expect for the festivities to be be in full swing already. The ESPN Hot Set Stage was in front of the Sorcerer's Hat, and there was a live broadcast in progress. I walked right past it and checked out TSMM's wait time (100 min SB). I went back to the Hat and realized that THE John Anderson was on stage!

Soonthereafter, there was a motorcade for some notable athletes (*shrug*), though I was distracted by Mr. Host of ABC's Wipeout. Yeah, I'm deeply and heavily star-struck when the right person comes along. I waited along the side of the stage, and a moment later, John Anderson emerged and walked my way!!! The feeling was Unreal, and I was glad that I took a pen from the car and put in a fresh pair of batteries in the camera. I asked himto sign my ESPN Weekend guide -- JA: "Since I'm not the guy on the left, I must be the mouse." -- then asked for a picture with him. And for the rest of the day grinning from ear to ear! I also got "John's dad" to sign the program guide, and he was a nice happy guy with a good son.

Anyways, it wasn't too long before the 3:00pm Pixar Block Party Bash, so I sent back to the corner of Hollywood and Sunset to wait. I gave away my last ball (i.e., Nerf ball), so it be nice to have one of my own again, but I really didn't matter to me since I got my picture taken with John Anderson! The crowd for the parade was big and their energy was actually pretty good. My two favorite PBPB CMs were near in front of me so that was another pleasant surprise. I wasn't near any of the Nerf balls tossed out and didn't get one, but I did enjoy seeing other guests with them.

Afterwards, I headed down Sunset to the ESPN Sport Zone behind RnR where guests were able to test their sports skills (baseball, football, basketball, soccer, tennis, field hockey, and even BMX) for FREE! There was also live radio broadcasts, an oil-less infrared turkey frying demonstration, and a paint-by-color display sponsored by Sharpie. (guess which one of those I did... (they let me keep the marker!)). Anyways, there were also a CM passing out lanyards with an autograph pad and pen (which could've helped earlier but it's'allgood.).

I then headed to 4:00pm AIE with enough time to catch the voting demo by my favorite Tom. This show had the same host as last Friday's grand finale (I like her and her sci-fi eyes), and as far as the performers, here was the lineup:

1. Katie Montgomery -- Independence Day
2. Daniel Kachel -- Our Song
3. Becca Jo Cross -- Alone

The girls were good and the guy was funny, and I voted for Katie, but Becca Jo won -- again with the pimp spot, but she did have the mix of voice and personality. She also had an oddly-suggestive exchange with the "Randy" host, who somehow made the comment that "Everything's better with chocolate on top..."; there was a brief awkward pause, at which I just had to put a hand over my eyes. Ha!

With that, I headed out of the parks and took a bus to the TTC, and subsequent monorail to Magic Kingdom.

There wasn't so much time before the 5:45pm Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Party, but there was enough to go around to Fantasyland to take some pictures. The MISICISP is a new event that takes place in the Hub in front of Cinderella's ~~House~~ Castle. I've never seen a Hub party before, and at first it seemed a bit odd, but I remembered pictures of celebrations at the other Disney parks around the world.

Anyways, each of the four MISICISP floats were in the shape of a big wrapped gift box, and they traveled up Main Street USA and make a round of the Hub. Then they stopped, and the top of each of the gift box opened to reveal a special character -- Genie from Aladdin, Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast, Mad Hatter from Alice In Wonderland, and Sebastian from The Little Mermaid.

The MC invited the crowd to join them in the streets to dance -- "We want everyone to dance!" and [not be like Sebastian] "We don't want any crabs!" ... HA! Maybe it was the MC's chiding, maybe it was the backdrop, maybe it was the energy release the kids and parents needed... but whatever it was, it worked. The guest participation was amazing! Great Job Disney!

After the street party, much of the crowd was heading out of the park. That was too much of a crowd for my tastes, so I went to Tomorrowland for a MILF instead. It seemed like B Team cast because the segments were shorter and seemed inexplicably "new"er but at least they didn't mistake a Swedish dude for a lady. And it was still fun, and I was relieved that I didn't make the big screen this time. I headed out of the park soonthereafter and took couple monorails back to Epcot and headed onto downtown.

I can't imagine that I almost skipped this visit to the parks -- the upgrades to the Kim Possible game, seeing my favorite Pixar performers, checking out MK's new street party, and getting my picture with John Anderson (I'm still smiling!). It was a quite fantastic day, and everything seemed to have fallen into place. Plus I can tell that my mindset for these park visits is getting more sane, and it's without loss of any magic. It was a fantastic visit.

Pictures from the trip, below:
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Here's what I did this visit:

EPCOT CENTER (JOURNEY 9) 10:15am
- Innoventions West: Where's The Fire? (Findmores. Won.)
- 11:00am Odyssey KP Station (Kim Possible is now on the park map!)
- Friendship boat (Mex, Can, Mor)
- Italy KP Station (?... Japan!)
- KP Japan:The Baby Bebe (fire, wind, water, baby)
- KP Germany:The Pretzel Predicament (town, nutcracker, steins, clock)
- KP China:Jade Monkey Business (lion, hotel, zodiac, monkey)
- KP Norway:Fur Sure (flag, kings, marathon, smoke, magazine, fashion show, drop)
- Maelstrom + film
- Coca-Cola's Cool Club
- The Land: Sunshine Seasons Food Fair (1/2 rotisserrie chicken)
- Liberty Mutual Firetruck picture

BUS to DISNEY'S HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

- 2:00pm ESPN Hot Set Sorcerer Hat Stage
- Picture with THE John Anderson! (*swoon!*)
- 3:00pm Block Party Bash
- ESPN Sports Zone
- 4:00pm American Idol Experience
"Everything's better with chocolate on top..."

BUS to TTC

MONORAIL (gray) to MAGIC KINGDOM

- 5:45pm Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Party
"We want everyone to dance! We don't want any crabs..."
- Monsters Inc Laugh Floor

MONORAIL (green) to TTC

MONORAIL (black) to EPCOT CENTER
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