Mouse Extra

We have been talking a lot over this year about the terrific amount of TLC that is being put into Epcot recently.  We’ve seen major rides like Spaceship Earth and the Living Seas get extreme makeovers as well as multiple restaurants around the World Showcase.  But we are seeing some major work on the architecture as well.  While China has been in a state of repair for months, last week two pavilions were the recipients of what appears to be a new coat of paint.

I knew work was being done on Norway’s Maelstrom, but as you can see from the picture below more than just a ride closure is underway.  The closed area extends to nearly half the courtyard…

Also, major cosmetic work is happening over at the Japan pavilion.  This is obviously a fresh coat of paint for the entire building…

For those of us who love the World Showcase, seeing this is a welcome site.  Keeping it pristine is a monumental task, but one that is worth the occasional scaffolding that may block our view.

While the third installment Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise, At World’s End, rakes in the dollars, critics are predictably mixed.  Considering how “mixed” I was about Dead Man’s Chest, some of these more negative reviews have severely dampened my excitement to see it.

Let’s start with this line by Dana Stevens in Slate…

Adrift in the windless seas of its 168-minute running time, the viewer passes through confusion and boredom into a state of Buddhist passivity.

The Newark Star-Ledger (my local paper) gave it one and a half stars.  Critic Lisa Rose had this to say…

“Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” creates the sense of being in a theme park, though it’s not the experience you might be expecting. Sitting through the movie isn’t like being on a thrill ride. It’s more like waiting for one.

Hours pass with little excitement. Costumed characters vamp and caper in a hopeless effort to quell the tedium.

USA Today’s Claudia Puig said…

Just before the film’s end, a drunken pillager growls out: “Take what you can. Give nothing back.” Mindful of a predecessor that raked in more than $1 billion worldwide, that greedy directive might have been the mantra of the studio execs who conceived of this sorry spectacle.

But they are not all bad.  Some are slightly better.  Here’s Stephen Hunter from the Washington Post…

Funner, biggerer, brighterer, bolderer, “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” is not only okay, it may even be close to good. A lavish spectacle illuminated by Johnny Depp’s swishing pirate captain, the movie has its dull moments, but not many.

So why am I writing about all the not-so-glowing reviews on Pirates?  Truth be told, I am very excited about seeing this film, and maybe this is my way of calming my own expectations.  I was somewhat disappointed with Dead Man’s Chest.  The Curse of the Black Pearl was one of my all-time favorite films and the second film didn’t hold the type re-watch-ability the first one had.  I chalked up my lack of excitement over Dead Man’s Chest to the film being only one part of a greater idea and At World’s End would bring it all together.  If it doesn’t, I’ll really be let down.

Here are a couple of pictures for my fellow Disney Vacation Club owners whose home resort is the Saratoga Springs.  If you haven’t been there in a few months, the new sections across the street from the bell services area is now open.  They call it the Grandstand, and it includes a new themed pool…

It also includes a new water play area.  I really love the starting gate and horse racing theme here.  Being at the resort the day after the Kentucky Derby, it was great to see this…

There is also a pool bar called the Backstretch Pool Bar, which was not open any time I was there, so perhaps it is not ready yet.  This new pool is not as interesting as the main pool, which is over-the-top in its theme, but it is a great, quiet are full with new loungers.  When the bar opens, I’ll probably spend more time here then the noisier main pool.

So we have made it to the final day of our trip, and it is a short one.  Our plane leaves at 2:30pm, and that means we need to be back at the hotel by 11:30am.  Because of this, we decided to not try and get to a theme park and back and instead go to Downtown Disney for something to eat, some much needed pictures for this site, and some shopping. 

But the day started off a bit strange.  On your last day, Magical Express usually leaves a packet of information for you, detailing when the bus will be there and other such things.  Today, there was no packet.  So I went down to the bell services desk who called Magical Express.  After waiting for 20 minutes to figure out what was going on, I was told everything was okay.  But I didn’t trust it, so we decided not to check our bags with them and instead check them ourselves at the airport.

After this distraction, we made our way over to the not-yet-open West Side and Pleasure Island areas so I can get some pictures without navigating the crowds.  After finishing up we went to the Marketplace and finished my shopping list of things people back home asked me to buy.  (Am I the only one that gets such a list?  Or is this normal?)  My wife pointed out how I was now carrying giant bags full of stuff on to a bus, through two airports and stuffing into a plane…and none of it was mine!  She had a point, but when you have a Disney addicted niece and nephew, that’s the cost of being the uncle who goes to Disney World a lot.  And I’m glad to do it.

At about 10:30 we decided to have an extremely early lunch.  It’s a far better choice than eating the garbage in the airport.  I had never been to the Earl of Sandwich before so that was our choice.  My reaction was “Where has this place been my whole life?”  The glowing review is coming soon.

Well, that’s it.  After eating we headed back over to the Saratoga Springs and waited for our bus.  It’s tough to leave, but we’ll be back in October.

Day three, our final full day, began at the Disney-MGM Studios.  We missed rope-drop by 15 minutes, credited directly to the fact that we saw the MGM bus go by as we were walking towards the bus stop.  I can’t complain too much because we never even had the Studios on the agenda, but since we had done so well with crowds up to this point we decided to go and hit the favorites.

Both the Tower or Terror and the Rock n’ Rollercoaster were so empty, we went on each twice within an hour.  It is truly the best way to see Walt Disney World, when the crowds are this low.  Getting to ride the Tower twice like that was a welcome surprise.  After the biggies, we headed up to the Great Movie Ride.  It was a terrible experience, as the school trips had arrived at the park by then and we were stuck with the rudest group of teenagers you’ll ever meet.  I felt terrible for the Cast Member trying to deal with them.  We walked around the park a bit more and than decided it was time to head to the Beach Club, where lunch at Beaches and Cream awaited.

The walk felt good, and the food was as great as always.  We needed to eat well, because many adult beverages were in our future.  Tuesday is what my wife and I call a “band day”.  Those are the days when both Off Kilter and the British Invasion are playing.  We spend hours just going from one to the other, with occasional stops at the Rose and Crown for a pint.  It is truly my favorite thing to do while on vacation.  But before we started, we wanted to see some more of the Flower and Garden Festival, and check out the new Gran Fiesta Tour starring the Three Caballeros.  On the way we found some terrific prints for sale of Disney World landmarks.  I’ll post more about these in the future.

By 3 o’clock our touring of the park was done, and we settled in for some great music.  Both bands were truly on their game that day.  The British Invasion picked some of my favorites, and Off Kilter played a few wonderful tunes I’d never heard them do.  Before we knew it, it was 9pm and we hadn’t eaten dinner.  So we walked over to the ESPN Club for a fantastic pulled pork sandwich and to catch up on baseball scores.  We enjoyed the meal, but we should have gone to Downtown to eat instead.  Trying to get back from the Boardwalk to the Saratoga Springs is never an easy proposition.  By the time we got home, we were both ready for bed.  The next day would see us leaving too early to get to a park, so this was goodbye to the parks for now…

Staying at the Saratoga Springs usually means you spend plenty of time at Downtown Disney, especially the Marketplace area.  Depending on where you are located, it may be easier to walk to Downtown for something to eat or drink than it is to walk to the resort’s lobby.  This past trip, I was there more often than in most of my recent trips, and I discovered two new little added details that made me smile.

First, there was this mailbox hidden up by the parking lot…

I walked right past it probably three times before I noticed it.  After seeing it, I remember reading a press release from the Post Office about it, but it never registered in my head to look for it here.

Here’s another thing I read some stories about but forgot until I saw it first hand.  The pirate audio-animatronics figure in the World of Disney Store was replaced by none other than the original barking parrot from outside the Pirates of the Caribbean at the Magic Kingdom…

He’s there in all his glory, barking away with that silly voice.  For everyone who whined when he was removed from the show building, you can go to the Downtown Disney Marketplace and get a much better look.