Mouse Extra

One thing I love to do is listen to podcasts about Disney stuff. There are many that I like such as WDW Today, WDW Radio, Betamouse and others. One that I have always listened to was Mouse Guest Weekly. Well, on a sad note, this saturday at 2pm, Mouse Guest Weekly will be airing its final show, which will be live. I encourage everyone to listen and join in and give Eric, Cathy and Dan a big send off.

Mouse Guest Weekly has always produced quality podcasts from a fan’s point of view. I enjoyed the banter of the three hosts and their clear love for Disney. If you are reading this blog, then I am sure you share that with them.  I particularly enjoyed episodes 114 and 99 when our very own Dave from Mouse Extra was a guest.

But all kidding aside we here at Mouse Extra wish the Mouse Guest Weekly folks all the best and hope they come back at some point. I will keep my itunes subscription just in case.

Now please stand clear of the door……

Day five of our recent trip was the most eventful, to be sure.  We got a late start that morning, so we walked from the Boardwalk over to Epcot for some Future World attractions.

Living With the Land is one of my wife’s favorites, so after not wanting to wait on even the FastPass line for Soarin’, forget the 60 minute Stand-by wait at 9:45am, we gave the Epcot classic a ride.  Afterwards we went on the Seas with Nemo  and Friends and then explored the Food and Wine festival center, the former Wonders of Life pavilion.

Before long it was 11am and we were back at the World Showcase.  (I told you it was a recurring theme!)  We hadn’t seen the Circlevision Film at China in quite awhile so we walked around the pavilion for a few minutes before watching the film.  (This is one of those attractions at World Showcase that is seriously under appreciated, in my opinion.)  The Food and Wine Festival provided a perfect lunch.

After lunch and some more Epcot touring, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for what I thought would be a late night at the Magic Kingdom Extra Magic Hours.  The plan was to go to the Magic Kingdom, head to Trail’s End for dinner, and then back to MK for the Main Street Electrical Parade.  It wasn’t long before that plan seem to fall apart at the seams…

We waited a ridiculous amount of time for the bus to MK, so when we got there we had about 30 minutes less than I had anticipated.  But quite honestly, that didn’t matter much because the park was absolutely jammed!  I suppose I didn’t factor in the Parade’s popularity, as it seems the lack of days the parade takes place creates an effect similar to that over at Disney’s Hollywood Studios on Fantasmic nights.  Needless to say, we went into the Hall of Presidents…and that was all we had time for.  So it was back to the front gate and on the boat to Trail’s End.

We did not have an ADR for Trail’s End, and maybe that was my fault again.  However, the two of us have been there dozens of times and never waited more than a couple of minutes.  However, this night they told us the wait at 7pm was two hours!  I absolutely did not want to miss the Main Street Electrical Parade, so we essentially skipped dinner and ordered two bottles of bad beer at Crocketts Tavern and an appetizer and then headed back to the boat about an hour before parade time.

The line at the boat dock was unlike anything I had ever seen!  (Once again, I blame myself for not factoring the parade into my plans enough).  However, we made it just as the parade began.  And for the most part, despite my stress and frustration with the night’s planning failures, seeing that wonderful parade made the night all worth it.  (I suppose that’s what I get for not listening to WDW Today as much as used to!)

Day Four of our trip began at the Animal Kingdom at rope-drop.  Suprisingly, the park opened about 10 minutes early?  They did the opening ceremony up front by the turnstiles and instead of stopping everyone again near the Tree of Life we all stampeded towards our attraction of choice.  We actually completed a ride on Expedition Everest before 9am.  (And we couldn’t resist riding a second time.)

However, by the time we reached Africa, the queue at Kilimanjaro Safari had piled up.  So we grabbed a FastPass and headed to the Festival of the Lion King.  After the show, it was back to ride the Safari.

Believe it or not, that was all we had on our wishlist for DAK that day.  It was crowded and we wanted some pool time before a late lunch at Les Chefs de France.  So it was back on the bus and over to Epcot that afternoon.

Yes, I know we are a boring couple by the standards of most WDW bloggers.  But that was pretty much our day.  After lunch, we strolled around the World Showcase.  We spent some time listening to the Voices of Liberty, watched the American Adventure, tried some Food and Wine samplers, and spent some time with my friend, and bartender extraordinaire Carl over at the Rose and Crown.  It was low key, non-exhausting, and absolutely awesome!

Day Three of our trip began early in the morning, as we planned on arriving at Disney’s Hollywood Studios for rope drop.  Since we were lucky enough to be staying at the Boardwalk Villas, we walked over to the Boardwalk Bakery for some breakfast and then made our way over to DHS just in time.

Thankfully the crowds now all sprint towards Toy Story Midway Mania, which leaves a good 30 or 40 minutes to ride our two favorites, the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror, a couple of times before the lines start to back up.  (Personally, I like TSMM, but sometimes I feel it is just not worth the effort needed.  Hopefully I will ride it on the next trip.)  After we got out thrill-ride fill, we strolled over to see the Muppets and then the newly reopened One Man’s Dream.

Having a real interest in Walt Disney and the Company’s history, One Man’s Dream has always been a favorite of mine  The recent refurbishment was very well done. A new layout and some new pieces are a welcome change.

Soon we hopped the boat over to the World Showcase for a 2pm ADR at the new Via Napoli.  In the coming days I will have a full review of this fantastic new edition to Epcot’s dining roster, but let me just say this…YUM!

After lunch we headed back to hotel to relax a bit by the pool, befogging heading over to Downtown Disney for a night of shopping and dinner.

We chose Raglan Road to eat, because I was interested in the Irish band playing that night.  I called in advance and was told they would hit the stage at 8pm.  So we arrived around 7 to grab a seat at the bar and have something to eat.  Now being a professional musician myself, I wish I had this band’s gig.  They started 15 minutes late and the first set consisted of 6 songs and lasted 25 minutes at the most before they took a “break”.  Needless to say, that was our cue to leave…

Raglan Road holds a good reputation, and I have had my ups and down at this pub.  The food is overpriced and the menu severely lacking in the “pub grub” world.  But the place is nice and it has an admirable beer collection.  But this is was not a good experience.  Perhaps I will give the band another try on a weeknight.

Time to continue with a trip report for last week’s vacation at Walt Disney World.  Day One of the trip is chronicled early last week.  My intention was to publish these reports the day on a sort of semi-live basis during my trip.  But honestly, when I am at the Mouse I really don’t have much time for blogging.

Before we being, I think it is important to explain the type of Disney World travelers we have become.  The days of standing on lines for E-tickets, or even walking back and forth across theme parks to make FastPass times are generally behind us.  We go to the Mouse as much for relaxation and good food as we do for the world class attractions and entertainment.  So you will come to notice we don’t squeeze as many attractions as possible into our days at the parks.

Day Two began around dinner time, as my wife and I had some family business to attend to during the morning and afternoon.  Epcot had an evening Extra Magic Hours scheduled for that night, plus we were looking for something to eat, so it was off to World Showcase.  (A recurring theme on this trip as you will come to find…)

We sampled some more of the Food and Wine Festival, always a great idea, and rode on the Maelstrom and Three Caballeros.  Let me also mention here that our attempt to sample one item from all of the Food and Wine stations met with miserable failure.  The problem was that the items we tried during our first 2 days were so darn good we wanted to get them again, which put an end to our mission.

Finally, with the Food and Wine closing and an inferno-barge-less showing of Illuminations, we walked down to Future World for a ride on Spaceship Earth, some pin-shopping, and a succesful attempt at getting my wife to try Beverly at Club Cool.  (I am a bad man, I know!)  By this time it was after 10pm and we were both spent after a long day.

Yes, it is that day. The worst day of the year.  The day you leave to go home from a Disney World vacation…it stinks.  There is no other way to say it.

But it has been a great trip.  The weather has been absolutely perfect and we had a great time.  So check back with us on Mouse Extra for a trip report, new dining reviews, a look back at Food and Wine and more.