Saturday, March 16 2003

Good morning and welcome to Day 8 of the 9th Annual Spring Training Trek 2003!

Sit back, make sure your seat belts are drawn tight (tug at the yellow strap), and get ready for the ride that is Day 8. It all started with waking up under the weather. This is not the same as being sick of the weather, but instead weathering being sick. Never-the-less, this wandering adventurer drug himself out of his semi plush resort room and migrated Southwest to Disney's Animal Kingdom. Pushing my way through the Oasis and crossing Discovery Island without so much as a glance, it was on to Dinoland USA and taking care of new business. Last year, Chester & Hester's DinoRama (where dinosaurs are big, green and fun, like they should be) was just getting off the ground, and the Primeval Whirl scheduled to open just a week after I left. Now with a years worth of spinning and spilling, it was ready for me.

But first a fastpass. A fast pass is a branch in your trek. It provides a designated time span in which you may enter the attraction, allowing you to spend the time you would normally spend waiting in line doing other things. You may choose to ignore your FastPass but then you will fall being in the Amazing Trek (sorry, wrong network). I ventured down to the Dino Institute for a quick jaunt 65,000,000 years into the past (give or take) to pick up an Iguanodon and outsmart the fierce Carnosaurus. I think the big lizard is still roaming the Institute halls.

Back to the present, I finally got to ride the Primeval Whirl. A soft coaster, this ride takes up you to a high platform and then proceeds to make a series of back and forth hairpin turns until beginning a gradual whirling, spinning descent followed by some mediocre dips and doodles. It was fun. Now I have done it. Time to move on. Back on Discovery Island, I did my part in the circle of life by eating at the Flame Tree Barbecue (take that, Poomba!). Actually, it was a BBQ chicken salad and a diet coke, but I am sure chickens are somewhere in the food chain.

To Asia we go, following the only visible power lines in Disney World. After picking up a fastpass for the Kali River Rapids, I embarked on a trip through the Maharaja Jungle in Anandapur Royal Forest. There I watched a large Kimodo Dragon not move, fruit bats turn themselves into roll-ups, and tigers sleep. Oh, one scratched himself. What a life. Seriously, tigers are beautiful animals especially when not eyeing me as dinner. Seeking a little adventure after being lulled into a false sense of safety with the tigers on the other side of the fence, I took a rafting trip down the Chakrandi River. Loaded with moralism, this ride takes you first through the scorched earth of a clear-cut forest after a fire before dropping you through the turbulent white (and cold) waters. I did get wet, I did not get soaked. I did put my shoes and socks in the dry bag.

After resoling, I made my way to Harambe Africa, where the Kilimanjaro Safari had an unusually short line. The driver of our rover for the 2 week outback adventure actually took time to stop and allow pictures. I think I finally, after many years, got a good picture of the lions on Pride Rock. I also saw the baby hippo, born just before my first trip to Animal Kingdom. Once the poachers had been captured and Little Red was all right (no warden guarding the truck with his one line, "Yes, Little Red is all right"), I decided to go away to camp.

Camp Mini-Mickey, where Pocahontas talks to trees and all character trails lead to autograph opportunities, is also the home for the Festival of the Lion King. Simba, Poomba, Timon (and apparently an anonymous elephant and giraffe) lead the audience in a festive party featuring a barrel of acrobatic monkeys and a flame dancer. Then it was back across Discovery Island to Harambe Bridge for a VIP viewing of Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade (Bark and Growl and Screech and Roar, and Stomp and Jump and Leap and Soar)

Next it was a trip into Pangani Forest for a visit with hippos who like grinning at the people watching them from behind underwater glass, and with gorillas who have no need for modesty. As a special treat, when the park closed at 5pm, a cast member on the animal care staff brought out some treats for the silverbacks, including oranges, grapefruit quarters and tasty cakes (I took the caretaker's word). The cakes were wrapped in brown paper bags so the animals could have some fun opening them to get the surprise. By now only stragglers were left in the park, so I made my way back across Discovery Island and through the Oasis and back to the World.

Tired yet? We are just getting started. You have heard of Return to Neverland? Tonight's show is Return to Epcot, starring Futureworld and a final viewing of Illuminations. On my way in I located my Legacy image from 2000 (don't look any better aged) and made my way to the Imagination! pavilion where I took a journey into Imagination with Figment and Dr. Nigel Channing. After that I went upstairs to watch Wayne Salinzkey receive his inventor of the year award, meet Gigabyte, and wipe my nose of dog. Next it was down to The Land where I viewed the Circle of Life fable (closed for refurbishment last year), a moralistic tale about how man is in danger of ruining the environment. Then it was across the way to the GM Test Track where I exercised my free re-entry pass received during the Undiscovered Futureworld tour earlier in the week. This was to be my final attraction ride at Disney World.

And then it was back across Showcase Plaza to Le Cellier Steakhouse in Canada where I had the cheese soup (with Moosehead beer) and the Mushroom Le Cellier fillet mignon. With only 15 minutes to spare, I made a mad dash around the world to my VIP viewing area in Italy also provided by Epcot Guest Services as part of my tour. Then after my 8th viewing of Illuminations, I walked around the rest of the world back to Futureworld and out of the park (in just 15 minute).

Whew. And that was Day 8. I don't about you, but I am tired. And yet there is still Day 9 yet to come.

Fuskie