Disney World!!

Our merry band assembled at 7:50am. Well, sort of. At 7:50am, Ben and I were sitting in the hotel lobby, waiting for everyone. I dialed Leigh's phone, only to learn that she would not be joining us. Neither would Lydia, Leah or Emileena. In fact, our merry band had, overnight, whittled itself down to three: Ben, Michelle and me. To make matters more interesting, the much-touted Disney shuttle evaporated. After some quick text messages and phone calls, we got clearance to use the Theatreworks cargo van. We were GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!!



Soon, our crew had arrived at the Magic Kingdom parking lot (section "Pluto 18," which my phone's text message dictionary insisted was actually "Plutocracy 18") and was ready to board the monorail to the "Happiest Place on Earth." As we entered the turnstiles, linking our tickets to ourselves through a fingerprint scan, the smell of cotton candy and popcorn filled the air. Main Street, USA opened before us as Pluto, Chip, Dale and Pinocchio signed autographs and a group of eight dancers performed a medley of trolly-themed showtunes. "Wow," I commented. "And we thought it was hard doing our show at 10:30am."

And, of course, as we turned the corner, Cinderella's castle opened before me. Michelle, our cast's resident Tinkerbell, insisted on a photo:



And then it was ride time. The Steam Boat cruise, the Haunted Mansion, Small World, Peter Pan (where Michelle made a friend: Smilo), Dumbo, the Tea Cups and Snow White (which stopped halfway through). Wanting for something a little more intense, we headed for Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain, when Michelle's friend Danielle arrived. She's "close personal friends" with a number of Disney characters and, after joining us on a wild train ride, she offered us an interesting proposition: free tickets to Epcot. The expense of a Disney trip made the "park hopper" option outside our actor-budgets, so we had planned to limit ourselves to the Magic Kingdom. However, this new development provided ample opportunity for more debauchery. And we took it (after lunch and some cool-down time at an in-park choral concert, where the big hit song was by Styx.)

Epcot proved to be more our style. Danielle walked us over to the MISSION: Space ride, which simulates a flight to Mars. Cool, cool, cool! So cool. So, so, so cool. So cool, in fact, that the three of us haven't stopped talking about it. With that and Spaceship Earth out of the way (the one in the golf ball; it's my favorite ride in all the parks!), it was time to experience Epcot as it is meant for the 21+ crowd: Drinking Around the World. For those not in "the know" (and I certainly wasn't!), this means going to all of the 11 country pavilions at Epcot and indulging in something alcoholic. However, in that I'm a lightweight and we did have to drive ourselves back at some point, our trip was "selective." Meaning we skipped a few places. One place we did tackle, however, was China, where I tried Chinese Cabernet and Ben showed off his awesome rubber-coated-stick-things skills:



Dinner and fireworks were in Morocco, and then we high-tailed it back to Magic Kingdom to catch a ride on Space Mountain. As fireworks burst overhead and the castle glowed blue in the background, we decided that it was time to turn in. Fifteen and a half hours at Disney will do anybody in, and we were happy, but exhausted. I drove home, as Ben and Michelle snoozed, and, with visions Mickey and Minnie in our heads, we crashed like we've never crashed before. And it was easily the best day on this tour yet.



Kid quote of the day (from Disney): A little kid in the Peter Pan line: "I'm flying!" Maybe not the best on this tour, but it certainly made me smile.

Call tomorrow: 11:30am, La Quinta parking lot. We're driving to Tampa. Woohoo! (I think?)