This may be the most detailed, in my memory, of all the days of the trip. It is partly because of the early end of the previous day which left me well rested, and partly because looking back at the relatively many pictures I took this day helps stir my memory. Like all the other days of the trip I was wearing shorts a t-shirt and sun screen (remember this was Fla. in Aug.). And like most of the other days I had my copy of the unofficial guide to WDW with me (in fact the cargo shorts I wore this day had pockets big enough to stuff it in one)

Not only did my mom have another of her union meetings this day but, this was also the day for my sister and her husband to fly back to WV. So thay dropped me off at the Magic Kingdom before going . I had my moms room number to call her as she expected to be out of session a bit earlier this day.

I arrived before park opening but by the time I was in the park it was not long until "rope drop" the official opening time when they literally drop a rope at the entrances of the various lands (they start letting people into Main Street 30 minutes or an hour before official opening time I'm not sure which). I lined up for the rope drop By the Plazza restaurant as the point where they hold the rope there is a good bit closer to the entrance of Space Mountain than the front entrance to Tomorrowland. I have been told this is no longer true I don't know if they moved one of the drop points or if they just don't let people in from this point at the same time as the other points. I ended up being the first person on Space Mountain. out of the people gathered at the ropes. no one passed me but somehow there still was someone seated in one of the vehicles in Space Mountain . My guess is it was some lucky employeee on thier day off, of course it could have been a guest who had some sort of special request granted for some Reason I have no way of knowing. It was still neat to be the first of the people who did not have a way to get in before rope drop. After that I proceded to Frontierland and rode Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain. That's the miracle of being there first thing in the morning that first hour before the park starts to fill you can ride the attractions that will have hour plus waits during much of the day in peak season. I rode the three most popular attractions in the park before 9:45 am (opening was at 9 am) I can see the timestamp on the margin of my Splash Mountain picture.

It was after I got off splash that I bought a disposable camera at the little cart near the railroad trestle. When I had came into this area Brer Rabbit, Fox, and Bear were signing autographs and posing but they were leaving by the time I got my camera. Then I headed to Adventureland to ride The Jungle Cruise. As I went down the steps to the Cruise I looked behind me and saw my first photo opportunity. The Tiki Room at Disneyland is fun but the structure at WDWs Tropical Seranade is more photogenic. While I was waiting in the line for the Jungle Cruise I saw the skipper that we had had a few days before the one who reminded my of Doogie Howsers annoying friend. So when I saw him I asked him to growl for The camera , I knew he would, and when he did I took his picture. He seemed like he had a lot of fun acting crazy. Then, when i got on boat, I had a great skipper his timing and delivery of jokes was absolutely perfect i.m.h.o. so I took his picture also. One joke he did that is now a favorite of mine was before we went into the jungle temple he stoped and said somthing like " whats this? the jungle waters have changed course into this temple since the last time I was here, this could lead to danger ...(dramatic pause as he surveys half the crew) this could lead to adventure....(dramatic pause as he looks at the other half of the crew), (Shrugs)then again, this is Disney this could lead to a gift shop."

Despite The fact That I enjoy the Pirates of the Carribean more at Disneyland more than the Pirates of the Carribean at the Magic Kingdom doesn't mean I'm going to pass up such a great ride when it has a short line so I rode it next. One thing the POTC has at the Magic Kingdom that it does not have at Disneyland is the audio animatronic pirates' parrot at the entrance who talks to you as you go into the POTC ride area. His most famous quote is "yo ho, yo ho a parrots life for me" but he says other things as well.

After that I was going to visit the Haunted Mansion. but, the Haunted Mansion was already crowded so I took a senic river journey on a keel boat and got some got some good pictures riding on the upper deck, this is definatly a good place to take photos from. Also the cast members with thier live (and colorful) spiel make this a slightly different experiance than the riverboat as well.

Liking the photo opportunites the Keel boats gave me I decided to try the skyway next in hopes of further uses of my camera. As of this writing in November of 1999 the skyway has closed in part it was this recent closing that finally put a fire under me to get this trip report finished. Many of the pictures I took of the skyway are not the best, and there are others shots I wish I had taken now (the turning area...which was different from what I was used to on DLs skyway the approaching station, ect. ) as the chances for these views is gone now.

I wanted to wait until my mom got there for some of the things again, like Alien Encounter) So I walked back to Liberty Square to see what the line was like on the Haunted Mansion now. I think the long line that I saw after I got off the keelboats earlier may may have been caused in part by a show letting out at the Hall of Presidents. As this puts a large number of people in Liberty Square all at one time. It was a good bit shorter now. I survier my trip thru this house of happy haunts and managed to keep from becoming the 1000th inhabitant. On the way out I got a good listen to the last verse of the Haunted mansion jingle the one that goes.

It was getting late enough that I figured my mom might be out of her meeting. I gave her a call and she had. So, we arranged to meet at the front gate. Since I knew I still had some time for her to arrive I took another voyage on the Spanish Main with the Pirates of the Caribean, before heading over to Main Street where I heard a couple of songs from this live band (although as to what songs I heard this is one place my extra-ordinary memorys of this trip fail me). When I got out to the front gate there was a row of characters spaced out in front of the Magic Kingdom Train Station. each with his/her own queue. I assesed rather quickly that it would not pay for me to wait in one of these lines for a picture. but, looking back now I rather wish I had stepped back and got a picture of the whole scene, mickey in flowers, the train station, and the rather large grouping of characters and character seekers.

Quite soon however I met up with my mom and we proceded into the Magic Kingdom. As we entered we went into one of the Main Street shops and they had some new merchandise out, shirts with the 25th anninversary logo on them so my Sorcerer Mickey 25th anniversary shirt is one of the first that was made two months before the 25th anniversary celebration started. On the way up Main Street I had her stop at the Flower Market for a picture. She would have been smiling but she thought I was done and broke her smile right before I snapped the shutter. Also, earlier while waiting for her, I picked out a spot where I wanted my picture taken. I went there with her (near the old Swan Boats loading area and had her take my picture with the Tomorrorwland entrance behind me. She cut off the top of the sign just a bit but this is still my favorite picture of me at WDW. As I had her take a picture of me I noticed the castle behind her made for a good backdrop. So when she had taken my picture I had her hand the camera straight back to me and I kneeled down to ger her picture. It seems it was just getting late enough to give the sky a bit of color as if the pepto bismo pink the castle was being painted was bleeding off into the sky a bit. Also mom managed to put a good smile on this time too.

I went to check on the line for Alien Encounter and was passing a topiary bush when I noticed hand waving out of corner of my eye so took the topiairy shot of the Mickey and Minnie bush that waves(apparently one of the "arm" brances is attaced to an electric motor ) AE was crowded and we hadnt seen The Legend of the Lion King show yet so, we headed back towards Fantasyland. As we entered the castle courtyard I realized it was getting late and I was worried night shots might not come out well. So, I took the last photos on the way there. that was it for the roll!

The park was open until midnight We did see the Lion King, then Alien Encounter, Timekeeper, and Splash Mountain. As we left Spectromagic was running. I didn't take to this parade immeadiatly. Probably mostly just beacause it was Not the MSEP I grew up with. It's another thing I wish I had done now looking back. So we did not stay. I wonder if also the string of 90° Florida days just had me a bit tired too. Before retiring for the night I went to a 24 hour store near the hotel and took these pictures to be developed.

The next morning I picked up the pictures. I used moms rental while she was at her meeting I went to the Disney Village I spent a fair amount of time looking around here. In particular, I liked the Sorcerer Mickey themed fountain that had some broom type topiarys around it. I bought a snowglobe for my wife. That was about it. I went home rested after a wonderful full vacation. Mom dropped me off at the airport. I later learned she went back to the park after that and also the next two evenings. Before flying back to WV on Saturday way to go mom!!

I would like to give special thanks in the preperation of this last day of the trip report to two irc chatters (who chat in #radp-friends). They go by the nicknames of Joshey and RoRsTeR. They got a preview of this trip report in the chat room a couple of years ago. I dcced them these pictures as I described the day to them. The log of that chat was of great use in preparing this report. I also remembered and added details today that I gained from spending the past couple of days working on the other days of this trip.

Also I would like to thank my sister Michelle, her husband (and my Brother-in-law) George and of course my Mom. All for many reasons not the least of which includes all that they did to take me on this trip with them!

One other note about this trip report on trips subsequent to this one cash register recipts helped me nail down some of the details i.e. I know I was in x store on the same day I rode ride Y I look up the reciept and voila I have the date nailed down. Unfortunatly a couple of the recipts on this trip have dates on them that had to be wrong this stopped me cold several times when I tried to make outlines of the trip report over the years.