Walt Disney World Spring Getaway/Birthday
Treat
the Tiki Room and E-ticket express
There were a few things I wanted to be sure to do before E-ride night (the New name for e-ticket
express) began. First on my list was The Enchanted Tiki Room (and I was just getting used to calling it
Tropical Serenade instead of the enchanted Tiki room ;-) ) Heading into Adventureland I noticed that
the Swiss Family Tree houses' branches were filling out nicely with leaves (last time I was here it was a
bit bare) but, it was still being worked on. The next thing I noticed was the new sign in front of
tropical serenade er . . . the Enchanted Tiki Room.
I really enjoyed the new show but, missed the old one, wouldn't it be nice if they could do both . . . it
doesn't look like they took out very much the fountain is the only thing I can think of. Seeing all of the
Tiki totem pole things in good working order (everything for that matter ) is really nice. This show will
probably seem dated sooner than the other show did but not every show can (or should ) have a 30+
year run before getting a facelift (it opened in Disneyland in 63 ).
As a side note, did you know the Tiki room (Disneylands' version has always been called that) was called the first use of audio animatronics? There are conflicting claims to this but, I think the rationale here is that, the earlier animated creatures used at Disneyland did not work on audio cues therefore they may have been animated creatures but *not* audio animatronics.
Another thing I wanted to do before E-ticket express was ride the river boat (The Liberty belle, I
think?) I had not ridden the river boat at WDW yet, and of course it's been 15+ years since I've been
to DL. For that reason though it's hard for me to try to compare the two. I looked around the interior
cabin for a bit before the ship left port. One thing that struck me as I rode is how out of scale this large
ship seemed with its tiny river. Was the old river boat at wdw this big ( It was called the Richard F
Irvine I think? ). Are the Mark Twain and the Rivers of America at DL scaled the same? It was kind of
neat to go below decks and watch the steam engines work for a few minutes the picture I took doesn't
do it justice as it's really a kinetic experience (maybe an animated gif would look nice)
By the time we docked it was getting close to time for the fireworks. I got over to the area in front of
Tomorrowland and waited a few minutes for the show to start but, once it got underway and I got a
nice picture of the show I was more eager to start my E-Ticket express E ride night
experience. So, having heard that the Astro-Orbiter still often had waits on E-ride nights I rode that
first (with no wait :-) ), Then Space Mtn. . Alien Encounter, Timekeeper Then ate at Casey's Corner
before heading across the park to enjoy the Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mtn.,
and Pirates of the Carribean.
I don't think I rode anything twice and when I got off Pirates not only was The Country Bear Jamboree
the only E-Ticket express E ride night Show I had not done yet but it was getting close to
Midnight. Not wanting to be mistaken for a pumpkin, I headed into the Country Bear Jamboree show
lobby. There was still a bit of time until the show started so I started working on Postcards to a few of
my friends while waiting. There were only about a score (twenty) or so of us in the theater but, I think
we all had fun. When I left the CBJ I exited thru Liberty Square. On the way past the Partners statue I
noticed that with all the people leaving it looked like Walt was waving goodbye to everyone as they left
it would have made a good picture if the people leaving showed up better.
Then I stopped at the bake shop on Main. Since the CBJ show started either at or after midnight, there
were not very many folks left in the park at this point. By the time I had finished eating I think more of
the folks leaving may have been cast members than guests. At the monorail station I saw an IRC friend
of mine (working). I recognized him due to his name tag (and then he saw my RADP button) Still I
think he was a bit shocked :-). Only the inner loop (resort?) was running. When I got to the far side and
got off the monorail I got a bit of a surprise. As I exited, I stopped at the bottom of the ramp and
waited a few minutes (I wanted to get a shot of the monorail pulling out) but after a couple minutes they
shut the headlight off looks like I was on the last train out so I guess you could say I "closed the park"
:o).
After a nice bus ride with a nice Driver ( I was the only passenger ) I made it back to my tent to
discover the air mattress deflated . . . bummer. I blew it up then went to work on my postcards. A
rustling sound right outside my tent was disturbing me and I kept looking out with my flashlight, after a
few times I finally saw that it was a possum and, that it was not disturbing my stuff in the least but rather
digging under the bed of leaves outside my camping area. Thus, reassured I was able to finish up some
more postcards and get to bed by 3:00 a.m. or so.