PlunderFest2005Day7

logo by annie

Walt Disney World

"PlunderFest 3"

Orlando, Florida

October 16-24, 2005

Started my day with in-room coffee and a shower. I was pretty sure some matters would need my attention come late morning/early afternoon, and I was not happy about that. But since there was a small chance that it would pass, I wound up going to the Wide World of Sports with Paul, Darcie, Trixy, and Kevin anyway, to catch up with the others and see Chance compete in his event.

We hung out by some picnic tables for a while, with a bunch of beignets that Trixy had picked up, but soon the humidity was starting to get to Paul’s video camera, so he headed inside for the air conditioning. Kerry and Georgia arrived shortly thereafter, and we went inside. Paul and I hung out by a railing directly over Chance’s mat, and I got some photos of Chance doing his thing.

Too soon, the phone rang with the call I was hoping would not come, and I had to take my leave of the PlunderHeads and book out of there.

WWS does not have an extensive or even frequent bus service. You catch a bus to MGM, then a bus to your resort. I think I hit the WWS bus stop at about 10:45 am, and was back in the room working by noon. I was starving, so I swooped into the food court and picked up some sustenance, including a slab of Disney’s fine carrot cake, before actually hitting the desk at the room.

The thing I was supposed to take care of was complicated somewhat by repeated connectivity issues, although I don’t think it was Disney’s fault this time – I think it was the actual work network that was bogging me down. At any rate, I settled what had to be settled, and was back at the bus stop boarding a vehicle bound for Epcot, where I re-joined the PlunderFestivities already in progress, by about 3:30 PM or so.

As I entered Epcot, I took a few shots of the Food & Wine Festival signage out front, then set out to locate the PlunderHeads, who were on yet another epic mission of eating and drinking around the World Showcase. Along the way, I found a Hong Kong Disneyland banner in the China pavilion that looked different from the one’s I’d seen in the spring – guess they decided to unveil the official HKDL “Happiest Celebration” banner when the HK park opened (which I believe was circa September 2005, just one month prior to this trip).

Caught up to the pirates in the World Showcase, to find that the PlunderFestivities had indeed resumed in full swing. Annie and Kathi had decided to have some “sister time” with each other, but were scheduled to rejoin us later. Most decided to do the Australian Walkabout again, but Robin and I sat it out. As we were waiting in Germany for them to complete their Walkabout, the skies opened up with a mighty boom, it began to pour, and we became -

When the Walkabout ended, it was only drizzling, but soon began to pour once more. We ran for cover under the porticos of Italy to wait it out for a bit. I had a poncho, so I gave up my umbrella to those that didn’t, but the ponchos produce a sort of a “greenhouse effect” when it’s that humid. So it went all afternoon – on again when it rains, off again when it becomes too moist under there.

While we were waiting in Italy, Annie arrived in a blur of flapping blue poncho. I’d called her to let her know where we are, and she wanted to get off the phone real fast because of the lightening – was a-feared of becoming PlunderFried. When the rain let up a little, on we marched to Morocco for a “bio break” (translation – most of us had to pee), stopping after that for souvlaki at a Greek kiosk, and cheese soup (yum!) from a Canada kiosk. At some point, we ducked into Impressions du France for some shelter, and watched the film there – I love the film, and I love the soundtrack even more, so this is always a welcome pit-stop for me.

By 7:45 pm we had gone full circle and back to Mexico to meet Ms e and Betsy for another Mango Margarita Meet. The whole Tae Kwon Do weekend was having it’s effect, and they ended up taking themselves and Chance back to the room for some much needed down time. At this point, Paul suggested some down time for the rest of the Pirates too, in the form of a visit to the Bellvue Lounge at the Boardwalk Resort. So, back we marched to the International Gateway, where the CMs would not let me pass out of the park with a drink in my hand! I had to prevail upon Trixy to help a sista out, and she ended up swilling the remains of my mango margarita in one swell foop. Go, Trixy!

While I’ve stayed at the Boardwalk, I’d never ventured into the Bellvue Lounge before. The main “living room” was occupado when we walked in, so Paul, Kevin, and Kerry made themselves busy rearranging the furniture outside the living room to accommodate our crowd. We sat around having drinks, and I provided some entertainment in the form of reading out stuff I’d jotted down in the smoke/trip log I was keeping – I’d recorded some odd comments people had made here and there, and it made for some laughter, taken out of context. We tried to remember why Kevin had said his “nipples are exploding” the night before, and ended up thinking it was because he was jammed between me and Trixy in the back seat during the ride home – something about being a “Kevin sandwich”.

Finally, the people in the living room abandoned it, and we jumped on it, putting all the furniture back where we’d found it. Kathi caught up with us at some point, and we just talked and laughed and hung out for a while.

Once again, caught a ride back to Port Orleans with Paul’s Taxi Service (thanks Paul – you’re a mensch!). I walked through the main building, and the piano player/sing-a-long leader was at it again. The song was funny – it would be easy to make a mistake and say a bad word, so before every verse, the leader would admonish the crowd in ominous tones, “Don’t…mess…up!”

It was a mixed crowd, some tables with only grown-ups, others with children, and they all got caught up in the hilarity of it all. As far as I could hear, no one “messed up”.

By 10:30 pm or so, I was back in the room uploading pictures for the Pirates at home. I was probably in bed asleep by midnight.