That's How We Roll! A Day in the Life of TCD

Yep.

It's another TCD trip report.

This will be a brief one.

Then I have a longer one coming up.

And then maybe, just maybe, I will be caught up.

So what's this one about, you ask?

This is a report from a one day visit to the World.

We do that from time to time.

We've done it a lot this year.

We are trying to do a better job of getting value from our passes.

For a long time, the TCD twins have expressed a wish to one day, on a school day to be specific, to be surprised with a trip to WDW.

Since they are in High School now, it isn't always a small thing to skip a day of school.

But, the stars aligned on Friday, April 29, 2011.

A grading period had just ended.

And, it was the morning of the Royal Wedding.

The girls actually got up early to watch it.

Blech.

Then it was time to go to school.

I usually drive them to school.

They have to go early.

Like we usually leave the house at 6:30 am.

And we did.

But, instead of turning left to go to school, I went right, and then east.

And, before long, the girls figured out that they weren't gong to school today.

We made it to Hollywood Studios for Rope Drop.

We followed our normal routine: Fastpasses for Toy Story, a ride on TOT, and then on to RRC for a couple of rides.

We were early enough that RRC was a walk-on.

We got to ride in the front first.

I have never had the chance to ride in the front. I liked it:

We got off and immediately got in line for ride #2.

I decided to snap a couple of photos of the hippie paraphernalia in this ride:

The detail in this ride in great:

On our second ride, we got the very back. Sweet:

Maybe some of you like it, but I think there is too much hippie influence in this ride.

I mean, look at poor Mickey:

I find it ironic that Steven Tyler is still relevant after all of these years. I always questioned why Disney chose to use Aerosmith on this ride. But, now that Stephen is again relevant because of his role on American Idol, I guess Disney chose wisely. Same thing with how Ellen shows up in the Universe of Energy. She is a much bigger star now then she was when they first chose to use her likeness there.

Apparently, this Mater that could drive around on his own was some kind of BFD (that's Big Fort Deal), as people started chasing after him when he drove by:

We hung around Hollywood Studios long enough to use our Toy Story Fastpasses, then we bounced to Epcot.

We enjoyed the Lotso topiary which stood at the entrance throughout the Flower Festival:

A new award category was created on this trip.

The TCD Dress to Impress Award.

That's TCDDTIA for you acronym fans.

Here's the initial recipient:

WTF?

(That's What The Fort?)

Moving on . . .

The Cars topiaries were great this year. I like how you can see the America Pavilion across the lake in this photo:

I also really enjoyed these flowers this year, so here's a final photo of them:

In honor of the royal wedding, we decided that we would eat Fish and Chips from the quick serve in the UK area.

Here's a Union Jack made of flowers in keeping with today's theme:

We wondered if there was going to be anything special going on in the UK area in honor of the wedding.

There were a few things.

Like this:

I guess they didn't have a big budget for this?

I thought this bloke (he was a Brit) was telling some type of royal wedding story:

But, it was just a normal story.

Which I couldn't follow.

But at least the actor thought that he was funny.

Here's the line for Fish and Chips:

And, here's a look at the area while I was waiting on line:

Do you know that no one from the TCD gang has ever partaken in the Fish and Chips here?

The fact of the matter is that the smell emanating from that stand on a hot day isn't that appetizing.

But, we have now all sampled the Fish and Chips.

And they are good!

The girls took a few photos around the area.

Including some in this phone booth with their phones:

They posted Facebook updates about how they had enjoyed the royal wedding.

Some of their gullible friends back at school thought they had really traveled to the wedding.

And, there is supposed to be a strict policy about not using cell phones during school.

Apparently, this policy is routinely ignored.

Especially by the teachers.

Here's some more British stuff in keeping with our theme:

We decided to look in the gift shops to see if there was any William and Kate gear.

We found free William and Kate coloring sheets.

Yes, I said free!

In Disney.

I know no one would believe this, so I took some photos.

Y'all know about these coloring stations, right?

In case you don't, each country has an area where kids can stop to work on a craft. The stations are usually staffed by a native of the country you are visiting. Which typically makes for a learning opportunity for the kids. I have always liked these stations, and when the girls were younger, they would be a highlight of our visits to the World Showcase.

The station here was staffed by a young lady from England. Almost everyone who stopped for a coloring sheet asked her if she had gotten up early to watch the wedding. I loved the fact that this young lady was honest enough to tell them all that no, she had not gotten up early. I have heard many reports that the royal wedding was a bigger deal to Americans than it was to the Brit's. If this young lady is representative of her peers, then I would say these stories must be true.

The TCD twins enjoyed a little of the free coloring:

Heck, even I did a little coloring myself:

I put my artwork on display:

After I had posted my art, a soccer mom (or maybe it was a cheerleader mom) came in with her perfect daughter and literally gasped when she saw my art. She said she could not believe someone had been so disrespectful! I think the perfect daughter liked it. I just smiled.

From here, we hit Test Track and Soarin', and got ready to bounce to our next park.

You will hear all about it in the next post.

TCD