Originally Posted By rtjl72 this will reflect july 29. the day of all days! i should have known that there would be an earthquake when i drug my family out to california!!!! but, i get ahead of myself. we have never been early risers. and you would have thought with the time change we would have been up and at 'em, but not! i did awaken at 4am like it was 6am at home, but had no trouble pitter patting to the little girls room and then back to sleep for an additional few hours. so we all were up at 7 and ready to go to the park by about 745 am. a quick trip to the concierge lounge for breakfast- pastries, cold cereal, fresh fruit by the hoards, milk, juices, sodas, bagels and cream cheese along with instant oatmeal and of course, coffe and hot tea. we ate breakfast here every morning except 1, so i will only refer later to this menu, but not repeat it. ----i would like to note that i had read previously on lp that at some concierge lounges that when the goods were gone, there were no more. i did not ever find this to be true. there was always more brought out even up to the 10pm time.--- off to the park- again, we would have taken the monorail, but that was a no go, so we hoofed it through downtown disney. we split up a little after we walked down mainstreet. the ds and ddil, with the babies, went off to winnie the pooh and the rest of us off to tomorrow land. that line for nemo was always so ridiculous!!! dd and i went on autopia, right after we picked up fast passes for buzz. dh, dsil and granddaughter went on over to star tours. this took about 1.5 hours. we hung out for awhile and tried to decide what to do next. we walked through the gift shop at star tours and then somehow we kind of ended up in different areas inside and out. and then when you least expect it you're elected- EARTHQUAKE!!! it was like the force of stepping onto a people mover at the airport- that first intial strength of jolt- but it kept on going- i just stood outside of the star tours gift shop looking towards the shop and that tall metal structure just outside the door, and the hallway where you come out of star tours- and watched the bricks kind of roll as like a wave. i guess it lasted for about 20 seconds total, but it was truly very alarming as you didn't know if it was going to stop, or get more intense. on my gal pal thread of express jet, i have confided my now need for therapy. if i can ever return to dl i will definitely have to have therapy to get over my earthquake fright- you know, all the express jet gals are professional counselors- just like lucy in peanuts!!LOL!!! i have lived through 2 tornadoes- 1 of which blew our apartment and cars to bits, so mother nature and i are usually somewhat getting along- from this day forward i will take my challenge against any tornado- just keep those earthquakes to yourselves caliornians! anyway, the crowd started moving towards main street. i never heard an official announcement of any sort over the speakers. it was just by word of mouth in the crowd that all the rides were shut down and all the visitors were to go to main street. what a jam!!! i asked a few people in the crowd if they lived in california and what would they say the earthquake was- little -big or medium. one person said no big deal and another said it was bad. anyway, we had planned for all of us to meet up for the hillbillies at 11:15am. when we got to the hub there wasn't anybody really coming out of fronteirland, so se sent on over. sour ds and family were there waiting for us. they had been pn the mark twain and had no idea there had been an earthquake. so we had to wait until about noon for the horseshoe to reopen. i think other rides and attractions came back up as they completed their inspections. the hillbillies did their elvis show!! just the one i wanted to see!!! we had lund from the counter inside the horseshoe as we waited for the show to start. it was nice to sit down for awhile. the place was pretty packed by the time the show started, so it was good we were there early. the show was great! everyone in the group enjoyed it. our 2 year old granddaughter was putting her hand up on her shoulder and pretending she was playing a fiddle before it was over. cute! cute! cute! we then chose to abandon dl and go swimming. another walk back to the hotel. now how far is that walk in miles? i read a book and the families went out to the pool. i felt they needed alone time. then naps for all. we planned to have dinner at the plaza inn. everyone went to get in line for dinner and i went on over to check out were i needed to go for fantasmic reserved seating check in. it was between 6 and 6:30pm. there were already people putting blankets down to reserve space for the show. the podium is right beside the churros cart in front of cafe orleans on the haunted mansion side. there were already 2 people lined up. so, the ever ocd me had to get in line, too. the papers ireceived from vacation planning said check in started at 7pm. the cast member that came to set up the check in podioum said it was really not until 8pm. but there were already people in line at 7pm!!!i called my famliy and said i would not make it to dinner. i made some great friends in line! no names, though. one gentleman was from cali and had just been to iowa to inspect some car quest stores. 1 lady was from canada on a 3 month tour by rn of the entire u.s. and the 3rd was a pharmacist from northern cali. we had a good time chatting and reliving some of our fondest dl memories. after check in at 8pm, my family was coming and we had a free hour before the 9pm show. we did some diaper changing and people watching and then were seated for the show. we had a large black plastic serving platter with a clear lid given to each of us along with a beveage of choice. there were refills on the beverages whenever up until fantasmic started. the desserts were more than plentiful. there were cheese and crackers, chocolate dipped starwberries, cheesecake, chocolate cake, white and dark chocolate balls, a macaroon and i think a mickey rice krispie treat. we didn't even touch 2 of the boxes. we took them back to the room and kept the food in the frig to snack on over the next few days. the show was just awesome!! our seats were great!! all the fantasmic seating is good, but you want to try to stay away from the farthest end due to the pillars. we were allowed to stay for fireworks and these were visible with the exception of those on the gorund level near the castle. dd and her husband and daughter chose not to stay for fireworks and shuffled off to haunted mansion. it was a walk on then and after the fireworks, so we all went together after the fireworks. we thoiught abouth pirates, but ut was getting late, and the babies were tired, so off to dlh. we actually were able to take the monorail back! that sure does make the walk back a lot shorter! our beds were turned down and we had coin chocolates on our pillows. ahhh, the disney magic!! day 3 tomorrow night at the same bat time on the same bat channel. oh, oh, i am revealing my age!!! lol!!!
Originally Posted By TXDISNEYNERD Great trip report rt. You will have to get over that fear of earthquakes by the Int'l meet next year! Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip.
Originally Posted By mater4 RT I am proud of you getting through your first earthquake. I guess when you have been through lots of them it is no big deal. It sounds like you had a wonderful 2nd day and did not let fear get the best of you. Can't wait to hear more.
Originally Posted By smedley Glad to hear you pushed on regardless of the earthquake! Way to go girl! TX is right you need to recover for the int'l meet, it is ok, they scare the heebie jeebies out of me too, we can hold each other's hands
Originally Posted By travellerandquilter Great rt. You are going to have to get over your earthquake before dec 09 for the international meet. I would like as many of us as possible to be there. Sounds like you were having a great trip.
Originally Posted By Tiggirl Rt, it sounds like you had such a great time! The earthquake was such a small part of an awesome day I'm sure you'll have no problem getting back here. ) ~Beth
Originally Posted By amazedncal2 Now that you've felt your first earthquake the next one will be a piece of cake Just kidding, but really we rarely feel them and when we do now it's kind of exciting. Weird, I know. It sounds like you had a good time with your family. Billy Hill is so much fun, I'm sure it was good to have a good laugh after the rumbling. Ending the night with Fantasmic, Fireworks and Mansion is just magicical
Originally Posted By Tinkerbell819 Oh my, rt, you didn't forget to plan anything for this trip! I am drooling all over my keyboard here reading about your experience! (except for the earthquake!)
