Throw In, 4 Park Challenge, and other such fun

Ok, I swear I just posted on this blog, but it looks like that was almost a week ago. Where does time go?

A new arrival group appeared at Disney on Tuesday, so that means a Throw-In! That also means I'm no longer a newbie! So on Wednesday I attended my first Throw-In from the other side, it was a lot of fun, hosted by Captain Canuck - Michelle, with all the great title holders, they introduced the new arrivals to the pavillion with songs, speeches, and other sillyness. It was a fun night.

To follow that up, the next day I was invited to join a small group of Canadians in the 4-Park Challenge! What is the 4-Park Challenge you ask? (and how can I hear you ask things as I'm writing the blog you ask? - Stop asking questions, just read.)

Well, let me tell you. The 4-Park Challenge is something done mostly by cast members, it involves going to each of the 4 WDW Parks at 1 day, at each park you must do 3 major rides, and get a photo with 1 character. While using all modes of transportation between parks (Monorail, Boat, Bus)

To make it more challenging, we bumped it up to 4 rides at each park, and 2 characters.

So in the morning (early in the morning...) Craig, David, Kimberly, Jeremy and I met up and went over to Animal Kingdom Lodge for breakfast at Boma. Boma is a great African themed restaurant with a buffet. Though breakfast there is pretty standard american fare, so that was odd. I'll have to go back for dinner sometime when they have a more inventive menu.

From there we went to Animal Kingdom, our first park. It was evident pretty early on that we picked the right day to do the challenge. The parks were nearly empty. We first went on the Safari, walked right on to that one. From there we went over to Expedition Everest, which is really fun. Then to Kali River Rapids, where we got wet, and finally to Dinosaur. Along the way we stopped for pictures with Baloo and King Louie for our Characters, and in an hour and a half we had one park down.

From there we drove over to the TTC (Transportation and Ticket Center) and took the Monorail to Epcot. Another park that was really empty. We hit Spaceship Earth, Soarin, Mission Space (Test Track was temporarily out of order) and Maelstrom (The ride at Norway). Walked around the world showcase to get pictures with Mulan and Snow White, and we quickly had 2 parks down and we're looking good.

We jumped on the boat to take us to Hollywood Studios, and though it took a long time, it got us there. Lineups at Hollywood Studios were a bit longer, we went on Tower of Terror (my first time ever, I was holding on too tight to do the moose ears with the rest of the group), Rockin' Roller Coaster, Toy Story Midway Mania (thanks to Jeremy who helped us sneak into the fast pass line by telling the cast member we were on the 4 Park challenge and needed this ride!) and Star Tours. Finding Characters was a bit more difficult. We ended up catching Quincy from Little Einsteins, and Handy Manny (from Handy Manny), and had 3 parks finished before 5pm. Looking good!

The Bus back to the TTC and another Monorail ride later and we were at Magic Kingdom to finish up. Here we went for the Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain and Pirates of the Carribean. And to finish off the Challenge with a bang, our characters were Mickey and Minnie Mouse! The Big Cheese(s)!

All in All it was a lot of fun, I had a great time, it was exhausting but totally worth it. And though Craig was strict at times ("You have 2 minutes for a bathroom break, go go go!") it was all good. I went on Tower of Terror for the first time, and enjoyed it. Though it still kinda freaks me out.

Today I went back to Animal Kingdom with Rachel, there were supposed to be more joining us, but they ended up missing the bus, and decided not to come. So we made the most of our day, went on a great safari (it wasn't too too hot, so there were plenty of animals out), Expedition Everest, Dinosaur, Primeval Whirl, and caught the Nemo Musical before going to Sanaa for lunch. It was a lot of fun, but I was still pretty tired from the night before, so we headed back home after that, and I had a nice long nap.

Living in FLA ain't half bad so far. I'm enjoying getting to know all the canadians, and some people from other countries too. I do miss everybody back home too! But it's a bit easier now that I've got some people to hang out with here.

I still want to get some golfing in...

Ciao for now!

-Dano