Aladdin Central Messageboard

[Iago]

y'know I was looking around and and unless I missed somthing we really don't have a permanent disney theme park thread here so I think its about high time we had one. 'Specially those that have been before and those that are disney regulars that have nothing better to do with their time 'cept hang around disneyland yeah you know who you are...
Anywhoo, if you've had a Disney theme park experience you'd like to share or just wanna talk about theme park news/rumors/trip planning/etc. then post it here.

To get it started I'll post an experience which was from this weekand

[xfkirsten]

Heeee! Great idea for a thread!! Here's a post I made in my LJ back in early 2003... it's a "Kirsten at work" post!

"I had THE best day ever. I was supposed to be Adventureland Rafiki, which had me all psyched, but I got to work and they told me my area was down for the day because of rain and did I want an ER? Well, I've taken 2 or 3 ERs this week, so I couldn't afford it. So after wandering around for about an hour, they sent me to go do menial tasks in Costuming all day. I didn't mind though, cause one of my roommates, Meg, was there too, so we had fun. We were matching up gloves and shoe covers and stuff. We had a competition going to see who could find the most matches, but we lost track. Who knows who won, but we had fun. Then they sent us both to Adventureland to do random characters - I did Prince John! Fuuuuuuuun! I got to be a villain, and that was cool. The best part was yet to come, though.

See, my greeter was sort of... bored with the way things were going, so we decided to do a set where we just ran around. So we came up with a storyline to follow. Since Robin Hood took all Prince John's jewels, we wandered around the land looking for Prince John's missing rings. We pestered Aladdin and Jasmine and Genie and the attractions people and dozens of guests. Basically just goofed off. Well, my greeter goes, "Hey, go scare that Guest Relations guy!" So, thinking it'd be really funny, I ran up behind him and scared him (he seemed to know I was coming, but that's not the point) Anyways, I look to see who was sitting next to him as I pass by. It was frickin' GARY SCHANDLING. He gave me this look like, "What crack are you on?" Scared the crap outta me, and I know we're not supposed to pester celebrities so I kept on walking by like I didn't see him. Well, I heard him ask a question to the Guest Relations guy, and it made me wanna yell at him, but since he's a guest I'll forgive him. ("Can you tell who it is in the costume?" D'oh!) Anyways, I went on greeting guests and such, and I guess while I was doing that Gary Schandling was asking the Guest Relations guy about me, then went out of his way to tell my greeter that he thought I was really cool. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! I didn't find out about any of that til after the set when my greeter told me. I was sooo pyshced up after that.

Anyways, after skipping like 2 sets cause my greeter didn't feel like going out (LMAO!!!!!) Meg and I went over to EPCOT to see the final pass of Tapestry of Dreams. OH. MY. GOD. Bist....pirformince...iver. Basically, it was half Entertainment Cast Members there. All the performers were REALLY into it of course. I'm so glad I video taped it. One of the drummers was cracking us all up, cause whenever she had a break in the music, she'd put down the drumsticks, grab her camera, and be taking pictures of the performers around her and the crowd and such. It was great! We purposely sat right near the end of the parade route, so everyone was screaming and cheering as they finished the pass. When the last float passed us, we joined a huge mass of CMs following the parade to the end, carrying "Dream On" and "Goodbye Tap" signs. Everyone was clapping and singing along and dancing as best they could in the mob. Y'know that little bit at the end ("May your journeys forever be laden with peace..." etc.)??? Well, you couldn't even hear the sound. There was SO much screaming and cheering by all the Cast Members crowded around. I think most of the guests were weirded out by us, but that's okay, cause it was AWESOME. They were letting all the Cast Members backstage to see the performers, so everyone flooded back there. We went to go see a friend of one of my old roommates who was supposed to perform tonight, but on the first pass he hurt himself and couldn't do the second one. Anyways, he climbed up on one of the trailers and told everyone that he was glad he got hurt cause it meant he got to see the most beautiful parade ever. And of course that got everyone crying again. VERY beautiful, all of it. "
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I don't need intelligent drugs, because I don't know what they are. But I will put anything into my mouth that is given to me, whether it's supposed to go there or not. Because... I'm different.

[AladdinsGenie]

We'd be here for a very long time if I posted my WDW trip in detail. I think I'll do it by days...

[AladdinsGenie]

Ok, here's day one from my WDW trip two years ago:

Day 1 - The Magic Kingdom: Day one is kinda short because we couldn't check into our hotel (Shades of Green) until 3:00, so that took away from some of our park time. Nonetheless, I was ready to get out there! I dropped all my stuff off and ran downstairs to catch the bus. In order to get to the MK, the bus has to bring us to the ticket and transportation center so you can catch a monorail to the park. The ride total is about 30 minutes depending on when you catch the stuff. I told myself to be calm and to act normal, but when I was on the monorail and saw the shot Cinderella's castle, the little 10 year old that lives in me came out. I starting bouncing in my seat and freaking out when I saw the characters in the meet and greet square, too. I rushed off the monorail, whipped out my ticket and went into the park. I just looked around in amazement at everything around me. It was too good to be true. I was finally in Disney World and it was timed to be PWNED by me

The first thing I wanted to do, believe it or not, was to see Mickey's Philarmagic. I found the place and fast passed my ticket. (Fast Pass is a way for people who are staying at the resort to get a time to come back and not have to wait in line like the people who are there because they live near by and are not staying at one of the park hotels.) My ticket said come back around 4:05PM and the time was 3:30PM. I didn't know what to do while I waited. Take pictures with some characters? Rides? Eat? Continue not to pee in my pants? I was lost.

I heard music coming the front of Cinderella's castle and went all the way back around to see what it was. I arrived in front of her castle when Cinderella said, "Is it OK if some of my friends come out there with you guys?" This meant the characters that were on stage were gonna come down into the audience and take pictures. I spotted Genie in the corner of my eye and saw him go on the right side of the castle and down into a room thing. I made it through the huge crowd of people (and when I say 'made it though' I mean pummel my way through ) and estimated where he was going to be stopping. To my surprise, I was right. OMFG I WAS GOING TO MEET GENIE!! I was the second in line, too! I would have been first, but I found my sister who saw the entire show randomly in the crowd and she said, "Look, Shi! I think he is gonna go over there!" So this lady with a stroller, went that way and beat me...well more like cut me off so she could get there first. Bitch. I could have keeled u .

Anyways, I waited in line and kept my cool. I was planning on acting my age, act mature, take the picture and be on my way. But when it was my turn and it was nothing but space between me and Genie, I started freaking out. That maturity crap went out the window . I started waving my arms almost like a chicken and he copied me . The smile on my face has never been bigger. Then I gave him a big hug and we danced like old friends that haven't met in years. Greatest moment of my life. The people around starting laughing. I got my sister to take a picture (which I probably should post, but I'm too lazy to get it out ). When I left, he waved bye and blew me a kiss and I did the same thing. That was so cool!!! I still gush about that to this day. OMFG I danced with Genie!! But yeah, by the end of that, it was almost time for me to see Philarmagic.

I was the first one in line for the Fast Pass line and chatted with one of the cast members there. She was super tired and wanted to go back to sleep . She noticed the Jasmine charm around my neck and we chatted on Aladdin and how we think he's hot. That makes so much sense, doesn't it?
But yeah Philarmagic was freaking cool. For those who don't know, it's a 3-D show that has Donald going through musical scenes from Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Peter Pan and Aladdin, all the while trying to get Mickey's sorcerer hat back that he was told not to touch. I don't wanna give away the whole thing for anyone who wants to go, but it's good. Go see it. 10 times a day. kthxbye.


Now I am outside the theater in the heat again. The heat index was 101 degrees (how ironic ) and I don't do well in the sun, so I needed to find something to do. I was going to stand in line to get a picture with Ariel, but line was loooong. I almost didn't realize that was the line for Ariel because she's in this little cave/grotto thing. All I saw was a bunch of people lining up behind a rock . I took some random pictures of things and decided to go on a quest. A quest to find Aladdin, Jasmine and Jafar. I knew they were there; my sense were tingling

I went over to the Adventure Land part of the MK. At first I was lost getting there cause there's like...3 different ways to get in, but I followed the Arabian style music that was playing from the area. It was luring me there . The first thing I saw coming into the area was The Magic Carpets of Aladdin. I actually didn't get on cause the line was super long. The guy running the ride said that the line was longer than usual. Probably because of all the air the ride gives you and people were trying to cool off...or there was a consipiracy to keep me off . But across from that was the Agrabah bazaar with some Aladdin merchandise and you guys know I love Aladdin stuff! My friend Julie helped me out the last time she went to Disney by buying some of the stuff there, so there was only a few things I didn't own. My first time there (note this...first time. I go back several times during my stay. I couldn't help it ), I ended up buying a mini lamp that has a light in the middle when you open the top. That was 5 bucks and will end up being the cheapest thing I buy this entire time. Tip for going to WDW--Have an obsessive amount of cash.

I started walking and saw a line for something. I walked a little further up and saw that it was Aladdin and Jasmine!! OMFG YAY! I rushed back the other way and stood in line for about 20 minutes. If there was ever a time to wonder if I had ADD, that would be it. You'd think I had just drunk an entire cup of coffee . About 10 minutes in, though, Jafar came out as well so I was able to meet all three at one time. SCORE! While everyone was waiting, I watched how the characters acted cause you know...it's a second instinct . They had everything down pack! From how they argue, talk, mannerisms, the holding of each other, etc. I was super impressed! The best part, though, was when Jafar made a little girl cry . He was being really mean to everyone that was there, though. This little girl walked up to him and handed him her autograph book. He snatches it away from her, signs it and gives it back. She sticks her tongue out at him and walks away. Then he quickly follows her and scares her out the little meeting area they were under. She ran from underneath the little canopy crying to her parents who were waiting on the sides. I thought it was funny as hell . He was being a total grouch to everyone, though. Even the workers that were managing the lines. Hilarious.

Oh, and this other time, this girl walks up to him with a fuzzy princess pen and he throws it on the ground refusing to write with it. His escort convinced him to, though. I can't remember for the life of me what the bribe was. I wanna say baklava . I swear, he was the best Jafar ever.

Then this one little girl was scared to go up to Aladdin and Jasmine because she thought Jafar would come and get her since she saw what happened earlier. Jasmine walked over to her, gave her a hug and told her it was OK. Then she took her hand and walked her over to Aladdin and they took an adorable picture. It was soo cute. Everyone aww'ed cause that was adorable. Genie came a little later on and made everyone laugh by teasing Jafar and throwing random objects from the ground at him like small twigs and rocks. That was hysterical . Now it's my turn to meet everyone. Once again, I told myself to be mature and calm and once again it went out the window . I became awe stuck this time. This is my session with Aladdin and Jasmine (yes, I totally wrote everything down as soon as it was over in a little notebook ):

Aladdin: Well hi there, Princess! Glad you can come and meet me and my friends! My name is Aladdin. What's yours? *holds out hand for me to shake*
Me: O_O *in shock cause he sounds soooo much like Scott it was scary*......S..sh..Shiera!
Aladdin: Shiera? (OMG he said it right on the first time. No one does that!) Cool name! Have you met Jasmine?
Me: *shakes head no, still partially in shock*
Jasmine: *shakes my hand* Hi, I'm Princess Jasmine of Agrabah. Nice to meet you, Princess Shiera!
Me: *still dumb stuck, but smiling*....nice to meet you too...
Aladdin: Hey, do you have a camera? (Funny how he knows what a camera is )
Me: Uh huh *points to girl who has my camera because I was alone for most of my trip even though it was a family thing*
Aladdin: Great! Let's take a picture with our new friend, Jasmine. Everyone smile!
*takes picture* Aladdin is on my left and Jasmine is on my right. I'm in the middle of a very happy sandwich*
Jasmine: It was nice meeting you. If you are ever around, come back and see us!
Me: Oh, oh don't worry, I will!
Aladdin: Bye!
*both waves and I wave back almost running into the pole for the lines*

...OMFG!! I could have DIED! He called ME a princess! SQUEE!!! How freakin' cool was that? I stuck around to take a picture with Jafar and heard him talking to the girl that was taking my picture with them right after. He didn't call her a princess. HA! I'm special! But I was just about dumb stuck. He sounded about 80% like him voice wise. How he enunciated, emphasized his words and spoke was JUST like him. He even looked somewhat like him. The girl that took my picture was in line trying to see if he had a ring on his finger . She was like, "I don't know why, but I have this thing for Aladdin." I turned to her and said, "You too?" and we both laughed. Aladdin fangirls of the world unite! But he was good enough for me to believe it. Jasmine was soo cool, too. She sounded sorta like her, but it was enough for me to forget how to form words in a sentence for about 5 seconds. And if she removed a rib from her side to give her some more shape, she'd look like her even more.

From that picture, I was able to take one with Jafar. When it was my turn, I happily walked skipped up to him on the side. He did something sorta like how I skipped up there and quickly stopped and shook it off to tell me not to do it again. (He couldn't talk) I guess I was being too happy . So I turned to him and gave him a big smile. He shook his head in shame and stood by me. I was this close to giving him a big hug . The guy who manages the sessions took my picture. He told him to smile and Jafar gave this ugly blank face and just stood there with his arms folded kinda like when he says the "Ecstatic" line in the movie. I started laughing my butt off. The guy was like, "Umm, let's try for a happy grin next time." He took the picture and I smiled at Jafar again right as I was about to leave. He pointed for me to leave as I waved good-bye and he hung his head in shame. It was soo funny. That whole moment was cool. It's rare to get all 4 characters in one area. I took a picture with Genie earlier, so I got out of there quicker but I still waved "hi" to him. I was still a bit dumb struck from the whole thing. Now I needed something else to do and remember the rest of the English language that I learned.

It wasn't on my original plans, but I stopped by The Enchanted Tiki Room-Under New Management. I saw Iago and Zazu on the sign and had to go in. Anything with Iago has to be hilarious. This is pretty much the Enchanted Tiki Room...with Iago in charge and you know that can't be good . I thought it was hilarious and I loved the "Friend Like Me" spoof. I won't go into detail for anyone who hasn't seen this yet either, but it's great.

After that, I went to the hotel (but not before waiting outside the room for an hour because my mom gave me the wrong key--doh!). I wanna say the time was 7 something and I was getting hungry. We called it a day early although I seriously didn't want to, but my mom said she wasn't going to let me back in if I left. I told her I could just sleep on Main Street and be a Disney hobo, but she told me "No" still. Bah!

So yep, that's day one!

[Iago]

wow, you did a lot on say done
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[AladdinsGenie]

And that wasn't even a full day there

[xfkirsten]

Heee! Oh, man, the good times I could recount about working in the Agrabah Bazaar. I think Jafar coming in from a set, and stopping to fondle the Jasmine doll is probably one of the most hilarious things I've ever seen in my life.
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I don't need intelligent drugs, because I don't know what they are. But I will put anything into my mouth that is given to me, whether it's supposed to go there or not. Because... I'm different.

[AladdinsGenie]

I wish I would have been there to take a picture of that!

[APK]

AG, your name is Shiera? ::tries to register this::

::still in denial:: Nope, your name is AG! And it has been since birth, and it will be AG forever!

You don't think my denial is a tad too strong, do you?

[AladdinsGenie]

Just a tad

[Syera]

I'm still trying to register that "Shiera" isn't pronounced in Romaji phonetics.
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Weblog | SH.net | Ed-sprite by Janette

[AladdinsGenie]

Who?

[AladdinsGenie]

Day 2-Downtown Disney, Magic Kingdom, Epcot:

I got out the hotel sorta late that morning. I was up at 6AM, though. There's just something about sleeping in Disney World that makes you forget about sleeping . My mom MADE me eat breakfast and spend the morning with the family, so I was out at the parks around 11. Bah.

I spent an hour riding buses to make it to Downtown Disney. The bus drivers told me and this other family the wrong information, so I was stuck at the Wilderness Lodge for 30 minutes and was dragged to just about every hotel you could think of. I got a great tour of the place, though . Finally I made it to DTD and went shopping. I took a picture of all the Aladdin related characters on everything and everywhere. I have this random shot of the giant Genie statue they have on top of a building. Yes, I am that hardcore .

After taking random pictures, I made it to the world's largest Disney Store. It's 10 yards short of being the size of a football field. I didn't find much Aladdin stuff...ok scratch that--all the stuff there was either something I already had or something I could break . I did end up buying a Jasmine doll that I didn't own since it was exclusive to the parks. I went to a ton of shops, though, like the Art of Disney stores. They had sketches there for 12 dollars. Dude, I can do that in my house for free. The best part of shopping here and my blonde moment for the trip was when I went into the CHRISTMAS store to find ALADDIN stuff. I searched and searched, and boy was I annoyed I couldn't find anything. They had a ton of ornaments and Christmas things for all the other movies, though. Why couldn't I find just as much stuff for Aladdin? I know that there isn't always a bunch of merchandise out there, but I've only seen two things total; one of which was Jasmine in a Disney princess ornament set and a little $12 ornament with Al and Jas on carpet. I am in DISNEY WORLD, surely they would have MORE stuff, right? Then it hit me...they don't celebrate Christmas! Duh, Shiera . Someone might be offended by that or something. Although, I will say I found it funny Genie was painted on the wall several times in different Christmasy situations and costumes, which I also took a picture of BTW . But after my little realization and defeat, I hopped a bus to the Magic Kingdom. I wanted a Genie shirt and the only place to find it was in the Agrabah bazaar there.

I went back to Adventureland part of the park and went back to the Agrabah bazaar. The people recognized me from yesterday--day 2 and I'm making friends already . I took about 20 minutes trying to decide what T-shirt I wanted. The one that I did was going to be a bit snug, so I had to get a different one. The one I got has Genie's face on it and the whole shirt is the color of him. Not exactly the one I wanted, but it'll do. It's my special ocassions shirt and I've only worn it three times ever since this trip

When I stepped outside the Adventureland area, I saw a bunch of people lined up. I didn't know it, but I was there in time for the parade. I just stepped outside when it started. Go me! I took some more pictures of characters like Goofy (OMFG he walked up TO my camera and shook my hand--COOL), Aurora/Philip and Ariel/Eric (I thought their float was cool and shiney!), the villains float (Which I have to say, I yelled out "THE IDEA HAS MERIT!" to Jafar and he gave me this hand gesture of approval while he sneered at everyone else who was booing him ) and of course Aladdin and Genie (Well, Prince Ali and Genie float. He pointed to me and said, "I never had a friend like you!" *insert fangirl squee here *).

After the parade, I left the MK and went to go see what the family was doing. When I got on the bus, I found my dad and sister there. Talk about coincidences . They were taking pictures with Mickey, Aurora and others at the MK and got on the bus a few minutes before me because they wanted out of the heat. We headed to the hotel and I dropped my stuff off that I bought earlier. My sister tagged along with me as I went to Epcot since the rest of the family was going to go to the pool and I don't do pools/large bodies of water. They scare me. My sister wanted to go to the parks so more, but since the parents didn't want to go she was stuck with me.

It took about 15 minutes for us to get there by monorail and we had to go down the longest flight of stairs ever to get back on the ground . I took a picture of the big ball and kept going. I saw another store that sold merchandise and checked to see if they had any new Aladdin stuff. They didn't, but I got a porcelain Jasmine trinket holder. It looks like a mini statue of her, but it's actually a jewelry holder. Very cute. I saw another Art of Disney store and stopped in there because I am totally an art whore . When I went into the store and turned the corner, I saw an Aladdin poster signed by Linda, Scott, Brad-err Caleb, and Lea hanging on the wall. I got on the floor to bow to it since that's about as close as I am going to get to any of them . The lady at the front desk thought it was funny, but my sister walked away saying "I so don't know you". Too bad I didn't have $295 bucks on me *sigh*.

Anyway, I didn't go into the future part of the park. I went to all the world showcase pavilions. Morocco was my favorite, naturally. It honestly feels like you're walking through Agrabah. There's merchants trying to sell you things, the shops are set up in a similar fashion...it's just awesomeness. They had actual Harem outfits, fezes (that I learned the history and tradition behind the tassel) and belly dancing accessories. I heard Al and Jas was over there, but I never found them . And I just have to say it is so weird having an American pavillion there. I knew not everyone there was from the US, but I'm walking by the pavillion going "Is this what we are known for? Band music and pie?"

My sister was dying to go to "The Living Seas." She's a big under water/whale/fish type person. There wasn't much there since it was under major construction for the newly added Finding Nemo stuff , but there was some type of museum where you walk through and read about different sea type things. Afterwards, you go into a theater and watch a discovery channel type documentary on how the seas were made. After the movie, you go on the "sea simulator" and go "under water" to explore the sea. The "sea" was a shop and two tanks with animals like fish and manatees. Yeeeeah, definitely go there when there's actually something THERE . The place was pretty much deserted and was only good for air conditioning.

By this time, it was about 8PM and since I have a diabetic with me and no one wants to see what it looks like when she has low blood sugar, I took her home where I was once again forced to stay inside. Note to self: go back to Disney WITHOUT parents

[Iago]

I woulda bowed at the poster as well though I did get close to... oh yeah I vowed I wouldn't bring it up again

This sounds so cool. I hope thats the trip next year for band. I soooo need me some disneyworld
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[AladdinsGenie]