"it's a small world after all!"

Hello guys! Here's my recap of Wednesday, January 6, which was day 3.

I woke up on Wednesday with the hope that Caroline would feel better. We slept really late, until maybe 10 am or noon, so I knew she was well-rested. She felt about the same as Tuesday night, unfortunately. She stayed in bed all day while I explored our resort.

An interesting fact about Pop Century is that it was supposed to be separated into two sections: the Legendary Years and the Classic Years. The Classic Years is the section where we're staying; the Legendary Years was never completed. Construction halted after the 9/11 attacks because tourism was down. For some reason, Disney hasn't done anything with the half-constructed buildings. Across the Hourglass Lake is the Generation Gap Bridge, which ends abruptly with shrubbery behind it. Behind the shrubs, clearly visible, is the main building, decorated with faded signs reading 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, and 1940. Not far away are the abandoned buildings.

There's been a lot of talk on the DISboards about run-down Disney property like the old water park River Country and Pop. Some guy managed to get past the barriers and get up-close, awesome footage of these buildings. It's sad, really. Perfectly good buildings, going to ruin, when they could be housing guests. Anyway, I grabbed my camera and camcorder to play a little Nancy Drew. Of course, it's all blocked off, so I couldn't get more than a few close-up photos. But it sure was fun to poke around!

After checking on Caroline, who was alternately asleep and miserable, I decided to head into the Magic Kingdom. Caro pointed out that she'd just be sleeping and we'd paid for the park tickets, so I went on without her. I took it at a more leisurely pace since I was by myself, hunting down our Magic Kingdom family brick and chowing on a cinnamon roll at the Main Street Bakery. I could spend all day on Main Street alone; there's so much to look at and smell and do. Plus there's the sentimental aspect of all the detail Walt put into the original Main Street, U.S.A. in Disneyland that carried over to the Florida park.

I continued my people-watching with the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. Tomorrowland continued its glitches, and the TTA stopped in the middle of its journey through Space Mountain. Of course, I did what I've been doing this whole trip when I'm forced to wait on something: I Tweeted. Then, my feed starting filling with complaints about the TTA stopping. The Tweets were from some friends from the Be Our Guest Podcast/Magical Mouse Radio, including the show's host, Mike Rahlmann! I got super excited when I realized we were on the same ride at the same time. I knew they were coming in for Disney's 13th Annual Marathon Weekend, but WDW's such a huge place that I never dreamed we'd run into each other. Sure enough, on the next train, I saw Mike, Rikki, Pam, Steve, Denette, and their kids waving at me!

After we finally got off the ATT, we formally introduced ourselves - we'd only been friends through Twitter and the BOGP message boards - and there was a lot of excitement in general. We chattered and rode Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger spin together, then hit up one of my all-time favorites, the Carousel of Progress, and the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. It was dark at that point, so we trekked over to Frontierland to eat dinner at Pecos Bill. There was a lot of food, laughter, and Disney magic. Then we all watched Wishes together.

This made my trip especially magical, because it's the first time I've met Disney friends. Besides my parents, I don't really know anyone who considers Disney an actual hobby, a passion. We're generally the weird people. On the boards, I can be myself; no one thinks anything of gushing over the little details the way I do. To meet the people who think like that as well, was incredible.

Giddy from my "celebrity encounter," I hopped on a bus to Downtown Disney. I'd been lusting after this amazing Dooney & Bourke for Disney handbag that Caroline and I had spotted in the Emporium on Main Street. I pretty much had to have it, so I stopped at TrenD, which sells Disney Couture, to buy myself a Christmas present. I knocked most of my souvenirs out at DD as well.

I was pretty tired at that point, so I headed back "home." Caroline was feeling slightly better by then. She amused herself with Hercules on TV and my Nancy Drew game on my laptop. We chatted and watched TV, then turned off the lights with the hope that our 4th day would not be a waste of any precious time.

Stay tuned for our 4th day at Disney's Animal Kingdom!

P.S.
I recently reached 100 followers on Twitter: thanks to all who've been following!