Disney's MGM Tower of Terror
David has been here just over a week now. With two weeks left before school starts, I figured it would be an opportune time for us to get out of town for some time together before school starts on the 20th. Also, it would break up the three weeks between his arrival and school -- a time for boredom that should be avoided.
I made all the arrangements before David arrived. Disney tickets, motel room and rental car reserved, and most of all, I used the $600 of Delta travel vouchers to purchase the airline tickets for the both of us. With all this in place, all we had to do was wait for Monday.
We arrived at the Little Rock airport, checked our luggage and received our boarding passes. All without incident even though under the threat of Barry (the tropical storm). Departure from Little Rock was basically right on time with a bit of bumpy ride as we hit some of the "rain bands" ahead of Barry's path. Arrival in Atlanta was as scheduled, if not a few minutes early.
We had about an hour layover before our departure for Orlando. This gave us plenty of time to make our way from Concourse B to the Terminal Gates, plus time to get a quick bite to eat and check e-mail.
Once again, things were pretty much on schedule as our flight was called for boarding. We had seats in row 20, which put us in one of the last groups to board. The 767-400 plane boarded passengers well back of the First Class section, so we were the last group to board going aft.
Pushback was on time or nearly so, depending on who's watch you checked. But that was when things started to happen. From conversations with eyewitnesses to the "event", here is what I've been able to put together about the "security situation" that occurred on Delta Flight 909. Since nothing newsworthy happened, the new media was not informed, or if they were, the elected not to cover the story.
As I said above, we began the pushback pretty much on time. Once the "tugger" released us, we moved forward just a few feet and then turned for the gate we just left. The Captain told us that there was a "technical problem in the cockpit" and "technicians" were waiting at the gate to come on board. And that we should be delayed only a "few minutes".
Once the ramp was in place, we waited for several minutes before the door was opened. Then, several of Atlanta's airport police, Delta personnel and others entered the plane and went forward to First Class. A couple of minutes later, a white man was among the people leaving the plane. He was not apparently in hand cuffs or otherwise restrained at this time. However, the police were close at hand during his departure.
Initially, we were only told that there was a "security situation" that needed immediate attention. After about 15 minutes sitting at the gate, we were told that we must leave the plane so it could be checked. A voice came on the public address telling us to deplane and leave all hand-carried items on board. After the first few passengers left, complaining about leaving computers and such on board while women were allowed to leave with their "carpet bags" called purses, the police said that those that had not left the area of their seat could take their hand-carry items with them to the terminal. We were assured that we would be returning to the plane and anything left on board would be "secure".
After a few minutes inside the terminal, we were told that the plane was being moved to a "secure area" so the dogs could be brought on board to "sweep" the passenger area. Then were told that WE would be taken to this same area to reclaim our luggage before it could be placed back inside the plane. I don't know what happened next, but we were never taken anywhere.
Delta kept us informed with updates about every 15 minutes. However, many of these gave little, if any, insight into what was really going on and the reasons behind the "situation". After about 3 hours, we were allowed to reboard the plane after the Captain said that HE was going to fly the plane to Orlando and since he was "retiring in 75 days", he felt confident that the "situation" had been "neutralized". Again, no explanation whatsoever.
After the passengers were back on board (less at least one), the Captain said that Delta had been "alerted" to a "security problem" aboard this aircraft even before we were allowed aboard. He said that the plane had been completely checked before it was brought to the gate. There was little else said by Delta, so here is what I was able to determine from those sitting near the man removed from the plane.
Shortly after the pushback, the man rang for the stewardess. When she arrived, she apparently had problems understanding him. I don't know if it was language or his inability to speak clearly. Either way, she was down on one knee trying to understand what he had to say. Finally, he handed her a note. I don't know if he just wrote it out for her or it was something he had prepared and brought on board. Once she read this, she immediately went to the cockpit. You know what happened then.
Later, I was able to determine that he had somehow gotten past security with "something" dangerous on his person or perhaps a carryon (which we never saw him leave with). There was something he must have said that really triggered the "security alert" and tied him with the prior "alert". Of course, there was nothing about this "security alert" on any of the evening network newscasts.
Tuesday morning, David and I left for breakfast about 7:00a. We wanted to be at Disney's Animal Kingdom when it opened at 8:00a, as that is the best time to see all of the animals. Later in the heat of day, they tend to vanish into the bush or hide in their cool caves.
Later in the morning, after riding the Khai River Rapids (and getting David soaked), we went to EPCOT. I took him on a walking tour of the park. We also picked up a couple of "Fast Passes" for Test Track. Even though it was about 10:00a, our tickets were for 6:30p. This was good, because we could ride Test Track and still have plenty of time to find a good spot for the 9:00p fireworks show.
As our luck had been running since leaving Russellville, using our Fast Passes and waiting in a very short line, we were NEXT in line to step into the Test Track car when they shut the ride down because of a thunderstorm. So, they gave us purple tickets that we could use later and enter the exit and be put in front of everybody once the ride started back up. We checked out a couple of other exhibits and did some walking around until we heard the Test Track cars running again. About 7:30p, we headed back that way and rode it -- finally. David loved it and we hit 64.5 MPH. The typical maximum is 65 MPH, so we were pretty close.
We walked to the back side of EPCOT and found "Blast" still performing on the stage. They are a rhythm-type of group, similar to STOMP, but using all band instruments. They played, and danced, with so much energy that it was tiring just watching them. Their music was very good, I enjoyed it, but I could tell David was a bit bored.
At precisely 9:00p, the lights dimmed around World Showcase and the evenings' fireworks show began. This is the second time this summer that I've seen the show. I was disappointed the last time and it wasn't any different this time. I guess the past show's, especially the Y2K displays and music were so much better. This one is really boring. If it wasn't for the fire, and I mean FIRE, that erupts from a propane barge, it would be classed as very mundane when compared to many of the previous shows. And, I've seen 8 or 10 different ones over the years.
David had heard about "The Tower of Terror" ride at the MGM Studios, so today was the day we were to ride it. No breakfast for either of us until after a couple of encounters with weightlessness.
Disney's MGM Tower of Terror
First stop was the Fast Pass distribution point, then on to ride "Tower". The line was short, so we were on the ride in about 15 minutes. After leaving, David could not wait for the 2 hours to pass so we could use the Fast Pass and go it again. We checked out a couple of other things such as the Back Lot Tour.
Time came for us to ride again, so we picked up another pair of Fast Passes before lining up to do it again. After this ride, we decided to find something to eat. By now, it was almost 1:00p and we were ready to move on. Still holding the Fast Passes for 1:20-2:20p, we found a young couple just arriving and gave them the Fast Passes. We weren't ready to ride it again today.
Seldom seen aerial view of the "Tower".
Aerosmith's Rock 'N Roller Coaster in the background.
The large building behind the guitar entrance, is the actual ride.
We drove over to the Magic Kingdom since the monorails do not make that trip. Finding a parking place, we rode the monorails from the Ticket & Transportation Center to the Magic Kingdom Station. From there, I took David on a quick tour of the park. We decided to go ahead and stand in the 60-minute line for Space Mountain. Again, as with Test Track, we were NEXT to enter the ride queue inside the building, not the ride itself, when they had "mechanical problems" and shut the ride down. We saw quite a few people leave the ride at once, via the entrance, indicating that they had not ridden and were leaving without doing so.
A Disney cast member told us that it might be an hour or so before the ride was back in operation and we were welcome to wait it out since we did have a pretty good spot - 1st in line. David and I talked about it and decided to see what would happen. Since it was getting late, this would be our last ride of the evening. We noticed the line inside, that we could see, was in fact moving and people were not coming out the entrance any longer, but they were coming out the exit not far away.
After a few minutes, David and I jumped the rope line and headed inside the ride. The line there was pretty short and one of the coasters was still running, even though they had all the work lights on. It's normally a "dark" ride and I had never seen it with lights on. So, I was really wanting to ride it that way, just to see what it was like. Once we got to the point where you are directed to one coaster or the other, we were sent to the side that apparently had been the one with the problem. Whatever it was, they were about to start using it again, and we were in line -- a very short line. An announcement was made that the work lights would be turned out in 5 minutes. I guess this was the cue to the workers that it was time to get off the maintenance platforms and clear the coaster before it got dark and dangerous to be climbing around. Our total wait time was about 30 minutes from the time we jumped the rope.
Within a few minutes, we were on the ride and hanging on for dear life. We thought about getting a Fast Pass, but decided we would just ride in on Thursday morning instead as it was getting late and the park would be closing soon. By leaving before the fireworks at Magic Kingdom, we could beat 15,000 to 20,000 people who where staying to watch.
As the day before, no breakfast before heading to the Magic Kingdom. We arrived about 8:15a to be held at the ropes in front of the monorail station. When the ropes were removed, we took the ferryboat to the Magic Kingdom. Once inside, we headed to Space Mountain for our opening ride of the day. The line was short and took us about 15 minutes to get on the ride. A lot less time than the night before.
After Space Mountain, we had a good breakfast at one of the restaurants along "Main Street". We took the steam railroad (of course) to the back side of the park where we picked up Fast Passes for Splash Mountain while we rode the Big Thunder Railroad coaster. The wait time was a bit longer, perhaps 20 minutes as about an hour had passed and the park was filling up with people. After this, we headed to Pirates of the Caribbean and walked right in, since we still had time before our tickets for Splash Mountain were valid. Again the line was almost "your next" to step into the boats.
After walking around some, we still had time and decided to ride The Haunted Mansion. According to the sign, the wait time was about 13 minutes (the typical "time" for a ride with this theme). We found this to be stretching it a bit, of course, as we waited no more than 7 or 8 minutes before we entered the first room.
Now, it was time for Splash Mountain. With the Fast Pass in hand, we walked briskly along a line that was 90 minutes long. Some 1,000 people were standing there, waiting for US to go by them and ride before they could. It had been a couple of hours since we got the Fast Passes and look what all we had done in the mean time. Do you get the idea that an early arrival at Disney will allow you much more time to ride the rides and see the shows without waiting forever. My advice is to arrive before the scheduled opening time, usually 9:00a (except Animal Kingdom which is 8:00a) and know where you are going before you ever get there.
It was now about 1:00p and we decided to move up our shopping trip to the Outlet Mall to this afternoon instead of Friday morning. We first stopped at the Nike Outlet Store near our motel to check stock and prices before heading up International Drive to the Beltz Mall.
Later, at Beltz, I dropped David off at the Nike store while I went two mall annexes about a block or so away to pick up an item I had seen on my previous trip, but did not buy. I got back to Nike and David was still checking out shoes. After not finding his size in the style he wanted, we gave up on shoes and went looking for jeans. At one store, David tried on several pair, not finding just that perfect look he wanted. At the second store, he found the right pair in just a few minutes.
Realizing that we wanted to go to the Atlantic beach and watch the Shuttle Discovery launch, we headed East on the Bee Line Expressway as fast as we could -- which was about 40 MPH due to bumper-to-bumper traffic. It seemed like it took hours to make the 40-something miles to Cocoa Beach.
I had remembered the launch being at 5:28p, so we found a spot where we could pull over and hopefully see something up in the sky. It was overcast and I told David that if they didn't have a certain range of visibility, they would not launch. We waited for 5 minutes or so and then headed further West as we heard on a network news program at 5:30p that it's launch was for 5:38p. David said he thought that was what he saw on TV earlier in the morning.
Finding a spot where 8 or 10 cars were pulled off, we joined the group. After the 5:38p time, plus about 10 minutes, passed, we tried to find out from somewhere what the status was. Nobody could find out anything on either an AM or FM station in the area. Finally, I called KATV, Channel 7 in Little Rock to see if they could tell me something. The girl that answered the newsroom phone did not know me, so she was a bit confused why someone in Florida was calling Arkansas to find out about the Shuttle launch.
She did check the "wire" and found that it had been scrubbed just before the scheduled lift-off time. Further reading, she found that it was scheduled for 5:15p on Friday. A time that we would be at the airport, probably in our seats, waiting for the plane to take us home. She finally understood that I was from Russellville and KATV's phone number was in my speed dial.
We left the roadside viewing area and found a McDonald's. We chowed down as we had not really had much to eat since a big breakfast at Disney. The drive home was much as the one going East -- long and very slow. If we got to 20 MPH we felt like we were flying. So, when I got to the "Greenway", I exited the Bee Line and headed South to our motel on 192. Once we left the Bee Line, we were able to drive at the maximum speed, and then some. I don't know what the problem was on the Bee Line, unless it was everybody heading to the coast to watch the "scrubbed" launch and then those same folks going back to the Orlando area.
Friday morning, we slept late. Made another shopping trip to a gift shop and the Nike Outlet near the motel. David picked up some post cards to mail to Germany, while I picked up a couple of shirts for a friend and a couple for myself. A late breakfast, or early lunch at Denny's was to keep us from starving as the day steadily progressed downhill.
We had a 12 Noon checkout time from the motel, so having done all of our shopping and everything else we wanted, we headed to the Orlando airport. We arrived around 1:00p, some 4½ hours before scheduled departure time of our flight to Atlanta. As luck would have it, the gate was changed, but not far, after we had settled in for the wait. About an hour before our flight was scheduled to leave, we noticed a rather large gathering of passengers at the Delta information desk just across from us. It appears that not, one, but TWO Atlanta-bound flights had been cancelled, or delayed. This group was from a 4:10p scheduled departure that was now going to leave at 6:30p, much to late for many outbound travelers headed to Europe to make connections. They were all trying to get on the 5:35p departure.
As soon as I checked us in, they announced that Delta was asking people with flexible travel plans to give up their seats. The perfect opportunity to make some more travel money. There was a hitch this time. The next flight, just 20 minutes later would not receive any vouchers because it would still connect with the flight to Little Rock that we were already booked on, and besides it was all ready full with those bumped from the two previous flights.
So, we had three choices. #1 was to keep what we had. #2 was to take a flight about 9:30p to arrive in Little Rock at midnight. This would garner us $300 each for the change and a meal, even though the ticket agent said it was $200 at first. #3 was what sounded the best. Overnight at the Hyatt and take a flight on Saturday. That would pay us the maximum of $750 each, meals and room.
There were a couple of problems with #2. We had already been at the airport for 4½ hours and now they wanted to pay us just $300 for 4 MORE. We nixed that thought and opted for the overnight choice. Delta was glad to make the arrangements and hand over the vouchers. There were a couple of problems with this as well. Miss Kitty was spending a quiet week at the Veterinarian's office. Unless we left Orlando at 6:00a, we could not get to Russellville before the office closed at noon to pick her up. And, David ask about our luggage. When I checked with the agent, they said there was no way they could get our luggage off the plane since the departure was so soon.
We both could have used the travel vouchers, but the other problems were bigger than the money -- at least at this time. Had it have been just me, I might have taken the overnighter, cash, meals and planned a future travel adventure, but I think David was beginning to tire of all the going we had been doing and was ready to just go home. And, to tell the truth, so was I, but the money was sure talking pretty loud.
We finally left Orlando for Atlanta where the odyssey continued.
Our boarding passes said we would leave out of E10, but when we checked the Departure Monitors, it had been changed to E16. So far everything looked good. We saw lots of Army and Navy men, looking fresh out of boot camp, one school or another. They were all heading home for their leave before reporting to their first duty stations. I remember my days, but they all look so YOUNG now. Did I look that young back in 1965? I guess I did. Some of them looked so confused, trying to get where they needed to be. On our plane to Little Rock are about 10 Army guys, where they are from, I don't have a clue.
Racked with delays of one type or another, we were told that our 8:20p departure would be delayed because the "cabin crew" was late leaving their previous stop. They should be on the ground by 8:45p and that would allow us to leave about 9:10p. Before we left, we heard announcements from other gates, in the area, about delays. The most common was concerning cabin crews that were on delayed or cancelled INCOMING flights to Atlanta. This left the outbound flights without the required stewards and stewardesses -- thus no departures were possible. Overall, I guess I heard of 3 or 4 other flights that were delayed, not counting the 2 that involved our flight.
Guess what? 9:10p came and went while we sat at the gate. Finally about 9:45p we began loading and were off the ground by 10:00p. But, we were on the way home. Not so fast! Over Memphis, the weather to the West was still holding together from earlier thunderstorms that came out of Oklahoma. As they passed the Russellville area, several Severe Thunderstorm Warnings were posted. When I could use my cell phone, my weather service alerts came in, so I knew that things were not the greatest where we wanted to go.
After about an hour of doing "figure 8's" South of Memphis, we finally were told that we would be landing in Memphis to take on more fuel and see if the storm would break up enough for us to get around it and land in Little Rock. At our cruising altitude, the storms were pretty much below us, but many had built up towering cloud structures you could see with all the flashes of lightening. It appeared to be a pretty solid line to the West. I could see Mars, in the Southern sky, so I had some idea of our direction of flight as we circled Memphis. I saw 4 or 5 planes, that appeared to be in the same holding pattern as we were, before landing.
The overnight stay, even without a change of clothes, was beginning to sound better all the time. It's now midnight (Central Time, body clock time of 1:00a) and we are being refueled somewhere on the tarmac at Memphis. We were told that we are actually parked on an "active taxiway" and therefore nobody can get off the plane to stretch their legs. It seems that all the gates are in use here at Memphis tonight.
Another factor that the bulk of the passengers aren't aware of is that Memphis is the nationwide (and worldwide) hub for Federal Express (FedEx). Between the hours of midnight and 2:00a, over 150 FedEx flights will land to unload their cargo. Then about 4:00a, they begin departing. We had to work our way in and out of this mess.
At 12:01a, we were told that we were refueled and ready to depart and we were placed #1 for departure. Still, we don't know about the weather ahead. Our climb-out seemed rather quick and when I looked out the window, I knew why. We were at tree-top level and doing 500 MPH. I guessed we were somewhere between 10,000 and 14,000 feet. I found out we were actually at 16,000 all of the way from Memphis to Little Rock. Quite a difference from the 31,000 to 37,000 feet where we would normally be cruising. The weather was pretty heavy ABOVE our flight level. The lightening was something to watch. Even light rain looked like rifle tracer bullets or anti-aircraft tracers as the navigation strobes of the plane lit up the night air for an instant with each flash.
Our flight to Little Rock was low, fast and completed about 12:45a. Once off the plane -- FINALLY -- everybody headed to baggage claim. This was a fiasco from start to finish. Apparently, there was only one or two baggage handlers on duty at this late hour and a couple of other delayed, or scheduled, arrivals to compound the problem. We did not receive our luggage until almost 1:30a and there were quite a few passengers still waiting for theirs to arrive when we left the terminal for the parking deck.
According to the parking deck receipt, we left the lot at 1:40a. With the rain, most highway marking disappeared on the older sections of I-40. This kept speeds down to 45-50 MPH because of all the construction. When the travel lanes were reduced to concrete barricades on one side, cones or barrels on the other, everybody slowed down. Once we left construction areas and were on the new sections of Interstate, the markings were very visible and traffic flowed at, or above, the speed limit.
We arrived home about 3:15a and I went directly to bed. David showered, wrote some post cards and watched some television. Seems he had slept from Orlando to Atlanta, Atlanta to Memphis, Memphis to Little Rock and Little Rock to Russellville. He got about 5 or 6 hours of sleep, while I did not.
I was up about 8:00a by the insistent pacing of "Peanut" across my body and then her whiskers in my face. About 9:00a, I went to the clinic and picked up Miss Kitty. We were all at home. I began the process of unpacking and updating my checking account to try to keep things in balance with the bank after a week of vacation. David awoke about 11:30a HUNGRY. Can you imagine that? We went to town, ate and hit the grocery store before returning home. I was hit by a "nap attack" on the couch, while David seemed to have the same problem with his bed. However, he did not sleep much. Instead, he finished the post cards and watched some sports on TV.
School is just a week away for David now but I have to return to work on Monday. Monday, we'll also get him set up with a checking account and stop by the school to pick up his schedule and locker. In the coming weeks, we have a "required" meeting for the Exchange Students and the regional director as well as a get-together for all the host families in Springdale, AR. David will be able to see some of the friends he met at the 2-week "Language Camp" at Bryant College near Boston. I guess that will be our next outing.
