The Adventure Starts to Stand Around...

The main lobby that we’d seen primarily existed to hold three things: the Burlington Zephyr (a train, a huge real train!), the gift shop and the ticket counter. Since we already had tickets for the museum, we didn’t need to stand in any of these lines. We could line up for the entrance to the museum proper, an entrance that was two floors up. So, we dropped two floors exiting the parking structure and climbed them back up again to get inside. Weird but, what are you going to do?

After riding the elevator up, we lined up briefly to have our tickets looked at to prove we’d paid. To prove we’d been checked, one employee ripped my printed ticket ever so slightly. I thought this weird, especially since I then had to stop at a nearby desk to have it date stamped. I think this was due to our entry into the special exhibit but the reasons weren’t explained and it just seemed confused. Luckily the process didn’t take long and we were finally inside!

We headed up yet another level and were in the large rotunda area on the main floor. It was decorated with Christmas trees of the world and was all bright and shiny. As we wandered into the centre of the area the Star Wars exhibit quickly came into view on the right. To our left was the transportation area with another real train, model trains and real planes hanging from the ceiling. This was also the location of the ‘Millennium Falcon’ ride. We lined up for this. I quickly decided that sitting for the better part of three hours and then standing for a prolonged period of time was not a good choice. Luckily I was asked to check on the length of the line and any cost associated with the ride so I got to take a little stroll. As it turns out, the ride was free but we were lining up to get tickets for the ride, not actually ride it. We scheduled our trip for 17:00, far later than we expected to stay but, as we didn’t know how long it would take us to go through the exhibit, we scheduled it to give us as much time as possible.

Finally we were freed from the lines and only had to deal with the crowds. The transportation exhibit was investigated before heading through Enterprise, ToyMaker 3000 and Petroleum Planet. Finally freed of all the sitting and standing, the children started to run wild. I couldn’t blame them really as I wanted to stretch my legs a bit as well but this meant we really didn’t look at anything. We looked and chased and played a bit.

Exiting Petroleum Planet we passed the Coal Mine ride. The boys were instantly interested. Even after a visit to Yesterday’s Main Street they were interested in the Coal Mine. The announced wait for the Coal Mine was a half-hour. This didn’t dismiss their interest. While it felt like we’d barely started walking, we were apparently ready to line up again.

Another half-hour or so of waiting was not easy on the children. They grew itchy. Kara especially grew bored by this standing around. Once we reached the ride, she was well and truly bored and wanted to play. None of us had ever been on the Coal Mine ride before so we no clue what to expect. As it turns out, it was less of a ride than a guided tour of an exhibit with some riding involved. Keeping Kara quiet proved impossible and keeping her contained slightly less impossible. Somehow, between us, she managed to entertain herself and stay somewhat non-disruptive.

The ride exited down on the Ground Floor, right by the Food Court. 13:00: time for lunch.

Unfortunately, we were not the only ones with that idea.