 09:50:43 For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Fantasyland Hotel at the West Edmonton Mall let's just have a quick orientation tour by riding the elevator up and down and stopping at all the floors. This is the Roman Floor. The theme rooms on this floor are decorated with a Roman theme.  09:51:25 This is the Hollywood floor. The theme rooms here are decorated in a Hollywood style, which is actually not really that interesting. This is actually the most interesting part, right here by the elevators.  09:51:51 This floor and the one below it are the Polynesian rooms. We are staying in one of these rooms tonight. Not only are there Polynesian rooms, but there are also African rooms on this floor that are actually converted Polynesian rooms because the Africa theme wasn't one of the original themes when they built the hotel.  09:52:31 This is the truck floor. There are truck rooms on this floor, I guess. I think there's also Eskimo Rooms on this floor too, as well as some other miscellaneous themes that they added later when they realised that people didn't like truck rooms that much. And the rest of the floors we visit aren't very exciting so I didn't take pictures of them. Well, actually I DID take pictures of them, but they were so boring that I am not even bothering to show them, so that should tell you something since I show EVERY picture I take, usually. Yada yada... there are some train rooms and Victorian coach rooms.... who cares? Let's go out to the mall!  10:11:49 The pirate ship is still in the same place that it was last night. The West Edmonton Mall and Fantasyland Hotel are both kind of funny in that if you've been a regular visitor here long enough you've seen the mall start off as a normal mall, then get bigger and bigger and you can things that (for example) used to be giant bird cages that are now Body Shop stores, or stuff like that. What I mean is that you just kind of see how the mall developed along the way and what things worked out and what things did not. Kind of like the Truck Room floor of the hotel, which they later realised that they didn't need a whole floor of truck rooms so they converted some of them to other themes. What's my point? Well, this pirate ship is my point. From the very first opening of Phase IV (this part of the mall we see now) I don't think they ever had any idea what the point of this pirate ship was. I mean, you can't go on it or anything. I always got the feeling that they had some grand idea for it originally but then that got lost on the way and now it just sits there.  10:13:55 And this would be Phase V of West Edmonton Mall... the World Water Park. It's not open yet, but you can see that the wave pool is sort of working, because there are waves rolling into "shore". (Notice at the far right that there is a bungee jump tower over the water.)  10:14:11 Here's a view of some of the slides in the World Water Park. Notice the nearly vertical red slide... we'll come back to that in a couple days.  10:14:53 For many years now there has been this aquamassage place located here at this corner. I am not sure how it survives, however, since I have never seen anyone actually get a aquamassage.  10:18:14 Which brings us to our first stop of the day... the Build-a-Bear Workshop where my sister is going to pay for Maxi to build a stuffed moose doll.  10:20:36 For those unfamiliar with this, despite my short explanation last year, I shall now walk you through the process. Step 1: Pick Bear Or in this case Moose. And don't let the already stuffed examples on the top fool you... they come completely unstuffed like a dead animal skin, for lack of a less disturbing analogy.  10:21:22 Step 2: Stuff Bear I am not sure why they require such an elaborate machine to do this, but maybe it's just for show.  10:22:01 A crucial part of step two is to put a heart inside the bear... yada yada, make a wish, put the heart in. But unfortunately only the trained Build-a-Bear professionals get to operate the elaborate stuffing machine.  10:25:28 Step 3: Wash Bear Well, it's more like dry-cleaning since there's no water involved. You basically blow all the excess stuff off the moose at this point.  10:27:09 Step 4: Dress Bear As you can see, the moose is now stuffed, washed and ready to go, except that he's completely naked.  10:28:22 And here's the utter genius of this store... all the bears (and mooses and unicorns and bunnies and cats and dogs and whatever else other animals they have for stuffing) are all the same size, and therefore they all take the same clothing. In other words the same cowboy boots (sandals, hiking boots, ballet slippers, whatever) that fit onto one of the many bears available, will also fit on a moose or rabbit or whatever else.  10:28:56 The same interchangeability between species of stuffed animal applies to clothing and any other accessories as well, of course.  10:29:46 We were hoping for a Mountie outfit, but I guess they don't have that one anymore.  10:49:35 Step 5: Name Bear And finally, once the bear is all dressed up and ready to go you need to enter some information and get a birth certificate for your new little friend. Actually, I guess there's also Step 6: Pay for Bear, but that step isn't much fun. For those among us who think that this Build-a-Bear thing is a pretty great idea and are sad because they don't have them in Holland I should probably mention that as of 14 October 2005 there is a Build-a-Bear Workshop in The Netherlands at the Amstelveen shopping centre.  11:08:23 I bet you thought I was going to show you what the moose looked like once he was dressed and tell you his name. Instead, we're off to lunch. Arby's has a special of two Bacon Cheddar sandwiches for $5. Who can resist that?!??  11:12:31 But two Bacon Cheddar sandwiches isn't enough. And so I decide to get some pizza as well. And as I've said before... this place right here in the background has the best pizza in the world. Who would have thought that the West Edmonton Mall Phase IV Food Court would have a place with the world's best pizza? Please also notice that finally I am consistently remembering to focus properly when taking photos where I want the foreground in focus and the background out of focus.  11:20:30 A common after-eating stop for many people is the pet store just around the corner from the Food Court. Unlike more ethical pet stores this one has no problem keeping puppies and kittens for sale on the premises. And as much as I don't like that the puppies are in cages and stuff, I still like that they do it because: a) I like looking at them, and b) I remember when I wanted to buy a dog a couple times in my life that it was a gigantic pain because there was no store to go look at them and buy them in. Instead I had to drive way out into the boondocks (or more recently take a train to the boondocks, and THEN get the farmer to pick us up in his car to drive even further into the boondocks) to look at the puppies.  11:20:49  11:20:57 Another advantage of this pet store is that once you spot a puppy you really like, but which costs a zillion dollars, there is also approved financing with low monthly payments. So it makes it easier for you to take home a new little buddy. Some of the more cynical among us might see this as akin to putting cash machines into casinos, but I think it's just a nice thing to do. I mean, it sounds stupid to get approved financing on a puppy, but some puppies are expensive and for many people if they can't get one for the low low price of only $24,85/month, then they won't get one at all. Or worse yet they'll get some crappy mutt for free from the newspaper instead because it's cheaper. This is why the world is full of ugly weird dogs, by the way... because people can't be bothered to spend a bit of money on their pet. I mean, take Flat Eric for example. He was something like 500 Guilders (or was it 800?!?) but look how well he turned out. (Then again... Homer was 800 Guilders, ordered over the phone with Free Delivery from Belgium, and he didn't turn out that good...)  11:21:17  11:22:39 And then there are the cats. But who would buy a cat? Just go get one for free out behind the Chinese food place.  11:22:59  11:24:46  11:25:54 I've been trying to remember what this Mini-Golf place used to be when the mall first opened, but for the life of me I can't remember. But it was another one of those ideas where it didn't really work out so they built a Mini-Golf place instead.  11:34:29 How often do you see a penguin playing Mini-Golf?  11:47:46 Ahhhh.... Isn't Canada wonderful? Putting smokers in their rightful place on the opposite side of the parking lot.  11:58:30 I probably say this every time I take a picture of this bridge, but I will always remember coming to the West Edmonton Mall when the Edmonton Oilers (the local hockey team) were signing autographs at various locations throughout the mall and Wayne Gretzky had his table on this bridge with a gigantic queue of people waiting to get his autograph.  12:29:15 It was always a dream of mine to play hockey here in the West Edmonton Mall ice rink. I think maybe that was more for the purposes of picking up chicks, but it would still be kind of cool.  12:39:48 Now here's a view I've never had of the mall before and that one only gets when they get stuck with a smoker. This is the OUTSIDE of the mall. Can you believe it? There's actually a world OUTSIDE the mall! And look at what a nice clear day it is too. In the distance off to the left you can see the Fantasyland Hotel lurking behind the glass domed ceiling of the World Water Park. There is one advantage to going outside, I realise. You can actually save a bit of walking by cutting across the parking lot to various wings of the mall.  12:41:18 This is the Dollar Kingdom where everything is a "$1 or more". I'm not sure if they realise it, but most stores have stuff that is priced at "$1 or more".  13:00:24 If the British Import Shop and the Shops of Ireland shop can exist alongside each other peacefully, then why can't we all do the same here in this one human race of ours?  14:42:15 Yah, let's go look at puppies again!  14:51:54 Or lunch.... we can also get some lunch too, while we're at it. Earlier in this trip I painfully neglected to take a photo of lunch at the Joey's Only Seafood in Medicine Hat. Fortunately there is a Joey's Only here at "West Ed" as well, so you can see how great their fish and chips are. Perhaps not as good as Barb's Fish and Chips in Victoria, if you can remember back that far, but almost as good. And what goes better with Fish and Chips than a super bacon-cheese hot dog from Orange Julius?  15:34:41 So, it's now time to take a bit of a break and check into our new room at the Fantasyland Hotel. Tonight we stay in the Polynesian Room, which is my favourite theme room.  15:35:05 And why is the Polynesian Room my favourite theme room? It's the waterfall hottub! How cool is that?  15:36:38 The Polynesian Room has a nice view out across the World Water Park, which is not the nicest view, but as you can see there ain't much to see around here anyway.  16:43:51 So, back out in the mall once again we visit the Galaxyland amusement park. This is the killer roller-coaster that killed six people back in the 1980s. I think I covered all of that last year, so check last year if you really care. Check out this picture... you can see the rollercoaster train thing coming down on one of the ramps behind the closest loop.  16:44:10 And in this picture you can see the rollercoaster thundering through one of the loops. I should probably observe that this rollercoaster is the scariest thing I've ever seen rollercoaster-wise. It's the fact that it is indoors, I think, which just makes the noise that much louder and scarier. I should also consider that back in the 80s when the train flew off the track and killed people that there was at least one by-stander in the fatalities. Maybe not such a good idea to stand around here?  16:49:38  16:49:41 What are these kinds of rides called where they shoot you up really fast and then let you drop?  16:50:23 Twenty years ago I might have got a pretty scary picture from this angle had I been here on the right day. I have to admit that I am actually scared to stand in that walkway where the rollercoaster loops around.  16:53:39 Hey! This is new! A rock-climbing wall! And if you climb up the advanced side all the way to the top you can grab the $50 bill that is there and keep it.  16:55:36 I am always fascinated by these jumping fountains, just in case you thought that this was just a wider view of the rest of Galaxyland.  18:30:54 Another thing that has changed here at West Edmonton Mall since they first opened is this particular wing, known as Bourbon Street (after the famous street of same name in New Orleans). Unfortunately this change is not for the better since it used to be really dark and groovy in here, with stars on the ceiling and stuff like that. I guess they thought that was too glum and made it all lit up and bright. I don't know... I think it was better the other way.  19:01:01 This is Roasty Jacks Comfort Food. What is "comfort food", you ask? We'll find out later.... but man it is SOOOO great!!!  19:05:04 More puppies. Do you get the feeling that we're just kind of walking in circles? Well, actually London Drugs is next door to the puppy place and I had to go there a few times today, first to buy some stuff, then on the last puppy picture set to drop off my waterproof camera, and now, finally, to pick up the pictures from the waterproof camera.  19:05:35 Cats can be cute for about four months until they grow up to be lazy arrogant pricks.  19:06:47  19:07:19  19:11:32 Is it just me or is it weird to dress up your dog for Halloween?  19:35:21 Ok... remember the comfort food? Well this is it. Roast beef, Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Vegetables. All of it fresh made daily. How awesome is that?  20:31:37 And where better to enjoy a meal of Roast Beef and Mashed Potatoes with Gravy than back in the hotel room by the side of the faux volcanic waterfall pool?  20:31:51 I call this photo "Moon Over West Edmonton Mall". And with that we reach the end of another day in Canada. Today's Travel Information Build-a-Bear Workshop www.buildabear.com Joey's Only Seafood www.joeysseafood.com Orange Julius www.orangejulius.com West Edmonton Mall www.westedmall.com Fantasyland Hotel www.fantasylandhotel.com 1-800-737-3783 / (780) 444-3000 Polynesian Room $269 
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