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Sue Holland -- October 2001 -- Walt Disney World (WL/OKWR/Offsite) / Disney Cruise TripNote: As Sue
spent a great deal of time at Pleasure Island and in other adult venues, Cast of Characters:
Guest Stars:
Dates: October 26 - November 10, 2001 Travel Method: Personal car & cruise ship Resort(s): Hampton Inn Lake Buena Vista (1nt), Wilderness Lodge (1nt), Old Key West (5nts), Radisson Resort at the Port (1nt), Disney Magic (7nts) Introduction: This trip started out as a 2-week trip to WDW to enjoy the Food & Wine Festival, the gorgeous fall weather, and many nights at the Comedy Warehouse. Several things happened to change that plan (as is typical with me, it seems). First, in February my favorite Comedy Warehouse actor was dropped from the cast - a major blow for him and his many fans (thankfully he is very happy in his current role, and hopefully will survive the latest cuts). I toyed with the idea of shortening the trip (thoroughly ticked off at Comedy Warehouse entertainment management) and soon DVC announced a *sale* on the cruise for DVC members again this fall. While the deal was not as good as last year, it was good enough to make me call Sheila and see if she was interested in cruising again. Now, I try to not have any friends who are stupid, so it was no surprise when Sheila responded with a YES!! I called DVC to drop the 2nd week of my OKW reservation and booked a verandah stateroom for the cruise. Boy, if Larry in Scotland thought I was the "DVC Elite" before, he will be really impressed now that I am becoming the "Hoity Toity DVC Elite" (the hoity toity I learned from fellow DVC cruisers Rich/Deb and Darla). Ok, so now I had 7 nights at OKW and 7 nights on the cruise. How did that change to a never-ending series of one-night stands culminating in a cruise? LOL, I'll explain - for those with nothing more interesting to do with their time <g>. Actually, I think it started as 6 nights at OKW - but then Chris wrote to see if I could come up a day earlier and meet her for the first time. She & Darla were planning a Food & Wine weekend, so I decided to book that first Saturday night (27th) at OKW. She's always struck me as a really fun person - in a funny, tasteless & perverted way <g>....and she assures me her mom is just as much fun, so I could not pass up the chance to meet them! Besides, Darla and I like to get together and compare DVC contracts (she's ahead of me) <g>. Next, Kathy got back into circulation after taking care of some mobility issues, and we started planning some trips. It turns out she had booked OKW starting Sunday (28th) and was thinking of coming up on the 27th, so I offered to stay with her that Saturday in a non-DVC resort. We were originally booked into All Star something-or-other (the motivation was clear - keep it CHEAP, lol), but after the nightmares there in late September, we rebooked ourselves into the Wilderness Lodge. Cheap is good, but not when the cost is a frustrating vacation! Even though we would only be there 1 night, and really only to sleep, it was worth it to move to someplace decent! The WL works out fine for me - I have never stayed there and although I'm booked into the Villas at WL for Thanksgiving, I figured I would never stay at the original resort. Neither location is convenient - AS vs. WL, but at least we will be in more pleasant surroundings and not be subjected to 6,000 rooms of guests entering through a single security gate! The night before the cruise Sheila & I decided to stay at the Radisson near the cruise terminal. I had read good things about this place, and except for giving up a night at the Comedy Warehouse, it sounded nice to be able to wake up and see the ship - then leisurely make our way to board without having the boring drive from WDW. We got a rate we were happy with - I think $129 plus tax for a 1-bedroom suite. The bedroom has 2 king beds, so it must be pretty big, and we get to leave both cars in the Radisson parking lot rather than paying $56 each at the cruise parking lot. Oh yes, I saved those Friday night DVC points as well! Finally, about a week or so ago I decided to add Friday night (26th). I was going to be at Leesa's house that night, to drop off my computer, but we ended up doing the computer stuff the weekend of 10/12 & 10/13. It worked to our advantage, as we went to Comedy Warehouse that Friday night and got to spend time with Larry & Jill from Scotland, my friends Tom & Leanne, and we even got Nancy out from the kitchen for a while! Leesa is out of town this weekend, but said I could still use her place to stay. I appreciate her offer, but decided to pay for a room closer to WDW....preferably close to Comedy Warehouse! A month ago my first instinct would have been to call CRO and check on a $49 rate at All Stars, since I'd be arriving after work and would only be in the room a few hours to sleep. However, there was NO WAY I was staying there again, especially arriving late on a Friday!! No thank you <g>. I had stayed at a new Hampton Inn in Lake Buena Vista a couple of years ago on business, and it was very nice - and just behind Crossroads. I checked their website and saw a $44.10 rate with free local calls (good for internet access), free continental breakfast, and a fridge/coffee maker. Bingo - I booked it online that night. Later, I decided to just take that day off from work (need to use some vacation time to reduce what I will lose this year) but I still prefer the Hampton Inn rather than All Stars at this point. While the moving around might be a pain, it probably won't be as big of a pain as figuring out how to pack for this epic adventure has been <g>! This time of year it can be cool at night, so just a WDW trip alone would require more clothing than usual. Add the cruise, and I need a whole different type of clothing for nights (both Sheila and I do not subscribe to the "casual is better" mentality and will dress up every night....formal wear on formal nights, but "dressy" on the others. We also do not change into our grungy clothes after dinner, like so many do <g>. Actually, for the cruise I think we wear swimsuits and evening clothes - along with just a few outfits for day. I'll be planning what goes into what suitcase, and will leave some stuff behind when we get on the ship - no point bringing along jeans & stuff, when they will not be worn on the ship. All the recently announced cutbacks and closures in WDW is somewhat concerning. I fear bigger than normal crowds with fewer places for people to spread out to. Last year I felt World Showcase was too crowded in the afternoon & evening, and with Future World closing at 7 it will probably be even worse this year. However, I will be at Comedy Warehouse, so except for Saturday it will not matter for me. I never bothered with the shows and other stuff that was cut, but I wonder if that will make other areas seem busier - I guess time will tell. Some highlights of the trip include seeing a wide variety of friends this time. It goes without saying - having Kathy there at the same time is a major plus :-) I'm looking forward to seeing Darla again (I think last time was our week in Hilton Head in April) and also meeting Chris & her mom! Adie & Lisa are people I've met before and liked instantly (despite that crack habit Adie is rumored to have <g>) and since they've become big Comedy Warehouse fans we will be meeting there to see some shows on the night they arrive (which happens to be my last night). I got an email from the Ft Pierce family, mentioned in several previous trip reports, wondering if I would be at PI on Halloween. I think the last time I saw them was last Halloween - they have not been up much this year at all. Sadly, Nancy is working a strange schedule and then going out of town during my trip, so I'll only get to see her briefly. Leesa is also out of town for part of my trip, but should be around after the weekend. Kim should pop up at Comedy Warehouse some night, but her last email did not specify which one. Kathy & I are going to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party on Sunday night. This will be the first time for both of us - it was not something I had thought about originally, but given all the cuts lately who knows if they will be having it next year! Also, if crowds are down this could be the best year to do it - at least that's what we both were thinking. Lastly, this happens to be a particularly bad time for me to be away from work, unfortunately. I work for the State of Florida, which is having a major financial crisis right now (please take your trips here - we need your tax dollars!!) and the Legislature is in the middle of a special session called to balance the budget (translation = cut the hell out of the budget). Since I'm the finance & accounting director at my location, they are very concerned about me being gone - and if there had been any way to predict the sucky economy, terrorist attacks, etc 11 months ago when I booked this trip I would have selected different dates. There was no way to know, however, so I will stay in touch with the office via cell phone and email in order to minimize my absence and my fellow administrators' risk of a heart attack. Thank goodness I have good people working for me, or else I probably would not be writing this report! Whew - If you are still with me, I admire your fortitude <g>. It's almost finished for now - just the plans left to write <g>. The plans so far:
Day 1 - Friday, October 26th 2001 Who: Sue, 42, DVC Member Darla, Chris & Mom, Nancy Where: Hampton Inn Lake Buena Vista Plan: Check In Hampton Inn, meet Darla at BW, meet Chris/mom, Comedy Warehouse Actual: I left the house at 7:20 and drove through some rain. A cold front was passing through, so although it was very warm at home, when I stopped for gas in Lakeland I immediately broke out in goose bumps from head to toe! YIKES - it was freezing, and windy up here! I quickly ran to the trunk and grabbed a light jacket out of my suitcase, pumped my gas and then sat in the warm car to check in at work. After the call I continued driving and went to the Premium Outlets to check out the Character Premiere store. They had a bunch of good stuff, and I had hoped to find things to finish up my Christmas shopping, but did not see anything for anyone except me (for a change). I got a gray t-shirt with producer Mickey embroidered on the front from MGM for 1/2 price. I also bought a really pretty sweatshirt from Disney's California Adventure ($59 down to $19.99). Normally I would not buy something from somewhere I had not been, but it was so soft and warm feeling I figured it might come in handy today! Besides, I will bring it when I do take my next trip to Disneyland! Character Premiere was the only store I was interested in, so I drove to the Hampton Inn Lake Buena Vista to check in. The hotel is located behind Crossroads, and was great on my previous visit (a business trip). My room was not ready, but the clerk offered me one that was ready now. Accepting it meant I gave up my microwave & refrigerator, but I really do not need them anyway - especially for 1 night! I moved a small amount of my stuff into the room and got online to check my mail before heading to WDW. I drove to the Boardwalk, and was not asked for any sort of id at the security gate. Honestly, showing id does absolutely nothing except slow things down <g>...if I wanted to commit some horrific act of terror, showing my id would not scare me away. I told the guard I was checking in, which is not a complete lie - Darla has me registered in her room, even though I will not be sleeping there. I used the side entrance and cut through the BW to get to the path to MGM. They have scaffolding up around the rooms facing the quiet pool, and more scaffolding on the rooms facing the front entrance on the Inn side. At MGM the guard barely glanced at my backpack and did not look in my camera bag at all. As I moved forward to the turnstiles, a foreign-speaking woman cut in front of me, skipping the security guy. She had a large backpack on her back, and a young girl with her - but the security cm did not say anything to her. The turnstile pass reader was not working very well - each of the 3 people ahead of me had trouble, as did everyone at the next turnstile (one cm was rushing back & forth between the 2, but it created a backlog due to the delay), and when I put my pass in it said "access denied". We tried again, and the cm asked for id then pushed a button to let me in. Not sure what the problem was, as my pass worked fine later in the day. The park was quite busy....nothing like I had been led to believe from reading on the internet. October typically is a busy month, and today looked like a typical busy day - not mobbed, but definitely crowded. The tip board had waits of 20-30 minutes for everything (did not notice TOT or RnR). I do not generally wait 20 minutes for any ride or attraction, so today I just wandered around for a while and did not *do* anything. I browsed the shops on the way out, and as I was ready to leave I spotted an ex co-worker (Terry) and his girlfriend across the street. They saw me first, and said they were just talking about how maybe they would see me up here, lol, and then they saw me. We chatted for a little while, then I headed back to the BW using the walking path again. At BW, I stopped in the DVC office to see if my guide was still employed. I had read on the internet somewhere that he had left, but I had not called to find out for sure. The cm entered my name into the computer, then called to check on Randy - and confirmed that he IS still employed, and was at Celebration today. So much for believing everything you read <g>. The cm was looking at the computer screen, then paused to look at me and said "You've got 900 points". I laughed, and said "I know". He said "You really like to vacation!" - but then, don't we all?? He was a nice guy; we chatted for a couple of minutes and then I continued on my way. Darla was due anytime in the next hour, so I sat on the veranda in a big rocking chair and started to update my notes. Within 5 minutes my beeper went off - Darla was checking in. I went inside, and there she was - surprised to see me so quickly, lol! Her room was not ready, so we headed back out to the veranda and called Chris - who was pulling up to valet parking at that moment! We went inside to meet them - my first time to meet Chris! She had her mom Marilyn (dznygram) and her friend Carol with her - they had just come back from the Premium Outlets. Marilyn went to her studio for a while - we could see her balcony from the veranda, and she had decorated it for Halloween! Carol happens to live in my home town, and mentioned the name of one of her neighbors, who turned out to be a girl I went to high school with - small world! It was great meeting Chris - she's as much fun in person as she is in email <g>! We hung out there on the veranda for an hour or so I guess - enjoying the beautiful day (it was not freezing any longer, lol). They were craving hot dogs and wanted to eat at ESPN so I left them there and continued to Epcot for Food & Wine. It was 2:15 by now, and I wanted to spend some time at the festival before going to PI tonight. At the International Gateway entrance I stopped at Guest Services to inquire about the special deal for Florida resident AP and PAP holders. If you buy or renew one of those passes & activate it by 12/30/01 you get an extra 100 days for free. My PAP expires next July, so what they did was credit me for the unused portion of my current PAP and then sold me a new PAP at the renewal rate with the DC discount - so it cost me about $94 and now my pass expires in Feb 2003 rather than July 2002. I asked about my son Chris - I bought an AP voucher for him a while ago when there was some *deal* going on, and I can turn that in to get the 100 extra days when we arrive on 12/29/01 :-) I will upgrade it to a PAP at that time, also. With the pass taken care of, I entered Epcot and started walking towards France. I did notice fewer Food & Wine stands than last year, which is a shame. There are a few countries that are combined into a single stand, and while some stands had very long lines (too long for me) others had no wait at all. It was not as mobbed as last year, but it was still early. It was definitely busy, and I noticed entertainment going on in just about every country. Honestly, I did not see any signs of cutbacks (besides the 10am opening and 7pm partial closing). In Morocco I got a glass of the Ksar Vin Blanc ($2.00) and continued walking. I saw several items back from last year, including a few things I tried & liked. My destination was Africa - for the chicken on sugar cane stick! This year it was $3.50 and came with a triangle of pap rather than the tortilla chip. It was delicious, and made my nose run <g>! Walking through China, I saw the chicken satay and thought it looked pretty good - I may give it another try some day this week. Since I was solo, I decided to head to Future World and do a couple of rides. I walked onto Spaceship Earth and then went to Test Track and used the single rider line to walk right into the pre-show. There was a large group of unruly teen boys acting obnoxious until the mom/chaperone finally read them the riot act and they settled down & acted like teens rather than 4 year olds. They seemed like nice kids individually, but as a group it was a contest to see who could be the most stupid, I guess. When the doors opened I stood back, and as expected the boys rushed past everyone in their haste to be the first ones on the ride. After Test Track it was back to World Showcase to finish the countries. Ireland has a soup made with cheese and celery root - might be worth a try since I love the cheese soup in Canada. I returned to Morocco for another glass of wine, then returned to the International Gateway and sat on a bench to update my notes. I could hear the British Invasion performing again, which made sitting there very enjoyable :-) When the wine was gone I walked back to BW, drove back to Hampton Inn and got online to check mail while updating the report. The weather forecast is for temps in the 40's tonight....damn, I am bringing that DCA sweatshirt with me to PI!! At 6:30 I left the room and drove to PI, parking right behind the bus stops. The entrance I normally use (at the Planet Hollywood end) was not manned, and even the ticket booths were not open. I walked through the Island to the main entrance, and those turnstiles were not in use yet either - very strange. There was busload after busload of conventioneers being dropped off, much to my dismay. They had the whole midway games area blocked off for a private party, the Rock & Roll Beach Club had a group, and 8 Trax had another (closed until 10pm to regular guests). Many of the conventioneers left those clubs and were in line for the 7:10 Comedy Warehouse show, and the next couple of shows. I finally got my wristband and headed back up the hill to wait a few minutes until it was time to join the line. I was seated in long row, with Jaime as my server - who knew I wanted a Bye Bye Blues <g>. On the way down I said hi to Lisa, Deb and Dee - all terrific people. Before the show started one of the other Warehouse regular couples came to sit in the back row of seats and stopped to chat. I think her name might be Virginia - not sure of his (someone can help me out). Jen K opened this show. She was joined by Mary, Todd, Phillip & Krista, and it was a pretty good show. They tortured Jen K in Cliché, making her guess "If you're waiting on me you're backing up". The guest who gave it had no idea what it means, but it does not have to make sense! Jen actually guessed it before Krista was about to give her the clue for the final word, so they scrambled to get the other actors onstage for the ending. When the show ended I headed out to check the line for the next show. I was #103 (no, I did not count....I asked Sue who was using the counter as people entered the line) and decided to join the line and hope for an empty single seat further down. I knew at 103 I would definitely have a front row, and would not be all the way to the back. As it turned out there were no empty singles, but my seat was ok (3rd row down from the top). Mary opened this show and was joined by Jen K, Greg, Phillip & Todd. This show was also good. They did Forgotten Songs, which I usually love, and did a pretty good job with Schmeopardy. Phillip was the host and towards the end he sweated off most of his mustache (tape). On the way out Mary greeted me with a hug & we talked for a little while. The entertainment cuts on PI and elsewhere have been upsetting, but of course the remaining actors continue to put on a good show for the guests. I left the club and headed over to the Jazz Club to find Nancy. This club was very busy - lots of people sitting and eating (and smoking - yuck). We stood inside the kitchen entrance where it was quiet (and better smelling) and visited briefly. Hopefully we can do something after she returns from an out of town trip later this week. Back outside, I decided to check on the Warehouse. The 9:20 show was being seated, but they already had a full row of standby guests, and since I cannot see sitting behind other people, I went to the Adventurer's Club to kill some time. Chris wanted to come to PI tonight; Darla did not....so I left them to battle it out with word to beep me by 10 if they were coming and I would wait for them. I was ready to leave, but did not want to risk it too far before 10. The other "regular" couple from the Warehouse was inside, so I went through the new member induction ceremony with them, then left PI. I wandered around the West Side, and then drove back to Hampton Inn around 10. Back in the room I downloaded pictures, finished the report and got online for a while. Surprisingly, the night did not seem that cold...although I was glad to be wearing the sweatshirt! I did everything in the plan today, and had a nice relaxing day :-) Miles Walked: 8.2 Day 2 - Saturday, October 27th 2001 Who: Sue, 42, DVC Member Darla, Chris, Carol Kathy Where: Wilderness Lodge (woods view room) Plan: Meet Kathy @ WL, Join Darla/Chris/Mom for Food & Wine stuff Actual: Poor Maria IM'd me late last night, having trouble locating where I was. Soon I heard the clink clink of her rappelling equipment, so I was able to sleep soundly knowing she was out there, lol! Poor thing is probably cold - the temperature with the wind chill is only 45 degrees. I left the coffee pot on so she could make some coffee after I leave. I was up at 6:30, showered, got online to answer a bunch of mail, and then IM'd with Kathy a while (seems silly, since she'll be here in person soon but what the hell), and then with Darla. I went down to the free breakfast - lots of people enjoying the nice room in the lobby, but the food was not anything special to me. They had juices, coffee, tea, cocoa, oatmeal, waffles (toaster), several different bagels, bananas, oranges, a few kinds of cereal, some breads and lots of donuts. I had brought the other 1/2 of my bagel from home (from yesterday's breakfast) so I toasted that & used their cream cheese. The glazed donuts looked good, but when I took one it felt kind of hard in the tongs. When I took a bite I realized it had come from the refrigerator and was still cold - so I threw it in the trash. For me a donut is not worth the calories unless it is perfect <g>. They had some mini-donuts so I took a chocolate covered one, which was not bad. I took my bagel back to the room, where my cappuccino was waiting. I left the Hampton in about 8:30 and drove over to WL to meet Kathy. She was checking in as I arrived, but the rooms were not ready yet. The cm told us we were on the first floor - Kathy tried to get it changed to an upper floor but nothing was available. She called housekeeping to try to speed it up. We stopped to visit with the DCL cm at the resort, and then headed out. We drove over to Property Control and did some shopping. This is a cast member area, but they can bring in a guest. Sometimes it is all junk (in my opinion, from past experience) but today we found a number of good bargains. We must have spent a couple of hours there! It was getting to be time to meet the others, so we drove to Epcot and entered the park. The lines to get in were long, but moved fairly quickly. We got back to World Showcase just as the rope was dropping, and walked quickly to France. Since the others were coming from the Boardwalk, they beat us there! We spotted Darla, Chris & Carol, and made the necessary introductions. We immediately noticed incredibly long lines at all of the food courts - lines so long you would not believe it! They had ropes set up form the line, and the lines were easily 2-3 times the length of the roped area! I hoped this was just an unusual thing due to the park just opening, but it was like that the entire afternoon....unlike prior years. It was also windy and cold...frigid! Kathy & I were the coldest, and she decided to check Company D for an inexpensive sweatshirt. We walked around towards the Co D entrance and Darla went backstage with Kathy to look for a sweatshirt while the rest of us continued walking around. We got in line for cheese soup in Canada - and were joined by Kathy & Darla. That line must have taken 30-45 minutes! Kathy, Darla & Carol each got the soup and either beer or wine to go with it. I skipped it, since I can eat that during the rest of the year in Le Cellier! We continued walking and sat in France. I continued to Morocco to get a glass of wine, but the line at the booth was so outrageously long I instead went to the Tangierine Cafe and got a regular glass of their wine (same brand, but not as good as what is at the F&W booth) to take with me back to France. We sat around talking for quite a while, just having fun. Chris was regaling us with stories of how she got lots of freebies the other night in exchange for certain *favors* behind the flaps of the food booths. I had no idea what she meant, of course ;-) Carol commented that Chris swallowed more than just wine - again, in my innocence I had no idea what that meant. The other ladies thought it was funny, though <g>. Darla will describe their dinner last night in her report, at least the details she remembers after the 6 glasses of wine she sucked down, but they were talking about someone under the skirts on the table and pulling up their skirts....it was so confusing! Ok, back to business....we started walking again. Darla bought a cinnamon funnel cake in America, and I tried a few bites of it - very good, but more than I would want for just myself. None of the others wanted to try any. We looked in the wine shop, and Kathy bought a bottle of South African wine for her daughter. We kept walking and Carol & Chris stopped in Germany while the rest of us continued to South Africa (next door). Carol & Chris joined us with apple strudel and beer/wine. Darla & I got sugar cane chicken (plus one for Chris) and she got the Zambezi Lager while I tried a chardonnay. The wine was ok - not something I would order again, but everyone loved the sugar cane chicken. Darla said the lager was excellent as well. Darla thrust her perky breasts at the cm and got an especially nice portion. We noticed she had been doing this all around World Showcase and as a result she was immediately allowed to the head of the line. At this point it was getting late....Darla needed her nap, Chris was off to a wine seminar, and I am not sure what Carol was going to do. We separated in Mouse Gears, and Kathy & I stopped at guest services in Innoventions West to put ourselves on the email list for the recipes from the Festival before leaving the park about 5pm. We drove back to WL and dragged our stuff to the rooms. Wow - these rooms ARE tiny...the size of a moderate, but a higher price. I was not particularly impressed with the appearance of the rooms either - the studios in the Villas side are very attractive, but these were just ok. The view was nice - woods view of a water area, with a couple of ducks swimming around. We did have a major problem, though. Kathy's room is an accessible room but she was unable to get into the bathroom because a wall between the toilet room and sinks blocked access from her chair. She called the front desk and explained the problem to them. Occupancy was high at most resorts, and certain sections of some resorts were closed off and not available, so it took forever for them to come up with alternative placements. We were also concerned because her wheelchair battery was getting dangerously low, and we needed to be *somewhere* so she could recharge before it died. Spending this time waiting on them and then having to move & get settled somewhere else means no going out anywhere tonight due to the battery needing charging. For me it did not matter if we stayed in or went out, but it would have been nice for that to be our choice. Finally the manager called back, and after many discussions he found rooms for us at the All Stars! Kathy said no freakin' way, buster! LOL, he had no idea we had changed the reservation for more than twice the cost to be at WL to get AWAY from the All Stars! He found rooms at Coronado, which Kathy also declined that since no refund was being offered for the difference in rate. Animal Kingdom Lodge was offered, and the Contemporary. At this point we decided to try the Contemporary, provided the bathrooms would be large enough. We got our stuff and went back out to the parking lot (they never offered to assist us or move our stuff - they only offered to transfer the money we had already paid over to the new reservation). We drove to the Contemporary and there were no handicapped parking spaces with a van lift area, so Kathy left her van parked at the front door (she cannot valet park because her wheelchair is the driver's seat). I found a space way at the end of the row, and decided to leave my stuff in the car until I knew what we would be doing (it weighed a ton with the laptop in the overnight bag)! The clerk at the front desk was very nice and found us 2 rooms in the North Wing that were adjoining but they did not connect. We told him that was fine - at this point we would have taken just about anything! We drove to the parking lot, and Kathy got the last available handicapped spot and I took the first available non-handicapped spot, which I think was somewhere near Tampa <g>. She wondered where I had gone, lol - since I needed to get to her van to help get her stuff out. We piled almost everything on her lap. It probably looked bad for the person in the wheelchair to be buried under a mound of suitcases, clothing, bags, etc - while I strolled along carrying a couple of big batteries, but I really was not abusing my friend <g> - she insisted! She wanted to be a human luggage rack, so I merely granted her wish. Our rooms are on the first floor, right next to the Tower, so actually they are in a great location. The rooms are "quite vibrant", to quote Kathy. I was searching for some word other than hideous, and she came through! No offense to people who love the decor here - actually I like the spaciousness of the room, but the decor is a bit much, lol! We got to the rooms and checked them out. One had a king bed, which means extra space to maneuver around, so Kathy took that one. I had the room with 2 queen beds. Both rooms have a daybed, and lots more space than at WL. I took pictures of my room (we had already trashed Kathy's by the time I thought to take pictures) and will post them on photopoint one of these days. We dropped off our stuff and went searching for alcohol (Damn straight, says Kathy). We made the short trip to the Tower and headed up to the 4th floor. The smell of chocolate lured us into the first shop there, and as we were talking near the entrance a man came over to introduce himself. Jeff is a DVC member who reads the trip reports and recognized us. We chatted with him for a while about different things, then he went to find his family and we headed for the booze! I hope we made a nice impression and did not seem like a couple of lushes searching for their next drink, lol! At the Sundries Shop Kathy got a beer and some rum, and I got wine. I was surprised how cheap stuff was there - the beer was $1.75 and my wine was $2.25...not bad at all considering this is Disney! On the way back I bought a chocolate covered pretzel in the store with the candy - those have gone up to $1.25 plus tax now, but that is still a pretty cheap snack. After purchasing our drinks we went backstage because Kathy was concerned that I needed to eat. I was happy with wine, but went along to appease her. Along the cm corridor they have several pictures of the Contemporary Resort dating back to the early 1970's, which were interesting to look at. They brought back memories of my previous stays in the 70's and 80's - and Kathy's honeymoon. The cast cafeteria had your typical stuff, but I really did not want anything to eat at that point, so we left. We went back to the room and got settled in for a few hours of drinking and talking. Once again, Kathy beat me in the drinking game - no fair since she just pours the beer into her stomach without having to swallow! I updated the report, with her help, and downloaded the pictures and then worked on the next MousePlanet article (subject - Food & Wine Festival...to appear 11/09/01). Of course, the article might have been written more quickly if I had not been drinking all day (not a large quantity, but it is not customary for me to drink from 1-9pm! Around 8:30 I went to the other room to get the pillow off the sofa to provide support for my back, and almost had to call Kathy to ask her what I had gone to get - I forgot why I was there, lol! Eventually I figured it out - most of my stuff was still in the other room, so there were few possibilities in this room! When I returned I cut a piece of the great pumpkin bread she brought me (homemade) and finished my wine. We may not be out in a park doing typical tourist stuff, but it was nice just hanging out in the room and really, how many friends would be content to sit in a hotel room with you in WDW while you worked on a laptop computer, lol! At 9:10 we heard the fireworks, so I opened the drapes to watch them while I worked on the article. We have a tree outside the room, but it did not block much of the view, which was perfect. I had forgotten about the fireworks, so this was a nice bonus - to see them from the warmth of the room! By 9:30 Kathy was exhausted, and decided she was not going to make it to see the Electrical Water Pageant at 10:05! We made our plans for tomorrow and I went to the other room while she got ready for bed. I had taken out my contacts so I hiked out to the car to get my glasses, and took a chance on finding a closer parking place. As luck would have it, I got one just a few cars down from Kathy's van - very close to our rooms! As I walked by, I noticed her van door was open, and was not able to close it. Back inside I let her know, and since she was already in bed I went out with her keys (it is all controlled by pushing a key on the plastic thing...not by using a key manually) and finally was able to get it to reopen part way and then close. I would hate to have someone break in overnight! I brought her back her keys, said goodnight again, and then headed outside to watch the Pageant. I was the only one out on the dock until about a minute before it started. I enjoy watching this, although in my opinion it is not worth a trip just to see it. However, staying at the Contemporary it would be silly to not see it! The cm checking us in tonight told us Walt himself worked on this parade and it is the only original parade from 1971 that is still running. As soon as it was finished I went back inside to my warm room to finish the report and get online for a while. With the time changing tonight, we actually have an extra hour today - which is something I always need when I am up here, it seems! It was a wonderful day, provided you ignore the trouble with the WL room and finding a new place to stay. I hate that Kathy has to deal with some of the frustrations we have encountered this year, from problems accessing the attractions, bus lifts not working and bus drivers who insist on arguing with her, to accessible resort rooms that are NOT accessible to her - compounded by a jerk cm who acted like he was doing her some huge favor finding her another place to stay :( Thank goodness the people at the Contemporary were so much more helpful, and I really like being here - despite having looked forward to the WL. I still consider the transportation from here to be awful (except to MK, which means I walk) and the location stinks if I am going to Comedy Warehouse, but if I was driving to the parks and staying *home* relatively early at night, this would be a great place to stay. Miles Walked: 4.2 Day 3 - Sunday, October 28th 2001 Who: Sue, 42, DVC Member Kathy Where: Old Key West Resort (studio) Plan: MousePlanet work, Move to OKW, some parks, Halloween party at MK w/Kathy Actual: Thanks to the extra time in the room last night, I was glad to have finished the MousePlanet article and after returning from the water pageant I was able to get it and the pictures emailed off - leaving me free to play today! I know Kathy was pissed about the WL fiasco yesterday and partly felt bad that it caused us to not be able to go out (due to the battery), but looking back it had some advantages. We still had fun, I got my *work* done ahead of schedule, we stayed warm (it was cold outside), and this morning she only has to hop on the monorail to get to work! It was nice having the time change last night - an extra hour of sleep was definitely a good thing! However, I never seem to sleep much here, even when I allow the extra time. Last night I turned out the light at 1am - which was now midnight, and was awake around 5 (but did not get up until almost 6:30). The room was quiet & comfortable - except for the traffic in the hall and the kids making noise. Once everyone got home though, it was silent. I showered and got dressed, then realized I brought a hotpot to make cappuccino but no coffee cups! So, I walked over to the Food & Fun Center since it was so close and asked the cm if I could take a coffee cup to use with my own coffee maker, and he said that was fine. Brr - it is chilly outside - they say low 50's but it feels colder than that to me! For breakfast I ate some of the delicious pumpkin bread and drank a big cup (the Styrofoam coffee cups are a larger size than usual. A newspaper was outside all of the guest rooms - a very nice touch! Earlier I had called over to OKW to check on our studios and found they had not noted to put us near each other, which for a single night would be no big deal, but since we will both be there for 4 nights, it would be a pain to be at opposite ends of the resort. Wendy was the cm, and seemed to have somewhat of an attitude (not a cheery, Disney attitude, unfortunately). She said she would have to move reservations around and to try back after 4pm. I asked if it was going to be a problem for me to check Kathy in - to save her that hassle later, and she suggested I have Kathy call to authorize that. Hopefully one of the rooms will be ready early enough that I do not have to be homeless all day! Kathy stopped by at 8 and visited for a while. She slept like a log, and really liked staying here after all. WL would have been too hard for her to maneuver in the room even if the bathroom was not a problem. Something to remember for the future! I told her about OKW and we called over there - she got the lovely Wendy and commented to me that she was still acting like a witch. Wendy told her I had called with a whole list of requests (yes, the same stuff that was on the reservation, non smoking, 1st floor for Kathy, & near each other) but they had juggled everything all around and now my studio was ready. I know I made the request for the rooms to be near each other, since I did it as a separate phone call...not when I made the reservation. Anyway, at least it is resolved, and I am glad I called so early otherwise we may not have been accommodated. Kathy headed off to work in her van, and I finished my cappuccino and packed up my stuff to drive over to OKW to get my studio. Angelo greeted me from the bell services stand as I arrived and we chatted briefly. He pretended like he'd been rejected when he learned I had spent the night at the Contemporary, lol, but I assured him I only spent 1 night there and 5 here so my loyalties had not changed <g>. Check in went smoothly - I was able to check us both in. As Kathy learned on the phone, my studio was ready but hers was not. The cm was not able to give me her room number because it was not ready yet, but did say it was on the ground floor in the same building. We are in building 35, which is one of the "U"-shaped buildings, directly across from the Turtle Pond bus stop. I like this building, and have stayed in my particular studio at least 3-4 times. All of the units are very close to each other because of the shape of the building, so it turned out to be a great spot. When I came out to return to the car, Randy was at bell services with Angelo so I talked to them briefly and then drove to building 35. My studio is on the 3rd floor, with a nice water view. Not so nice are the family of shriekers using the connecting 1br unit. I had brought one load of stuff with me and was going to get the rest and get settled into the room, but knew I did not feel like listening to LOUD baby talk directed towards a toddler and then the shrieking responses (I swear some people act like their children are hearing-impaired, and it is no wonder the kids themselves talk so loudly). Oh well, if this continues I will make a polite phone call over there, then resort to more nasty measures if they do not quiet down. Since I still have a valid Contemporary parking permit, I drove back to there to park and walked into the Magic Kingdom. Driving is so much faster and being able to park at the Contemporary today was something too good to pass up - otherwise I would have taken the bus. I parked near the path and walked over to MK, arriving just after 9:30. I decided to do the things I enjoy that Kathy is not able to do, since I was here alone. First stop of course was Space Mountain for a Fastpass (10:20-11:20). There were no cm's at the Fastpass machines so I did a research project for the Larry Wilmot Academy of Fastpass Scamming and tried pushing that black button on the back of a couple of the machines, but they no longer work. Sorry, Larry - back to the drawing board! With no cm's there, I am not sure how a cm visiting the park would get a Fastpass, unless they would need to go find the cm at the attraction entrance perhaps. Buzz Lightyear had a posted 10 minute wait, so I decided to go ahead. The wait was really not more than 5 minutes. The ride broke down when I was in front of a 5,000 point target, so I was able to get a better score than I normally do (279,900)! LOL - my arm and thumb were tired from the exertion towards the end of the ride! Next I walked to Fantasyland and rode Peter Pan (the ride....get your minds out of the gutter <g>) with about a 5 minute wait. It had been a while, so I rode It's a Small World after that, with no wait at all. I know many people cannot stand this attraction, but a ride about happiness and getting along sounded enjoyable today. By now it was into the Fastpass window so I walked back through a very busy Fantasyland and over to Space Mountain. The standby line was 20 minutes, which I guess is not too bad - but longer than I would wait. I got the front seat, without asking! It was a fun ride, particularly due to the British boy behind me who talked his way through the entire ride for courage, I guess - too funny! I had one more attraction to do, the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. I enjoy riding this even though it is not exciting at all. It's too bad it is not accessible, though. I left the MK and rode the resort monorail over to the Grand Floridian, which took forever due to all of the stops (Contemporary, TTC, Polynesian, then Grand Floridian). Inside I could see Kathy at her desk - she was on the phone and had several guests there, so I went outside to kill time until she was less busy. I wandered out to the beach and sat swinging on the swing out there updating my notes. The white sand was warmed by the sun and it felt good to take off my sandals and warm my feet up for a while! Eventually I went back inside, and now Kathy did not have any guests around so I went over. I gave her the OKW information and met her co-worker Josie, and chatted for a while. At one point a guest came to check in and I noticed an older man walking with his granddaughter and he dropped his wallet onto the floor. I heard it fall, and figured surely he did too, but he kept on walking away. Finally when he or the girl never went back to get it, I figured I had better pick it up before someone else did, so I went over to pick it up and brought it over to where the man was with the rest of his family. He had no idea he had dropped it, but with a wad of cash tucked into the money clip on the outside it easily could have been noticed by someone else! When the guest was finished I talked to Kathy a bit longer, then headed out. She is going to see Gus after work, then will come *home* by 6. I took the monorail to MK and got off there to walk to the Contemporary. I almost beat the monorail, since it ended up sitting on the track waiting for traffic clearance! I drove over to Boardwalk, swapping the Contemporary parking pass for the BW one (it also expires today) and parked there to walk into World Showcase. It very busy again today, with long lines but not quite as bad as yesterday. In Morocco I stood in line for the wine that I like (last year I do not remember ever having to wait) and continued walking around. I decided to try the chicken satay one more time, so I stood in a looooong line near China hoping it would be as good as it looked. Sadly, it was not, so it is permanently something I will not order again! I swear one of the pieces was either not cooked all the way through or was just plain fatty (no, I did not stand in line to take it back - I just ate the other parts & threw the nastiest parts away). Yuck! Perhaps part of the problem is they use chicken thigh meat, and I hate dark meat. As Chris & Darla can attest, I like my meat white & tight, lol! Oh, were we talking about chicken??? Anyway, I think thigh meat has a different texture than breast meat, and I don't like the taste or feel of the dark meat. Looks like I am back to sugar cane chicken - which is not a complaint....that stuff is GREAT! I thought about riding Test Track before leaving, but when I got over there the single rider line was not open and the cm would not be opening for about 15 minutes. Fastpass was not working either - so everyone was in a long standby line. I wondered why single rider was not open, but did not bother to ask. Instead, I just left, not wanting to wait 15 minutes for a ride. The line for cheese soup in Canada was very long again - I will stick to Le Cellier for that! I exited at the International Gateway and back at the BW stopped at the Boardwalk Bakery to pick up a chocolate/vanilla pretzel. I was surprised to see it now has big fat granules of sugar on it rather than powdered sugar and drizzled chocolate. I asked the cm when/why they changed to that sugar, and she said that with all the anthrax scares they do not want to use powdered anything! I laughed and thought that was so stupid...who would think they are buying an anthrax pretzel at the BW??? I wonder about this world sometimes... I ate part of the pretzel - it was very good and is less messy without the powdered sugar, but I am unsure which way I prefer it. Luckily I have one more of the old ones in the freezer at home - guess I better savor every last bite of that one, lol! While I was in the bakery I heard beeping, but since Kathy was not with me (it sounded like some of her equipment) I figured it was someone else - and it was....me - my beeper, lol! My son's dad wanted to discuss something about Chris, so I stopped at a payphone inside and called him. Chris has spent the weekend at a friend's house and wanted to extend that thru Wednesday, but his dad & I agreed the answer is NO....party time is over for that teen, and it's back to normal life tonight. I know Chris would do nothing but goof around and not do his homework, so the answer was no. I got the car and drove back to OKW, swapping the parking pass for the one from OKW <g>. The shriek family was not home, so it was a nice, peaceful afternoon. I brought in the rest of my stuff and put it all away since I will be here 5 nights. I absolutely hate a messy hotel room, so I keep it looking as if it has just been cleaned (not vacuumed & all, just no crap laying around). It took a couple of trips to bring it all upstairs, and I noticed the housekeeping cart was still parked in the extra section of the only handicapped parking spot. It was in the space where the wheelchair lift would come out of Kathy's van, so I found the housekeeper guy and explained that it would have to be gone within a few hours and NOT be parked there for the rest of the week since that is the only place Kathy can park & she would be trapped if they put their cart there. He seemed to understand, at least I hope so. I got online and also updated the report. About 5:13 I glanced at the clock and decided to get offline in case Kathy called early. As soon as I plugged the phone back in, the message light was blinking - with a 5:12 message from Kathy, lol! She had decided to skip seeing Gus today since it would have cut her time too close. I went down to her studio and we decided to head to the party - after I made her take an extra sweatshirt because I knew she would be freezing later (she was <g>). Sun 10/28 - Sue, Kathy (continued) We had a short wait for the MK bus and except for the driver accidentally whacking Kathy's ankle with a metal thing that should have secured the wheelchair it was an uneventful ride for a change. We got to MK just after 6, and guests were being admitted so we went in. Kathy introduced me to another of the people she used to work with at the MK and he made sure we got the trick or treat bags even though we are not kids <g>. There were still lots of guests in the park who did not have tickets to the party, and we were concerned about whether Disney was going to effectively get them all out of the park before any of the party stuff started. It would not be fair for some people to be paying for the extra ticket and someone else to be crashing for free! We went into the Emporium to find Kathy one of the party t-shirts, but found none. I asked a cm and he said they would be brought out later - around 7 when the party officially starts. They had closed and locked most of the doors also - leaving the ones at the train station end open, to get the unauthorized guests towards the exit and not near the rest of the park. As we worked our way back we soon encountered cm's asking to see our wristbands and turning away anyone without one. Only Main Street and Fantasyland were open prior to 7pm (the party was 7-12), but crowds were very light at this point. Main Street looked really cool. They had jack-o-lanterns in some of the 2nd story windows, spooky music playing, and the images of ghosts were flashed on the buildings. They did a nice job with the theming. We went to Fantasyland and I rode the Peter Pan ride while Kathy waited (it was pretty much a walk-on). Afterwards we made our first series of candy stops - the cm's did not seem to mind whether adults or kids were getting the stuff. By the end of the night we both had a full bag of stuff - I counted mine out of curiosity - 120 pieces, over 50 of them *real* chocolate candy bars. Nestle was the sponsor, but somehow I ended up with 2 Hershey bars in there (perhaps left over from the All Star Resorts concierge service where they toss a broken piece of a Hershey bar on your pillow <g>). Kathy is bringing her candy home to her 2 teen boys since she cannot eat it, and I will save some of my non-melting stuff for Chris and unload the rest of the chocolate on Kathy's boys. I do NOT need to eat 50 chocolate bars between now and Saturday, lol! After getting candy we decided to get our picture done - taken against a Halloween backdrop. It should be home before I am, lol! It was about 7:15 so we went to the Diamond Horseshoe Saloon to see the Halloween Revue. I had read somewhere on the internet that someone said not to miss this show, so we were expecting something good. The show started, and it was one of the same shows they do every day....except with an orange vest and at one point saying "boys and ghouls". Once we realized it was the same old thing, we left. I do not like walking out on a performer, but with limited time we were not about to sit through something we can see any day. We decided to go to Big Thunder, stopping for candy along the way. We made lots of candy stops <g>. Here we had our first unpleasant encounter of the night. We entered through the exit, and this cm came over to us and asked how many were in our party. We said 2, but only I was riding. She then said "If the wheelchair isn't riding then you need to go through the regular line" - in a very curt tone. Kathy said she has a pass that says she & her party are to come in this way so that she can wait with them until they ride - she cannot go sit outside while I waited in a long line. The cm kind of huffed and cut her off and waved her over to the wall saying "well, I'll let you *this* time - go wait against the wall". Yikes!! First of all - and most important, last time I checked Kathy was a *person*....not a wheelchair! Second, the twit was not doing us a favor by "letting" us do anything...she was doing exactly what she was supposed to be doing. We tried to get her name but of course she was not wearing a nametag. We did get a good description of her, though. We waited for a couple of trains, then I rode. This ride is more fun in the dark, but I enjoy it any time of day! We left Big Thunder and the lovely cm, and headed to the 8:15 Halloween Riverboat Ride. It was advertised as "strolling musicians, characters and Halloween treats" - yeah, right <g>. We joined the large crowd getting on the boat and another guest told us there was an easier way for us to board, just as a cm approached to pull us out of the crowd to use the wheelchair entrance downstairs. To get there we had to ride downhill on a narrow path where people were coming from the opposite direction (grrr) and then go through a gate and switchback down to the lower dock and ride over a ramp onto the boat. That put us on the lower level, which is where the musicians played (no strolling, they just stood there). There was a lady in a costume who told a story when the boat got moving, but I think only a handful of people were able to hear her. We were close, but could not hear. They had some of the Country Bears wandering around, and that was about it. We rode around and did see a few Halloween decorations put out on Tom Sawyer Island, but nothing major. For most guests it is a standing ride, but Kathy had her wheelchair and I sat on her lap. Yep, first I pile her with luggage to change resorts and then I use her as an easy chair <g>. But hey, it was her idea, and it kept her warmer - that chair can easily handle the both of us! When we got off the boat the road was blocked off for the 8:30 parade, so I asked a cm how we could get to Fantasyland. She told us to take this certain walkway, which ended up being very narrow and was full of people coming from the other direction. It as slow going, and eventually we got stuck when a stroller could not pass Kathy's chair. Finally I asked the dad if he could just lift it up and over, so they did that and we were able to continue on...until the next stroller that had to be lifted. We were not particularly pleased to be stuck in and contributing to such a traffic problem, but that is the way the cm told us we had to go. It was a mess - far too many people going in both direction with strollers, wheelchairs, etc, in a too-small walkway. Eventually we emerged from the mess and headed to Fantasyland. After getting more candy we continued to Tomorrowland and walked into Space Mountain. We can go through the line together here, then Kathy waits at the unloading area while I finish the last waiting section and do the ride. It seemed so funny to see people in costumes riding the rides tonight <g>. It was a great ride - this time I got the left side, which I think is my favorite. Outside they had a little show going on the stage there, with kids dancing. It looked like they were having fun, but we needed to find more candy and then get a spot for the fireworks. We watched them from the bridge between Tomorrowland and the Hub. The benches were all taken, so I used Kathy's lap again. The fireworks at first were just ordinary - we were kind of disappointed in them, but then they had the witch fly from the castle like Tinkerbell usually does and then they did some perimeter fireworks. Overall they were pretty short, but they were pretty. We went to Adventureland for more candy, and ran into the girl we met at Property Control the other day. Not sure if I wrote about her, but she is in the college program and we met her in line to pay for our stuff. She is not a Disney maniac, but has a terrific positive attitude and has loved her experience working in the MK and was really friendly. She'll be returning home to continue her education in January, I think. We chatted with her for a couple of minutes, then went back to Big Thunder. This time we were met by a very nice cm who had no problem with "the wheelchair" not riding. I did the ride, then we left to go find more candy and a bench to sit and update my notes. At 10pm it was still very crowded, although lots of people left after the 1st parade & fireworks. We went back to Main Street and saw there were very few people waiting for the 10:30 parade. We decided to get Kathy's t-shirt now, and found it in the Emporium. Here we met a cm with zero personality at all. She was kind of hanging on the counter (a big woman - not very neat looking, hard to miss) ignoring everyone. Kathy asked her a couple of times if she was working...was her register open, before she responded that she was. It was so weird. She did not seem ill or anything like that, just bored out of her mind and not interested in being there. Anyway, we got the shirt and headed out to the wheelchair viewing area and were the only ones in there. After the parade started, a family ducked under the ropes & came in there to use the rest of the bench I was on. The parade was pretty cute - no match for Spectromagic, though. After it was over the other family was asking how they were supposed to get out (the wheelchair viewing area is completely roped off on all sides) and I felt like saying - how about the same way you got in here...climb under the rope where you don't belong and sneak away?? But, I kept my mouth shut. When the cm came to let us out Kathy went to guest services to complain about that first cm at Big Thunder and I went to try for a picture of the parade as it started down Main Street. I joined her at Guest Services, and the cm they had given her to take her complaint did not seem to understand very much English. Kathy explained what happened, and stated the need for the cm's to be better trained, but the cm was clueless. She wrote down the description of the nametag less cm at Big Thunder, and hopefully someone will say something to her about how to treat guests. We went back to Fantasyland, and a man came over to introduce himself - it was Jay McGuire from the dvctalk list that I am on! It was great meeting him in person, as I enjoy his opinions on DVC/WDW and his sense of humor. His ability to cite specific sources to prove or dispute some hair-brained rumor or legend is amazing at times. Jay - thanks for introducing yourself! We got more candy, ran into the girl from Property Control again, did Space Mountain again, and then met Brianne - daughter of a fellow DVC member on the DVC boards. We told her Mom said hi, and she knew exactly who we were at that point, because Barb (mom) had called her to say some friends would be saying hi to her tonight. She's a pretty girl, and had the nicest, most sincere smile of anyone we saw that night - so Barb should be proud of her :-) By now it was almost midnight so we decided to leave. The OKW bus was waiting, so after moving a few people to other seats we were loaded for the ride back to OKW. We made our plans for tomorrow, stopped by Kathy's studio for a minute, then I headed up to my studio to finish writing the report. The day went according to plan, with the exception of the MousePlanet stuff being done the night before. Except for that hag cm at Big Thunder, it was a great day. The Halloween Party was fun, but for me at least I think that was mostly just because we were hanging out together & doing stuff that was slightly new. None of the particular shows or parades were particularly *great* in my opinion, the crowds were horrendous at times, and the rides are no different at the party than they are during regular hours. However, it was a fun experience and definitely worth doing for the first time. It will not be an every year thing for me, though, and definitely not if I was buying more than 1 ticket. Oops - one other negative - that nasty chicken satay. I should have learned from last year <g> but I have learned now! Miles Walked: 8.5 Day 4 - Monday, October 29th 2001 Who: Sue, 42, DVC Member Kathy Where: Old Key West Resort (studio) Plan: Park(s), Comedy Warehouse Actual: After the party last night I debated about just going to bed and doing the report in the morning, vs. staying up to write it that night. Kathy & I have no plans until late morning, but I ended up staying up to write and figured I would sleep in and post it late today. I had not counted on the Shriek family waking me up at 6:30 on the dot! I really do not think it is asking too much to keep your voices down when you are in a hotel - particularly when you have a door connecting you with someone else. I ended up getting up around 6:40, and turned the TV on as loud as I could stand it to drown them out. I think I will have to remember they are there when I come home later tonight, and take time to enjoy some loud music....perhaps singing aloud (badly). One other thing I forgot yesterday - I bought a marshmallow thingy on the way out of the MK! It has been a while, but they looked pretty good. I have not tried it yet, so hopefully I won't regret buying it <g>. I took it easy this morning - showered, talked to Darla, posted the report, etc. Breakfast was cappuccino and pumpkin bread. The weather looks warmer today - mid 70's. Around 8:15 I called Kathy - she had not been able to get to sleep until almost 4 (she said she was worse than me, lol) so she needed to rest a bit longer. I used the time to write an article on the Halloween party for MousePlanet and send it off. She called back around 9:15 saying she was up, so we agreed I would come get her at 10. This morning I had some trouble with the phone here. After 6:30 when the Shriek family were carrying on I called their room - and ended up getting some guy who was sleeping, and claimed to be the only one in his room! I was mortified - I had been very polite, but still - the idea of waking somebody up like that was awful! I apologized profusely, and figured maybe I dialed the wrong number, although I was sure I had dialed correctly. Later when Kathy beeped and I called her room, I got some guy on the phone. Now I know that is no surprise, especially when she is on vacation, but this time in the background I heard a woman rather than more men, and it was not her! <g> I said I was trying to call room # xxxx, and he said that is the room he is in - so I apologized saying I must have the wrong room number. I called the operator and asked for Kathy's room, she answered the phone and I asked her what room # she was in - and it was the same room number I dialed (dialing a "7" first, of course). I can only assume somehow the numbers I dialed ended up at some other resort - so I called the operator to report what was happening. Kathy later had trouble dialing my room, too. At least the internet access works <g>. Got Kathy, and we headed to the bus stop for the Studios bus. Once there we checked under the big hat for the internet pin (Kathy had printed the coupon from somewhere on the internet) but the cm said they were not in yet. He said many people were putting the 100 year pins back when they found that out, not wanting to buy them until they could get the free internet pin. The freebie pin sounds better to both of us than the ones you have to buy - it is a real metal pin rather than that cheap looking plastic! The plastic ones are the ones that light up, though. I thought they sounded nice in the Mickey Monitor, but when I saw them in person I knew I did not want any - they are too big and in my opinion are just plain ugly, but they must be popular enough to sell a bunch of them! We decided to see the new Walt Disney - One Man's Dream attraction, and were both very glad we did. It has a walk-through exhibit with artifacts from each decade of his professional life and the company after his death. The exhibit was followed by a film comprised mostly of clips of Disney himself talking about what he was doing. It was quite interesting for adults, but as a 25 minute attraction kids might be climbing the walls from boredom. We were lucky there were none in our showing to disrupt things. I do not see it as an attraction I would repeat each trip, or even each year, but I am glad to have seen it. We browsed in the Animation store and a few other shops, then stopped at Guest Services to ask a question on the way out. We took the boat from MGM, which stops at Swan/Dolphin, YC, BW and then Epcot. There was a screeching toddler onboard who would not do anything her mother told her to do, and insisted on running up and down the aisle. Finally the mother grabbed her & tried to hold her on the seat so she could look out the window and the kid tried to hang out the window - screeching all the while. The boat captain came on the microphone and said "It's ok - you can throw her out the window, ma'am"! LOL - The mom looked like that's exactly what she wanted to do <g> - just one of those horrible moments. She had 2 other little girls who were sitting quietly with Grandma. We entered Epcot and went to France to check out the upcoming wine seminar, and decided to stick around and wait for it. We had time, so we went to Morocco and I got a glass of the white wine to bring back. We sat on a bench chatting while we waited 1/2 hour or so for the seminar. The sun was to my left, blinding me on that side, and Kathy was on my right. All of a sudden some woman came over on my left and hugged me, and when she blocked the sun I saw it was Linda Friar! She was on her way to have sushi for lunch in Japan, in for the afternoon. We all talked briefly and then Linda went to eat. Kathy & I got in line for the seminar. It was billed as being 45 minutes, but Kathy thinks it actually took less time than that. It featured Banfi vineyards in Italy and we sampled 4 of their different wines - white, rose, Chianti & summus. The presenter was the granddaughter of the founder, and did a great job. The white was pretty good, we both hated the taste of the sumus (so Kathy poured both of our glasses of that one into her tube since I was not going to drink it), the Chianti was ok, but the rose was really good. It had a bit of rose petal and raspberries in it, but was not overly sweet. They said it was excellent with chocolate, so maybe it is no wonder it appealed to us, lol! The tables were set up to seat 2 people at each one, with 4 wineglasses at each seat, along with a pitcher of water and a basket of flatbread to sample with the wine. It was fun, and since it was free we decided to take advantage of more of them tomorrow. We continued walking around World Showcase and were going to shop in Japan when we ran into Jeff (dvctalk member we met at the Contemporary Saturday night). He introduced us to his wife and the 4 of us hung around talking for quite a while. They are so nice, and such a cute couple - it was really a pleasure meeting them. By now it was about 2pm and time for Kathy to get over to see Gus. I decided to stay in Epcot a little while longer, and would check out information on the seminars the next couple of days. Kathy was wanting me to eat some real food, which is what I had planned to do before the wine & flatbread filled me up, so I figured walking around a while more eventually I would be ready to get my sugar cane chicken. Otherwise, I would be hungry later and would be munching Halloween candy and marshmallow thingy (come to think of it, even with the chicken I will be eating junk later <g>). I walked her out towards the front of the park, and we split up at Spaceship Earth. There was no wait there so I decided to ride, then checked on the seminar information before returning to World Showcase. I started in Mexico and reversed our earlier path, stopping to get the sugar cane chicken. It was delicious, as usual! I found a sunny bench in Germany and sat there facing the water, with birds chirping, the breeze blowing, and German music playing in the background - it was really pleasant being out there today :-) I realized I would be missing General Hospital, but it was worth it. When I finished eating I continued walking around through the rest of the countries - thought about another glass of wine in Morocco but decided against it. I left Epcot about 3:30 and got one of the new buses back to OKW. The new buses are pretty cool - they have fewer seats but hold more people (standing room). They are also easier for people in wheelchairs to access. Back in the studio I updated the report and relaxed for a while, then went out rollerblading. The weather was perfect for skating and it felt good to be out there doing something physical. Afterwards I ate some of the pretzel and drank some water while waiting for Kathy to get home from AK. She was back about 6 - chilled to the bone from sitting outside watching Gus, and getting pissed that she was unable to reach her boys. She figures they are probably at a friend's house but since she told them to be home they may be in trouble! She plans to give it another 30 minutes, then go home & find them to get them home, and then return - lousy way to spend a night on vacation :( I headed out about 6:30 to go park at PI and then wander around the Marketplace until it was time for the Comedy Warehouse. The Marketplace was wonderfully uncrowded, even in the World of Disney! I entered PI around 7:30 and sat across from the Adventurer's Club until it was time to get in line. I ended up in long row, so I was happy. I was kind of tired and figured I would not be staying long, so I decided to skip the Bye Bye Blues and just got water instead. Jen K opened the show and was joined by Todd, Josh, Mary & Jake. It was a good show, and the first time I had seen Jake in a while (not since before he got married and grew his mustache). The did Emotions, where an actor calls out emotions for another actor; 2 actors create a scene while having to continually change to the emotion called for them. It's usually funny and tonight was no exception. They did an Up Your Alley that kind of struggled, more due to the audience than the actors. The subject was mathematics and they were only able to get a few questions from the audience (mine, the person next to me and then 1 other person after Jake begged). When they needed an embarrassing story to end the show, again nobody responded, so finally the person next to me told a story about a girlfriend of hers who was not even there - and Mary took it. Normally the person has to be there, but I think Mary was afraid to risk not getting anything if she rejected his one, lol! After the show I went right out and got into line again, pretty far back but thanks to an empty single seat ended up with a great seat. Unfortunately a couple of rows behind me was a fairly large group of cast members (I could tell from their LOUD conversations) who were completely obnoxious, prompting a few other groups to also get loud & obnoxious. They went overboard with whistling & cheering when Carol walked over to the keyboard, and after the show started would not stop yelling things out at the wrong time - very loudly! Actors would be creating a scene, NOT asking for a suggestion and these people were literally screaming out words, sayings & other suggestions. It was hard to hear the actors at times, and they once kind of paused so they could be heard over the idiots, and some of the actors told them to shut up (in various ways). Ugh! I realize the majority of cm's are fine, but it's the few bad ones who can ruin a show for the entire audience and give cm's in general a bad name. The manager went up to talk to these people sternly about mid-show, which also distracted from the show. She had to go up a second time, also. Why she did not have their butts tossed out of there is beyond me. Anyway, the 2nd show was very funny despite the jerks in the audience. It started with Carol playing a children's' song and then asking for 2 different composers so she could improvise what it would have sounded like if written by each of those performers. She took a really long amount of time on the first composer, and when she finished that one Mary came out on stage to open the show! Carol was stunned - I am not sure if Mary came out because it was going on too long, or if she just goofed and came out too early, lol! That's what happens when it's live <g>! The actors this time were Mary, Joy, Josh, Jen K & Todd. They tortured Josh with "Kiss it up to a fart in a mitten". He has a tough time with this game because he just doesn't *get* so many of the clues. Tonight they blamed it on him being Canadian....they're dumber than Americans (joking, of course). Each time he would get stuck, he would say "I'm too dumb to know that - I'm from Canada". Todd was the one leading the torture, and at one point he screwed up and started leading Josh to a word that was not even in the saying! Carol caught on, and tried to get his attention with the keyboard, but he was completely oblivious. Eventually Jen came out and took charge to fix it, and Todd ran backstage to check the words again - sheesh! It was still very funny, though :-) I left after this show. None of the actors came out - perhaps to avoid the over zealous cm's who were in the audience! The line for the next show was pretty short, but the show was 1/2 hour away and I was too tired to stay. I drove back to OKW, ate some of the marshmallow thingy (it is good this time), finished and posted the report. I was glad to see Kathy's van back - can't wait to hear what hell she gave those boys tonight, and I'm glad she made it back safely. The day followed the plan, and was great. The wine seminar was fun, the crowds at the festival were much lighter, and the weather was warmer! It's wonderful being here :-) Miles Walked: 5.1 Day 5 - Tuesday, October 30th 2001 Who: Sue, 42, DVC Member Kathy Where: Old Key West Resort (studio) Plan: Park(s), Comedy Warehouse Actual: On the 11pm news last night it was announced that the Carousel of Progress is closed - since they said nothing to indicate it was temporary, I am assuming it is permanent. I slept soundly, from 12:30 until the radio came on at 6:00. I could have slept longer, but have things to do, places to be, people to see, etc <g>. At least I was not woken up by the Shriek family...no sign of them yet. I showered and had breakfast (cappuccino and some of the chocolate/vanilla pretzel), then read the rest of the posts downloaded last night. Kathy called before 8, so I finished getting ready then went down to tell the men waiting at her door to try again later since we were going out for the day. We drove to Animal Kingdom and stood in line until the park opened at 9, then went directly to the Pangani Forest Trail. Both Spike and Zawadi were out on the bachelor side, and Gino was out with his 2 babies on the family side. Gus had been hiding behind some bushes, and when he heard or saw Kathy he came closer and we could see him. He sat there watching her for a while, as she talked to him. I went to watch Gino for a while, and when I returned Gus was moving down closer. At one point he moved and I moved to another area for a different view and he seemed to be looking at me some of the time as well - by now he probably associates me with Kathy and figures I am ok. As Kathy moved to come down to where I was he made his sound that means "hey - where do you think you're going???" so she told him what she was doing and he followed her over. We were there for about an hour, and up until the very end we were the only ones there except for a couple of the cm's, so it was really nice. Kathy thinks I *put up with* being there with her, but really I enjoy being there since I know how important Gus is to her, and it's fun to watch the interaction. I know she would be right there with me if there was something/someone who had my interest like Gus does hers :-) We left AK at 10 and drove to Epcot. We headed straight to Innoventions West and lined up for the 11:00 wine seminar. It featured a white zinfandel, Riesling, and a rosado - and was conducted by one of the master sommeliers at WDW. He (George) did an excellent job - he was funny, informative and pretty darned cute <g>. The wines were all excellent, as well. Kathy was able to taste each on her tongue, then used the syringe to send the wine through the feeding tube. These things are really fun! We got out shortly before noon and had guest relations there check on a certain wine we liked, then decided to wait for the 12:30 seminar. This one was "Best Buys" of the festival and was conducted by Gary Lee, the area manager for Spoodles (& also a master sommelier). This one was also excellent, with 4 wines to taste (about 1/2 glass each). LOL - I was having a little trouble keeping up with Kathy, but I managed! We learned a lot of interesting details about selecting wine, and most of what we sampled was very good. Afterwards Kathy wanted me to ask Gary a question, so I talked with him for a while - he's very nice. I told him I was disappointed when Spoodles closed for lunch, and that I am usually elsewhere during dinner time. We mostly talked about wine - and he agreed that the wine I love in Le Cellier is an excellent wine. We headed out to World Showcase - hopefully without staggering and weaving, but it is not often we have 7 glasses of wine (1/2 glasses, actually) in such a short period of time. Our first stop was another wine tasting, lol! We did the Vine to Wine thing by Mondavi, where we got 3 more samples of wine - the same wine, but in various stages of completion. I did not drink the first 2 after the initial taste, but Kathy was able to with the syringe! The last one was the finished product, and although I do not like red wine (it was a cabernet sauvignon) I guess I had enough wine at that point that it was drinkable <g>. I do not recall what we actually learned during the presentation, nor do I care! We walked around for a while, stopping here and there. It was a positively gorgeous day today - each day has gotten better & better, and spending this time wandering around with Kathy was a perfect way to spend my vacation. We stopped at the wine tent, but they did not have the specific wine we were interested in. By now it was 2pm - time for Kathy to get back to Gus. I was torn between heading back there with her and staying in Epcot, and in the end decided to stick with Epcot. She & I will spend tomorrow together, including seeing Gus before the park closes. Tonight she has Candlelight Processional rehearsals, anyway - while I am meeting Josh & Dann at Comedy Warehouse. I continued around World Showcase, and based on Cora's report on dvctalk I went to the Spain/Portugal kiosk and got a glass of the white wine. It was from Portugal, and very good. I took it over to Canada and sat to listen to Off Kilter while I drank the wine. Off Kilter is always great, and with those blue eyes and manly legs.....wow, it does not get much more pleasant than that <g>. For whatever reason, they kind of played off of me, which was fun. Their set is very short (about 15 minutes), but they do a great job and appear to be having lots of fun. When Off Kilter was done I walked back around World Showcase and exited at the International Gateway to buy another chocolate/vanilla pretzel at the Boardwalk Bakery. The one from the other day is almost gone, as is the pumpkin bread, so this should hold me for breakfast the rest of the week. Coming back in, the security officer was really chatty - talking about Pleasure Island (I was wearing my PI shirt). I re-entered Epcot and this time stopped in Morocco and got a glass of white wine (yikes - I sound like a drunk, lol) and sat to listen to Mo Rockin' on Kathy's recommendation. They were pretty good - they reminded me of a guy I went to high school with who used to work as a male exotic dancer (not a stripper....more like a VERY attractive male belly dancer) until he died - it was a similar type of music. When they finished I continued walking around enjoying the afternoon. I saw or heard entertainment in just about every country during my walk, and really could not tell there had been any cutbacks at all. As I passed by Africa I saw Hugh & Arlene at a table, and they saw me, so I sat and joined them for a while. It was nice talking with them - they are such a nice couple. By now it was after 4 - time for them to continue eating and also for me to find something to eat to absorb all of this wine! We headed in opposite directions, and I had to wait at the bridge - it was up to let the Earth and fireworks barges through. When it went back down I continued walking and stopped in Mexico to try the quesadilla pollo y chorizo.....and omigod, it was excellent!!! I think chorizo is some sort of sausage, so this was a quesadilla with melted cheese, chicken and sausage. It was the perfect size for me, and tasted really great! Damn, now I like sugar cane chicken and this thing....it is going to be so hard to choose! I ate the quesadilla as I walked towards the exit, then got on the waiting bus for the ride back to OKW. Back in the studio I updated the report, downloaded pictures and got online to check mail before heading out for the evening. I had left my warm jacket in Kathy's van, but she brought it to her room and left me a message before she went to rehearsal. I got the message when I got offline to leave, so I stopped at her studio to pick it up in case I needed it tonight. I rushed over to PI and entered to meet Josh and Dann. They were waiting outside the Comedy Warehouse, so we hung back until enough people got in line ahead of us. Although we have only met once before, just in passing, it was a lot of fun seeing the shows with them - they're both great, and I am glad they suggested we meet tonight! We were seated in long row, all the way down - the absolute best seats in the house. The 8:00 show was opened by Jen Br - I was glad to see her back again, as I have always enjoyed her but she does not work very much. She was joined by Joy, Josh, Jen B & Krista. The first structure was a 2-actor scene directed by Josh, but he did not intervene quickly enough to keep it moving when it started to die. It was like he got caught up in watching it and forgot to do his job. It was kind of strange, it was so bad. Thankfully after that brief lapse the rest of the show was good. They tortured Jen Br with "Beer is proof there is a god and he loves us". It took quite a while, and was very funny! After the show we went outside and Gretchen (zosmom) was waiting for me. We had not met before, and I was looking forward to meeting her. She lives so close to WDW it is no big deal for her to pop over for a show - yet she had never been to the Comedy Warehouse before! The four of us got into line for the next show, and this time were seated further back. The 9:05 show was opened by Greg, who was joined by Joy, Josh, Jen B & Krista. This show was also good, and moved along quickly due to a few very short pieces that were thrown into the mix. Dann ordered a Bye Bye Blues this time, and said it was better than the drink he ordered the first show (from the current menu). When the club emptied out cm Lisa took pictures of our group for us, and I will put one out on photopoint. We stood outside talking for a while, then went our separate ways. I really enjoyed spending this time with them :-) I got in line for the 3rd (10:30) show and was happy to get long row again. This time it was Krista, Greg, Mary, Jen Br and Josh - a great cast! I would rank this as the best of the 3 shows I saw tonight. Josh has been very funny lately, and tonight was no exception - some of his stuff was off the wall, but very good! The rest of this cast are real pros - they are consistently excellent. After the show Greg came out and talked with me for a little while - catching up on the latest goings on. It's really nice that he takes the time to initiate a conversation when he could be in the break room <g>. When I went outside they had already closed off the PI exit by the stage, so I had to walk around the long way to get out to the parking lot. I could have waited for the NY Eve show to start/end, but it was easier to just walk <g>! Back at OKW I finished up the report, downloaded more pictures, and sent a bunch up to photopoint. (They are at www.photopoint.com Go to my albums by entering wdw1972@aol.com in the appropriate box and then click on Fall 2001 WDW & Cruise album.) For whatever reason, I was not tired when I got home. I ate more of the marshmallow thingy and did some online stuff until about 1:30-2:00. I told Kathy I would be ready to go out at 8:30, so hopefully I can get some sleep! I noticed the Shriek family has either gone home or lost their voices - no noise from over there lately <g>. Today was another wonderful day. Damn, I sure do love this being on vacation stuff, lol - and being on vacation here is the best! I'm loving having Kathy around, the wine, the near-perfect weather, the wine, meeting others for Comedy Warehouse, the wine, yummy food, and of course the wine <g>! I could definitely get used to this! Miles Walked: 5.25 Day 6 - Wednesday, October 31st 2001 Who: Sue, 42, DVC Member Kathy Ft Pierce Family Where: Old Key West Resort (studio) Plan: Park(s), Comedy Warehouse Actual: I set the alarm for 6:30 and woke up then feeling refreshed. Breakfast was cappuccino and the rest of the pumpkin bread, then I stayed offline but got caught up reading most of what was downloaded last night. Today it is warmer this morning, so hopefully I can get by without dragging a jacket along. I went out on the porch and a long line of the white egrets were walking around the edge of the water - it appeared to be a mother with her children following (based upon their sizes). We have these birds all over my neighborhood at home, but I have never seen them walking single file like a family of ducks before <g>! They are really pretty birds - and that is spoken as someone who generally does not like birds at all (except from afar). I should mention OKW is having all day trick or treating today at locations throughout the Hospitality House, and from 12-5 Community Hall is a Halloween Funhouse for all ages. They are supposed to have themed games, activities, prizes, etc...probably lots of fun for kids. This morning at 9 is the landscaping tour, for anyone interested in Florida plants and gardening. As at all of the DVC resorts, each day the resort has a variety of activities scheduled. Also today that new Character Caravan thing makes it's appearance twice this morning - something neither of us plans to attend <g>. I checked in with Kathy and we decided to head to MK this morning. Neither of us had anything at WDW we *had* to do, so we are just hanging out. She was dreading the Disney buses, but going to MK there really is not a better way to get there, unfortunately. We left around 8:30 and brought each other up to date on any dirt/gossip we had heard since yesterday afternoon (including Gretchen discovering the Fortress Popsicle <g>). We ended up deciding to drive after all - we parked at the Grand Floridian and rode the monorail over to the MK. It did not save any time, but it did avoid one bus hassle. At the MK we stopped to chat with some of Kathy's cm friends, and then entered the park about 9:30. It was not busy at all - much less busy than any previous day. Perhaps the warnings of doom & gloom about the world coming to an end today were keeping people away. We headed to Liberty Square and found the merchandise shops there do not open until 10am - who would have thought Disney would have a delayed opening on a shop <g>! There were very few people in Frontierland either, with both Splash Mountain and Big Thunder being walk-ons at this point. We went over to Big Thunder and I was able to walk on to a waiting train - one of the cast members hopped into the car ahead of me and took a ride as well, since the train was less than 1/2 full. Next we walked into Country Bear Jamboree, where there were only 11 other guests! This show seemed different than I remembered, but it has been a long time since I had come here. We did the new Tiki Birds next. This attraction is not very good for people in wheelchairs, since there is no real designated place for them. The wheelchairs clog up the exit area - I am not sure why they did not cut out part of the benches to make room for wheelchairs when it closed for rehab last time. We wandered around the shops and walked around the park for a while, riding only Space Mountain (10 minute standby wait posted). On the way out Kathy got her sons each a marshmallow thingy, then we rode the monorail over to Epcot. Our timing worked out perfectly - we walked onto the waiting monorail and at the TTC the Epcot monorail was waiting for us! The monorail is so much easier than the buses when someone is using a wheelchair. At Epcot we checked at Innoventions West for information on today's wine seminars. Sometimes the information in the printed book changes, but today everything was scheduled the same as what was in the book. We decided to attend the 1pm seminar in the Terrace (by France & Morocco), so we walked towards Mexico and made our way around the World. I called into work as we walked, and found things were under control. We stopped in South Africa while I ate some sugar cane chicken, (delicious) and then continued walking. In France we checked on a wine we wanted to try, but they were not featuring it today :( We had assumed they have the same wines each day, but that is not the case. We had 30 minutes to kill before our seminar, so we went to Morocco and I got a glass of the white wine from there. The 1:00 pm seminar was by Arcadian Winery in CA. We could tell immediately the speaker was not meant to be a public speaker.....it was so boring. Rather than talk about interesting information on the wine he talked about how the first wine we tried had 30 hectoliters per hector...whatever that means, and we learned how many ounces per cluster he prunes his fruit to. Yeah, real useful <g>. When he started talking about how they add coagulated milk to clarify the wine because the milk has negative iso-electric charges.......people began leaving in droves. The wine itself was ok - not something either of us would buy. Eventually we left also - we hated to be rude, but this was our vacation and we did not want to miss the next seminar. We were glad to be out of there, and figured nothing could be that bad, lol - and rushed over to Innoventions West for a 2pm seminar by Lockwood Vineyard (CA). This speaker was better, but nowhere near the same league as the speakers we enjoyed yesterday. If we had not been subjected to the previous speaker, we probably would have immediately declared this guy awful, but instead waited a while before coming to that conclusion. He went on about average rainfall, the hourly average daily temperatures in several cities, and all kinds of stuff that was not really useful. The seminar was only 1/2 full, and again a few people left early. We stayed until the end, although we did not drink the 2 samples of merlot....neither of us liked them. The seminars we did yesterday were mostly conducted by WDW cm's and they were excellent speakers and kept it interesting. Today our seminars were conducted by the winery/vineyard person, who is definitely not a public speaker and who focused on minutia of interest to other winery owners more so than wine consumers. Although, the person from Banfi did a good job - but still not as good as the guy from CA Grill and the one from Spoodles. We left Epcot after this, and took the bus to Animal Kingdom. We had a terrific bus driver here :-) I boarded the bus first and explained a few specific needs, so when he boarded Kathy he just did what she needed without any hassles! He then got off the bus and a new driver came on, but he must have said something to her...she came back to check that we were ok, and asked if I was able to take care of things if anything happened. We assured her I could, and she drove us to AK. On the way I went behind Kathy's chair to get something out of her bag for her, and the driver saw me and was concerned something was wrong and we needed help - so we assured her everything was fine <g>. Didn't mean to scare her! When we arrived at AK I started undoing the tie-downs and she started raising the wheelchair lift - before I got off the bus. She told me I could just ride the lift with Kathy - there was just enough room for me to stand on there with her, and then the driver gave us a ride on the "Bus of Terror" - by making he lift go up and down a few times! LOL - she was so funny :-) We entered the park and headed straight back to the Pangani Forest Trail, where we found Gus sitting in the cave. He popped his head up and keep an eye on Kathy, but did not rumble as much as yesterday - perhaps due to the presence of someone Gus is not real crazy about. The family was very active - Gino, his 2 women and their 3 kids - so we watched them for a while also. At 5 one of the keepers staged the other 3 bachelors (Zawadi, KJ and Spike) down near the waterfall so Gus could go into the backstage area with the stress of the younger boys. The keeper blows a horn to make a certain noise, and that is their cue to go to the staging area. Once there, she throws them a specially made treat that they can eat. When she gets the word that Gus is in, then she makes a gesture with her hands and that cues the other 3 that they can go in - and they run off to their bedrooms backstage. It was really cool to watch this. We spent an hour or so on the trail, just watching Gus mostly, and it was nice & peaceful back there. By now the park was closed, so it was time to leave. This is the end of my time with Kathy for this trip - she's going back to Epcot then has to get her van from GF and will have an early night, then is working tomorrow and rehearsing tomorrow night. We parted company at the bus stop area, and I went to wait for the bus back to OKW. I must have just missed it, as it took almost 20 minutes for the next one to arrive. It was freezing cold, also! It's a good thing nobody got on at Blizzard Beach, or they would have really been uncomfortable! There was only 1 other family on the bus - a dad, mom & daughter. They sat up front near me and I was a bit surprised when the woman exposed herself and began nursing the daughter....the girl spoke in complete sentences and was already out of diapers, so I would guess she was around 3-4 years old. I guess it seemed strange that such an old child would still be nursing, but also that there was no attempt at keeping her breast covered on a public bus. Oh well...they seemed like a nice couple, and were headed to the Halloween party tonight so we talked about that. Back in the studio (the bus went directly to our stop, since all 4 of us had the same stop) I updated the report and snacked on the marshmallow thingy before getting ready for Pleasure Island. I heard last night the costume contest was canceled for tonight, so I am not sure if the Ft Pierce family will still make the trip. For them they would be driving up here, spending the evening and then driving back home (couple of hours each way) so they can go to work tomorrow, and without the costume contest it could be just like any ordinary Wednesday. I left the studio after 7 and parked at PI. As I entered the turnstiles Dan came up behind me and greeted me. The others were already inside - his wife Sue, adult daughter Kelly, and Kelly's boyfriend Alan. We exchanged hugs and I met Alan for the first time - nice guy. They had got some black Halloween beads from somewhere on PI and they gave me a couple of strands to wear. We pretty much got right into line. I was a bit uneasy - I knew our seats would be at the tables on the floor and mentioned this to them but they were all ok with it, so I did not suggest we hang back. What the heck - it is not my preferred row, but it beats being way in the back, or not being there at all! We had about 20 minutes or so to wait, but the time passed quickly since we were busy talking. We were in the 2nd row of table seats, over by the keyboard. Carol was working tonight. In front of us was a couple who I have seen in the club before, and who were in one of the wine seminars with Kathy & me yesterday. She has some degree of Down Syndrome, and her husband may be disabled as well, but not to the same extent. Yesterday when she saw Kathy she was curious about the medical equipment, and like a young child came over to look and ask questions - which Kathy was glad to answer for her. During the wine seminar the master sommelier was talking about wine, and she mentioned she likes wine coolers, lol - it was really cute. Well, tonight Dan was wearing a devil's hat with 2 red horns sticking out of it, and she just loved that. She kept looking at him and blurted out to him loudly that "You're my hunk of man"! Poor Dan turned all shades of red, and we all laughed. There were some people in costumes - but the majority of guests wore regular clothing. The costume contest had been canceled, which was a disappointment. The 8:00 show started - featuring Josh, Greg, Todd, Mary & Phillip. It was a good show - Kelly volunteered and went on stage for Fill In The Blank, which she loves to do. They also did Schmeopardy, with Phillip playing a doctor who only treats "dis knee"....not both knees, just dis knee. Greg was a dj - Spinning Marty, who claimed to be a party guy but played as a very monotonous character...it was funny. We left right after the show and got in line for the 9:05. This time we were pretty far back, but could see well. Jake opened this show, and was joined by Phillip, Todd, Mary & Josh. They played several short structures this show, so it moved along really well and felt like they did a lot. Everyone did a great job tonight. On the way out I stopped to talk to Jake for a while. He just got married last month and I had not talked to him since before then. He had info from Layden at Hoop Dee Doo, and some of the others, so I was glad to chat with him. The others were waiting for me outside, so I said goodnight to Jake and left the club. I decided to not stay for the 10:30 show, since I was a little tired and did not want to be up all night. Tomorrow I expect to stay out later, since it is my last night for Comedy Warehouse this trip and I'll be with Adie, Lisa and Leesa. Leesa has no ride home until 1am, but I doubt I will last as long as her! Back in the studio I finished the marshmallow thingy and downloaded the online stuff while I finished the report. It was another great day (despite the boring wine seminars) and it went according to plan. I enjoyed seeing Dan, Sue & Kelly again, and meeting Alan. It'll feel so strange to be roaming around tomorrow without Kathy, but part of my day will be doing fun stuff like laundry, so perhaps she's better off working, lol! It is starting to feel like the trip is passing more quickly, and I just want it to slow down so it does not come to an end so soon! :-) Miles Walked: 4.5 Day 7 - Thursday, November 1st 2001 Who: Sue, 42, DVC Member Adie & Lisa Leesa Where: Old Key West Resort (studio) Plan: Park(s), Laundry, Comedy Warehouse w/Adie & Lisa Actual: Time is flying by! I was up until after 1am, and still have some emails to reply to - definitely before I leave on the cruise, so if you are waiting to hear back from me I apologize for being so slow. I did not set the alarm, but woke up around 7. There was no rush to be anywhere, and although I love my solo trips, after spending the last several days with Kathy it was kind of a bummer to be alone today :( I went to the Turtle Pond pool and did laundry early, sitting with a magazine while the clothes were washing, then returning to shower once I put them in the dryer. Breakfast was cappuccino and part of the chocolate/vanilla pretzel - same old thing <g>. I read all the messages downloaded last night, and just generally putzed around - in no hurry to get anywhere. About 10:20 I left to drive to Epcot, and checked at Innoventions West for the 11pm wine seminar. It was featuring Italian wines, so I decided to wait and attend. The next seminar was the 1st one Kathy & I attended yesterday - no way was I going to repeat that, lol! The guests on either side of me had all lived in New Jersey at one time (me too) so we talked about that, and the time passed quickly. The seminar was conducted by Aldo Rafanelli of Antinori, and he did a super job. He did not kill us with information on hectoliters and average rainfall, lol - instead he gave information someone wanting to drink wine would want, and he included enough humor that it was very enjoyable. They had 1 white and 3 red wines, and the white was a chardonnay that was only introduced in this country 2 days ago. All of them were pretty good, even though I do not ordinarily like reds. Of course, the more I drink, the easier it goes down <g>. Kathy - you would have liked this guy - he was pretty cool, and with his Italian accent he was fun to listen to :-) Afterwards I went to Test Track but the cm said she did not think they were going to open the single rider line at all today. I told her the ride was not worth it without single rider line (standby was 35 minutes), and I left to go wander around. The Mission Space attraction construction is proceeding - I took a picture for photopoint. There is no sign with any anticipated opening date, though. Eventually I headed to World Showcase via the Odyssey, and arrived just as the rope dropped. I rode Maelstrom on the first boat of the day, which was fun. Today is an absolutely gorgeous day - sunny, breezy, around 80 degrees or so! I thought about going to Typhoon Lagoon, but Food & Wine was calling me <g>. I walked around World Showcase and as I passed into America I heard my name called and recognized Marti working at the DVC booth!! She is so terrific - I went over to say hi & exchange hugs, and ended up staying there quite a while. It was so funny - she said she was going to call me at OKW because she had run into some DVC members entering the park and they asked if she was Marti, saying they had heard of her in Sue's reports....and Marti said "Sue Holland?" and they said yes. LOL - what a coincidence that then we run into each other. I met Marti on the Magic cruise last September, and hit it off right away. She is a wonderful cm...I noticed that even though we were talking, whenever a DVC member would pass by (recognized by either their clothing or the DVC pin) she would call out to greet them "hey DVC member", while most of the other cm's at the booth just stand there like lumps and do not initiate any contact with guests. She helped people with all kinds of non-DVC and even non-Disney related stuff while I was there as well. Dennis - I told her you said hi :-) She won't be on my cruise next week, unfortunately, but we hope to get together for Comedy Warehouse over Thanksgiving if she does not have to work. Eventually I had to leave to get to my 1pm wine seminar, so we said goodbye for now and I continued on. This seminar was by Palmer Vineyards on Long Island, and was also very good. They had 2 whites (a gewürztraminer and a chardonnay) and 2 reds (merlot & cabernet franc). I liked everything but the merlot, and especially liked the gewürztraminer. That one wasn't for sale though, and they mostly distribute to the northeast, so it's unlikely I'll ever see it down here. Kathy - I learned Shiraz is an "aggressive" wine...meant to be drank with venison or other "aggressive" food. I enjoyed the seminar (especially having 2 servings of both of the whites) and was feeling no pain when I left <g>. As I walked away, I ran into Adie & Lisa, who were sitting near the exit of the seminar. They said they met Marti, so I figured they were the people she entered the park with, but it turned out they had just recently met her....not at park opening. They were at the DVC booth and someone mentioned my name, and Marti said she knew me, so they asked where I had gone. Marti told them I had gone to a wine seminar, and they told her it figured - because I am a lush, lol! Marti said she'd be doing the same thing if she did not have to work, lol! So, Adie & Lisa were there waiting for me, and we sat around talking for a while. I'm so glad I ran into them :-) They had already seen Kathy over at Riverside, and had given her a mouse pad with a picture of Gus they had made for her - I can't wait to see it! Lisa had told me what they wanted to do several nights ago, and I sent her a picture to use. Eventually we headed out separate ways, but will be meeting later at Comedy Warehouse. It has been so great today finding Marti, and then Adie & Lisa! I continued walking, and got a glass of wine at Morocco. As I passed America I stopped to talk to Marti again, and told her I had found Adie & Lisa <g>. While I was there I talked to a few prospective members, and at one point Kelly (luvmickey) and her dad John were walking by and came over to say hi! I was amazed at how many friends were here today, but was loving it. We talked for a little while - she planned her trip a whole 6 hours in advance, which may be a record! I talked to Marti for a little while longer, listened to Barrage play (good) and then left to continue walking. In S Africa I got my sugar cane chicken. I was not hungry after all the wine, but figured some food would be a smart thing to do. It was a fairly small portion today, but that was good! I kept walking, and at Morocco got anot |