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Judy Falcon -- May 2000 -- Walt Disney World (Offsite)
I decided to start each day with a list of our planned itinerary. I did this for our Oct. Trip and I liked it for future planning. Day # 1
Getting started: We pick up my daughter flying home from Japan Fri. Late Evening. We picked up a rental car early Sat. Morning for my daughter to use she has a lot of things to do and people to see in a short time. I changed my ressie to a large car because I decided we are also going to the airport with the car because I knew three women going on vacation for 8 days and 7 nights would never fit our bags in one of our Jeep Wranglers. I planned to have all the kids and our granddaughter over for dinner Sat. Night before all us girls leave early Sun. Morning I wanted to get us all together so my daughter had more time to visit because I'm taking her to Disney for most of her leave time. This is where the fun begins, my daughter had planned to go out for the evening after dinner with some friends one also came for dinner. So I explain over and over again we need to pick up grandma by 5:15-5:30 am at the latest to make our flight on time. (I'm sure anyone that has a 24 year old understands this) it's even worst now that she's in the Navy and living across the world in Japan. I set my alarm for 4:15 I have everything packed and ready to go just need to load the rental car my daughter has, I wake up off and on all evening and at 3:30am when she still wasn't home I was getting worried so now I'm awake worrying. At 4:15 when the alarm goes off I'm up out of bed and out of the shower and still no Christina now I'm really getting worried she lost track of time or just went to a friends house and fell asleep and how are we going to get all our stuff to the airport if she doesn't get home in time. At 4:45am she walks in she says "I told you I would be home in time what are you worried about". Oh kids!!! Now I believe what my mother always told me the older they get the more you worry about them because we have less control, oh how I know that's true now. She goes on and on explaining to me that for her in is only 5 at night due to the time change. So we are off to pick up my mother and to the airport about 15 minutes late but still ok we go to get on the Thruway and Jerry (the driver & my better half) looks down and notices the car is on empty, my daughter "oh yeah I forgot to fuel up" now we need to turn around and get off the Thruway to get fuel. Now we are more then 30 minutes late we fly up the thruway as fast as Jerry would go without risking his driver license especially this time in the morning on a Sun. We get to the Airport about 15 minutes before leaving time we run to the head of the line and they get us through, funny thing is there's a family doing the same thing and as we run to the plane entrance the dad runs ahead of us and jokes they don't want to be the last ones on plane. Now my mom has never flown before so she was super nervous and went to her doctor to get some pills to calm her down she needed to take them an hour before flight and I even took one too with all the stress this morning. Flight: Mom had no time to wait at the airport to think about the flight and get worked up so it worked out great. She even said it wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. Thankfully we had an uneventful flight going now coming home is another story that will be at the end of the report. We arrive in Orlando at 10:10 a little early and we have our bags and out getting our KIA Sportage by 10:30. Rental car with Priceline.com: This was great everyone at work was telling me for $10.00 a day I would get a rent a wreck. It was great an SUV type vehicle which is what I drive everyday only bigger 4 doors and enough room behind back seat to fit 3 large suitcases and several little ones. I took pictures as I told everyone at work I would to prove it wasn't a wreck. Priceline was great for us total with all fees was $117 and change for 8 days. It's the way to go if you need a rental car. Arrival Day: I decided with advice from my better half to check in first he said it would be better to not have our suitcases in our car just in case something was to happen. So we checked right in no wait at all I was surprised in Oct. We had a short wait. My daughter and mom are impressed with Westgates we get our flower, wine, Water Park tickets, breakfast & farewell BBQ card and Welcome Party invitation. Our host tells us about everything and ask when I was there last "Oct." oh so you're not aware of our new short cut. Our host explains an easier way to go to WDW a new access road so we now get to AK in about 5 minutes maybe 10-15 at the most to Epcot and MK I have waited much longer then this for a bus to arrive then you need to drive to your location. It wasn't a bad drive before but now it's GREAT!!!!!! We unpack and we are off to Belz Outlets we find Sweet Tomatoes with no problem. (Thanks to who ever gave me the advice to go here) This place was excellent there's a huge salad bar everything you can think of and more, then a pasta bar, lunch meat & cheese, soups, breads, desserts and ice cream all three of us had buffet and a large drink for $22.00. I would recommend this to anyone in the area of Belz Outlets. I didn't get much nothing caught my eye this time, my mother got a lot a shirts to take home and some Goofy stuff for my brother, my daughter found a nice bag to carry her new $700.00 camera in at one of the bag stores (she's to old now for Disney stuff) $19.99 marked down from $60. I wanted to make the Welcome party this trip because we missed it in Oct. So we leave the outlets after a couple hours of shopping and go back to villas to freshen up. The party was nice all three of us had a great time there was a band "The Westgaters" me and Christina got a kick out of their name. We all enjoyed the band they were good and did a lot of skits one was the Blues Brothers really good. Food was good boneless chicken (my favorite) wings, chips and salsa, cheese, etc. and free wine and beer. My mom will not drink anything with alcohol me and my daughter had some wine it was good after the stressful start we had today. Back to room us three girls talked and lights out at 12:00am. End of our long and wonderful day arrival day. Day # 2
Set wake up call for 6:30 we were up and out the door by 8:30 for our 8:45 ps at 1900 Park Fare. We got there at 8:45, we really like this new road to WDW. I was surprised at the line to enter even with ps ressies we waiting maybe 20-30 minutes. We took pictures with the Mad Hatter in the lobby. When inside we saw Mary Poppins, Dopey (he was funny), Snow White & Alice got pictures with them all. The food was great the omelet bar was the best there was everything you could want for breakfast there, total for 3 was $56.00. Mom wanted to valet park so this was a first for us, (I prefer to park myself because I always carry stuff in the car) so it was funny we had no idea of what a tip should be so we took a gamble and gave him $3.00 it was all we had except a $20.00 and I knew that was high. My daughter wanted pictures by the old car in front so we did this while we waited for our car. We left there at 10:45 headed to MGM. I planned this park for our first full day for a few reason, 1) Day after early entry. 2) Less walking for first day, easier on mom's feet ( break them in slowly). 3) Lots of shows to give my mom a rest. 4) Good park choice for a late start ( due to character breakfast, it was well worth it!) 5) Of the 4 parks I thought MGM would be a good start I didn't want my mom to think all the parks were like MK or Epcot. MGM has a good balance of shows & rides. It turned out to be a good choice of park for her first day. We arrive about 11:00 as we get off the tram Goofy and a few others were out, Goofy is my mothers favorite so we go for pictures and during one Goofy hits my mom in the head with his chin, it was funny. So now we are off to the park I go to enter first so I can show them how to use their tickets and my AP would not work. I had a feeling of this cause it has been a year since I bought it but I first used it in Oct. So off to Guest Relations it took the CM about 20 mins as he was correcting this we got lots of pictures of the characters posing for us on their way back in. Ok good Ap in hand we go back to enter and now the line in way out to where the characters were. Everyone that was getting pictures is now entering so it took us 15 more minutes to enter. We are in the Park it's now 11:10 we (I) decided to rush to the 11:15 Beauty and The Beast show. This was a good idea theater was empty and we had great seats. After show we get two fast passes for Tower of Terror and Rock -n- Roll Coaster. I could do this with all 3 of our tickets and I had an extra ticket with a few days left so we got 4 fast passes. We did Great Movie Ride and Bear in the Blue House with little waits now it's time for our fast passes. Mom decides to wait on a bench rather then walk back, in 45 minutes we returned to the bench, I think that was good for 2 major rides. I don't do coasters or crazy rides I get sick in the circle vision movies, I promised my daughter I would go on a few with her but this was to be at the end of the day not at 12:30 in the middle of the day. Our FP for TOT was first so we go there, this was not bad at all I will do this ride again. I was going to back out of RNRRC but my daughter said come on and a lady in the Beauty and The Beast show said it wasn't bad just goes fast. Well, I don't mind fast that was good but I can't take the upside down, I will NEVER do this ride again I screamed the whole ride with my eyes shut so tight they hurt. My daughter tells everyone I screamed as if I was being killed with a knife and the young boys if front of us got a show. We were in the second seat and I must of looked bad coming off cause the CM asked if I was ok and I said NO and he said it gets better with time-I don't think so!! When we got off we entered a shop with t shirts that said I survived RNRRC I told my daughter they should have shirts that say I barely made it and didn't survive RNRRC. I did some ok pin trades in all this travel so far but was disappointed in the pin trading it was much more active in Oct. And I thought it would still be going strong. The CM's all had on the same common pins and not many guests were into it now. In Oct. Everyone had on a pin lanyard or a vest and hat with pins but this trip I ran into maybe 10 guests total. I traded really good pins for common ones I didn't want to bring the doubles I had back home. Next was Animation 15 min. wait, Backlot had 20 min. we passed for now to the HISTA playground took some pictures and then did Sounds Dangerous little wait. We stayed to watch the Mulan Parade, we had a FP to Little Mermaid but we missed that and had to get another one. Backlot tour next little wait we had 45 mins. to our FP for LM so I went to switch our PS at 50's Prime Time to a later time we weren't hungry yet after 1900 Park Fare earlier. They only had 7:15 and told me they didn't think we would be done in time for Fantasmic and I really wanted to do this tonight so we chanced it and booked the 7:15. We went to do LM and returned early for our ps at 6:50 we were seated at 7:30 and ordered right away we knew what we wanted because we had 40 min. to look at the menu in the waiting room. We told our waiter Anas we wanted to catch Fantasmic and he took care of us. I like this restaurant food was good as it was in Oct. and it's lots of fun our waiter picked on us cause we're from NY and in a hurry. He was having a fun time with a little boy about 4 from CA that sat by us. Another waiter also came to our table to harass my daughter about being in the Navy cause he was too and if she did well could be a good waiter like him. My mom had a good time here and ate all her food too usually she never finishes her food, total for 3 was $58.00. We are on a mission to catch Fantasmic, now at this time my mothers feet are hurting some and we need to hustle to make Fantasmic my daughter jolts ahead which makes mom nervous but I stay with her keeping Christina in site and walking a fast pace. As we enter the CM tells everyone standing room only we continue anyway thinking with only 3 of us we should find somewhere to at least sit mom down. We arrive at 8:15 and there's plenty of room in the section we sat in Oct. with the meal deal. I tried to change our ps to a dinner package when I had to correct my ticket and there was nothing for today. I'm really glad about that now because I really wanted to eat at 50's Prime Time not Mama Melrose's I knew my mom would enjoy it more and she did. Show was great we all liked it, we took our time on way out and did some shopping. Mom did really well today kept right up with us her feet hurt a little and she said she isn't bringing as much to carry tomorrow, today she brought her water bottle, video camera and 35mm camera. She is doing better then I thought she would and having a great time. It's really nice to see your mom and daughter experiencing WDW for the first time. These are special memories for all 3 of us. Back to room in the dark we got a little confused where the short cut road was so we took WDW drive to rt 192 the way I know. Tomorrow we pay more attention to land marks and have no problem after tonight. Back to Villa I organize my pins read a little and lights out at 12:00. End of our first full Disney day with more to come. PS: I sort of sad as I type this tonight, I just returned from dropping her at the airport today to return to Japan and I won't see hurt for another year. Day # 3
Wake up call at 6:30 up at 6:45 Breakfast at Westgates by 8:30 it was nice cereal, bagels, muffins, breads, fruits, coffee, juice etc. We are on the tram to MK at 9:15 good timing for us. We head to AE wasn't sure how my mom would due on this one she doesn't like the dark we explain it to her and all was fine she enjoyed it. We did Buzz, Winnie the Pooh, Snow White, Peter Pan, Small World & Lion King by 12:45 we are at the Crystal Palace not too bad for us three ladies. As we are waiting to enter a lot of people were turned away they were booked for the day, so if you have a question about ps MAKE THEM and cancel if you need to. This happened many times during our trip and I didn't feel the parks were that crowded. We were seated by 1:15. I like the way the characters go around the restaurant and the waiter explains it to you this was nice you knew when they would arrive so you could go to the buffet or ladies room without missing any. We liked this buffet the best lots of different choices there were two types of hot pastas and both were great and the chefs vegetables were excellent most buffets have common veggies and these were the best I ever had at a buffet. Total for 3 $56.00. We all agree this is a must for every trip!!!! We are out by 2:15 now we want to get a spot for the Parade, train station was packed and it was hot & humid today so I was looking for a shady spot we found one but we couldn't stay there. We ended up with a spot in the sun in front of Hall of Presidents, good spot we waited about an hour I tried to get mom to sit down on the benches out of the heat but she didn't want to hear about it she was waiting at the front line with us. This was a good spot sunny but good, it always amazes me how we can wait an hour in the sun but people come last minute and think they should get right in front of you. We held our ground on the front line and was pushed some but stood our ground. We got good pictures and both my mom and daughter were amazed at this parade I knew they would be. After parade we turn around and enter HOPresidents to get in the air out of the heat for awhile. Mom liked this one daughter wasn't impressed. I made sure we saw it this trip just in case it's not there later. Haunted mansion was next no wait. At this time my daughter buys a hat at the hat shop with her charge card (She doesn't know it yet but leaves her card there). Now we decided to enter the 4:45 Diamond Horseshoe Saloon Show because a show is just about to start. We sit in the booth to the right of the stage good to see on stage but can't see when they go onto the floor. As we are watching the show one of the actors says at least it's dry in here we look out the door and it's pouring, we had no idea it was going to rain it was beautiful all day. By the time the show is over it's lightly raining we go into the Country Bears and it stopped raining when we got out. Next was Pirates, Tiki birds little waits, Jungle cruise has a 45 min posted and we didn't want to back track for a FP it didn't look that bad so we enter line we are on and off the ride in a total of 20 min. Mom is in an awe now, just amazed at everything I knew MK would do this to her. As we exit Jungle Cruise it was getting dark again we knew it would open up again soon, so we walk towards main street to get under cover. It started raining again just as we reach Crystal Palace. We shopped some in the Main Street stores out of the rain it was crowded everyone was doing the same thing. We went in Exposition Hall did some pin trades, it had stopped raining so we went to get on the train for a ride around the park it was about 7:00 and it was closed. Now my daughter just flew home from a tropical Island and she was cold all the time if we had a breeze or went in air condition and with the rain it was worst, she also doesn't like crowds so she was getting cranky which I told her so. I made her make a decision at this time what she wanted to do next, stay and finish up Tomorrowland or return to our villas for the night. A lot of the crowds had left due to the rain so she decided to finish Tomorrowland and IMO it wasn't that crowded today to begin with. We did Timekeeper my mom got all excited about the circle vision movie and really liked this, then we did Transit Authority with no waits. Space had a 20 min. wait and I wasn't going to chance Space after RNRRC experience yesterday, I still wasn't over that. Christina said she didn't want to wait and FP was out of the question to long of a return time, so we left at 8:30. We stopped to get some supplies for our villa, eggs, bread, juice, soda, and 2 bottles of wine. All 3 of us called home, at this time is where my daughter realized she didn't get her charge card back from the hat shop. She calls her fiancé with her charge card because he is in Thailand on an exercise and phone cards don't work well that far away. So tomorrow we need to call to find her card. We all got on our suits and went in the jacuzzi and me and my daughter had some wine. Well my daughter had much more wine then I did she released all the stress that was building up (this is what she told us the next morning) from the many hours on a plane and rushing to do everything in one day before we got on another plane to get here. She was really funny we stayed up doing wash and talking until 3:30am luckily tomorrow was a non-park day so we could sleep in. End of another long and wonderful day at Disney. Day # 4
Today was our non-park day open to do what we wanted, I didn't take any notes this day so bare with me on this one. My daughter's fiancé called from Thailand at 7:15 and we didn't get to bed till 3:30, I got her up and that wasn't easy and she was on the phone with him until 9:00 and at that time the message beeper went off when she hung up and I had to shut it off in the dinning room my phone wouldn't shut it off. I went back to bed and we woke up at 11:00. Made breakfast in the villa egg sandwiches and finish washing cloths. I called WDW to see if my daughter's charge card had been turned in it took a lot a calls & transfers to finally get through and they had it in the lost & found. We had to be there before 7pm. We decide to get ready and go to the water park first thing we all wanted to do this especially because we had our free passes to Water Mania that they gave us when we checked into Westgates. So we're off and at the park about 1pm, we stay until 2:30 and we are ready to go, I'm not much of a water park person so this was more then enough for me. We stooped at the Las Vegas buffet for lunch this was an excellent choice great off-site food, they had everything you could thing of and it was good too. Total for 3 with a lemonade each was $24.00. I would recommend this place if you are looking to feed a hungry family at a good price and eat good food. We all wanted to try the flea Market on rt.. #192 so today was the day we looked in all the buildings. My daughter got two cute Disney outfits for her friends two children in Seattle, she is stopping there on her way back to Japan to spend a few days, also some good deals on make up. I got a cute school bus I didn't have yet and we got a couple of other things I can't remember now. Now we are off to Walmart to drop off our film to be developed the 24 hours wouldn't be done until tomorrow morning but this was ok with us we just wanted some done before we left for home. Did some more grocery shopping and my mom and daughter found some good buys on cloths too. It was getting late now and we have ressies for the Pirate dinner show tonight. We thought we were late because they said preshow started at 6:30 and to be there by 7:15 we arrive about 7:25 and the preshow was still going on. They had nachos, cheese, vegetables & dip and more stuff I can't remember out to snack on while you wait we were still full from the Las Vegas buffet earlier so we only tried some of the veggies and dip and it was good. The food was ok but not that good, show was ok not as good as Capones. We had a hard time hearing what they were saying and as we were being served and starting eating it got real dark as the show started we joked with the waitress and she said it gets even darker we didn't like this at all. I'm a picky eater and WILL NOT eat anything I can't see, it got lighter later on but the food was cooled down then. I would not recommend this dinner show to anyone. They do have a d-jay after and you can stay and dance and party but we were tried from the late night last night and wanted to go back to the villa and get some sleep so we could get an early start the next morning. Lights out at 11:30. The end to another great day in Florida. Day # 5
Wake up call at 6:30 we are doing good today out the door at 7:45 on our way to Westgates breakfast. I ask everyone what they think, meaning we are off to a good start should we do AK today instead of Epcot we all agree this was a good idea. We get to the pool area were there's breakfast all set up and it doesn't open until 8:00 I never paid attention to this because I never seem to get there that early. We wait the 15 minutes and I get my bagel this has become a habit for me, cereal for my daughter and mom with danish and muffins. Now we are on our way to AK at 8:20 I miss the exit on the new short cut road and we are upon the entrance for Epcot so we all agree to go back to the original itinerary so we arrive early for Epcot instead of late for AK. We had our picture taken in front of Spaceship Earth then onto it with no wait off to Test Track mom waits outside on bench she decided not to adventure TT we had a 15 min. wait when we exit it's up to 30 min. my daughter & I both enjoyed this ride, it was much better then in Oct. due to it broke down twice while we were on it and it never hit top speed. Energy was closed so we headed to the Wonders of Life Building saw Janitors on the way. We did Body Wars with little wait mom & I had a whole show to ourselves because I asked for a seat that didn't move for mom and I always get dizzy on this ride so I went with her my daughter was going to come with us but I sent her on her way to the moving seats. She loves all the crazy rides and she even felted a little dizzy, so if you're not sure about this ride ask for a non-moving seat. Next we saw Cranium Commend mom thought this was cute and really liked it. Mom and daughter did the Audio sounds and I got a cute picture of the two of them with their headphones on. We decided to skip the Making of Me all 3 of us know all about this already. Now we're off to the other side and see HISTA no wait walk right in, this was so funny to see both my mom and daughter when the mice come out my daughter cross her feet in the chair and wouldn't put them down again and mom took off her glasses and wouldn't wear them after the snake bit. It was so cute to see their reaction for the first time, they had no idea. Next was journey Into Your imagination little wait, I liked the old version better but for someone who never saw the old version it was ok. Along our travels in Future World we went into Ice Station Cool and we all tried the Beverly, I had to taste it for myself too. I had them try others first so they wouldn't be afraid to after Beverly their faces were so funny when they took that first sip I knew better and only took a little it is bitter tasting. Now it's 11:30 and I wanted to get to the Norway ride before the wait was long so we headed to World Showcase. We went into Mexico and did the boat ride mom again is just amazed at what Disney does she keeps saying "I can't believe it" and says this many times during our trip. She especially liked the fireworks at the end, as we exit the Huitzilin show is just getting set up so we stay and watch, Now off to Norway I need to get two of those Almond cookies they are so good and at $1.70 for 2 not badly priced either, mom gets a fruit cup, my daughter doesn't want anything sweet she wants something at Chinese Cuisine so she gets a noodle dish. Small wait for the boat ride 10 min. We did the China movie mom likes the circle vision movies, then we did the American Adventure mom got excited over this one she loves anything with history, Christina started falling asleep I have to admit I had a hard time keeping my eyes open for the whole show too, mom said the same thing when we came out. They I did some pin trading and buying at the pin station. We walk around the World Showcase and reach Japan about 2:30 and we have ps for 3:45 so I check to see if we can get seated early and no problem they weren't crowded. We all loved this place, thanks for all the advice to try it, I'm sure glad we did. I had the Tori, mom and Christina had the chicken & beef combo can't remember name. I'm a vegetable lover so it was real good I also enjoyed the dips they give you, I would highly recommend this restaurant. This is the one receipt I can't find but total for 3 was about $45.00 with tip, lunch prices were a lot less then dinner, my daughter says in Japan when they eat at a restaurant like this it's about $25-$30 per person so $11.00 for Tori was a great deal I guess. Mom was really tried at this point she liked Epcot but didn't enjoy it as much as I thought she would because of all the walking. At Epcot that is a problem you do a lot of walking and there isn't many shows or attractions to give you a break. I could really see the difference in mom here. We walked to get to an attraction (China) and she had to lean against a pole to watch the movie she didn't like this. She loved the circle vision movies but couldn't stand to watch the two on this side on the World Showcase so we skipped France and Canada. At this point we just walked to Millennium Village looking at all the Flower and Garden displays. I know mom's feet were hurting when she didn't even want to shop in the different shops. At MV I was surprised at the two changes I noticed since Oct. now you just walk in, when we were there each country had an introduction before you entered, they also do not let you in the Brazil display they had it roped off. We did get to do the Israel ride this trip it was broke down in Oct. Again I asked for the non-moving seat and this ride had a special section that didn't move so mom sat in there while me & Christina had moving seats right behind her and she had a chance to get off her feet for awhile. Then we did Circle of Life & Food Rocks mom liked both of these, the boat ride line was too long so we didn't wait we will get to do it when we return. It was getting late and mom needed a break so we decided to go and get Christina's charge card at lost & found at the TTC we had to be there before 7pm. We figured we would hop the monorail to MK and back this would be the easiest way, mom said she would wait there on a bench in the shade while we did this task, this was a good idea. It would have been too much for mom to walk up and down the monorail ramps with her feet hurting. So we get this done and return in no time and we exit the park. We all agreed we would return on Friday to catch Tapestry Of Nations Parade and illuminations 2000. When we left NY on Sunday we had high temps of 90's really unusual for NY this time of year, so it felt good when we arrived on Sunday it wasn't bad 80's, By Wednesday it's really starting to get hot now, it was hitting the high 90's hot & humid and stayed this way until we left on Sunday. We went down rt #192 to get our pictures from Walmart and I was also looking for the Harley shop to get my better half a Harley t-shirt it's the only thing he asked me to bring back and he is house sitting and watching my cats so I had to find one. It felt good to be in the AC in the car so the drive was nice and hardly no traffic. Christina was also looking for an Internet connection to reach her friend in Seattle she had sent her an e mail before we left NY but she didn't get a reply yet and she was worried if she didn't get to check her mail her server would start deleting files for her because she receives so many e mails per day. We were surprised that Westgates didn't have any, they sent us to Celebration to the Library and we found it but it was closed so my daughter wrote down the times for tomorrow. So no internet or Harley shop but we did get our pictures and had fun looking at them in the Poly lobby. Now it's 8pm so I decided to stop by the Poly to check on Internet connection and to see the Electric Water Parade and the Fireworks. We get a quick bit to eat I get a cupcake, mom gets the Hot Dog she has been talking about and had a taste for and Christina gets a hamburger I also got a wine cooler and didn't realize it was $3.75 until I cashed out. We all enjoyed relaxing on the Poly beach eating and watching the parade and fireworks it was a nice end to the evening. They told as at the Poly that the only hotels with Internet connections are the Contemporary and Grand Floridian. So we decided to stop in on the ride home at the Contemporary and a CM checked for us and said at the Business something (can't remember what they called it) there's an internet connection and we didn't see it listed on any of the levels and didn't want to ask at the front desk because we were not staying there so we left. I was disappointed that there wasn't any shows with characters in the America Gardens Theater during the day they only offered the live music shows starting at 4:30, I really wanted mom to see Disney's International Songbook I knew she would love this and I was looking forward to it. Lights out at 11:45 I stayed up and read some and updated my notes for my trip report. Another wonderful Disney Day. Day # 6
We were up and heading out the door at 8am this is really good for us, no breakfast this morning just toast before we left villa. We drive straight to AK no problems missing road today, there's a lot of people entering it looked as if it would be crowded today, it was also very hot already. I had already warned everyone that it would be hot in AK because I have been there twice before and it always seems even hotter in AK due to all the plant life, so we were prepared for this and had already decided we were going to do the must see stuff and leave early to go to the Library so Christina could get her mail on line. We had Sat. we were going to park hop and could return then. We head straight for the Safari ride looking at things along the way we get a fast past for 9:40 and someone said the line wasn't bad so we get the idea to go through and then do it again with the fast pass. Well the line took awhile we were done at 9:40 we had a nice safari lots of animals out and a good guide. Mom thought the poacher story was real at first the way our guide said they come in here to hunt animals she was a little upset when she heard this so I told her it wasn't real to just wait to see what happens I loved moms reaction on the bridge, it was so funny. We decided to go to the first Lion King show at 10:00 instead of our fastpass we walked fast because I thought the first show might be crowded. Mom had a hard time keeping up and as we always seem to do now Christina (who walks fast all the time) walks ahead of us to get in line and I stay with mom but she really wants to catch up to Christina but she can't walk that fast and I keep telling her not to worry Christina won't lose us. We get there about 9:50 not crowded when we got there but by 10:00 it was packed good thing we got there when we did, we had good seats in the lion section about 3 or 4 rows up and near an exit. Show was great as it always is mom loves it and says again "she can't believe it". We sat near an exit so we could get right out and head to the Pocahontas show at 10:40. We get there a good time and find seats in the shade to our right us we walk in. We didn't realize they weren't the best seats due to Mother Willow tree looks to the other side but it was nice to be in the shade. Mom liked the show all we all liked the animals, I think this show is so cute. Now were off to Dinosaur stand by line was long 45 min. wait so we got a fastpass for 12:25 we had about an hour before fastpass. We were now getting hungry so we decided to go to Pizzafari for lunch while we wait for our fastpass. It looks crowded but it wasn't too bad, I don't think a lot of people realize there's more then one room. We save a table first so we are not walking around with our food looking for one. We get the Penne noodle dish for $5.95 with salad and bread it was pretty good and I don't usually like this type of food out. As we were eating a young boy acted up on his mother something about the stroller, he was about 3 or 4 and had some fit. She took him out of the room to get him to quiet down and when she returned someone took her table and she did leave her stroller and stuff there I felt sorry for her. It was only about noon now but it was already really hot and you could see the boy was red and over heated. We return for our Dinosaur fastpass and it felt good to walk by all the regular line and get right on. We didn't say to much to mom about this ride we wanted her to try it and I knew she would be ok. I remember it was dark but I had forgotten how scary it could be and mom doesn't like things jumping out at her. Well we all made it through and the pictures were so funny to look at, mom is with her head down and her eyes closed just like I was on Rock -n- Roll Roller Coaster so I knew how she felt. It was so cute to see the pictures of the little kids holding onto their mom or dad, we never bought any of the ride pictures but got a kick at looking at them this was almost as much fun as the rides. After Dinosaur we do the tiger trail I wanted some pictures of the tigers because on my Oct. Trip we did KRR first and I dropped my camera in the water so needless to say it was broke when we went on the trail. We didn't see many Bats but the few we did see seemed to be fanning themselves with their wings to keep cool. We saw more activity with the tigers then I thought we would this time of day in the heat, one was just laying in the water and he got up and out while we were there and we also saw two of them playing for awhile. They are so cute I could watch them all day but we had to get going. We checked KRR and stand by was long 1 hour and fastpass was too far away because we wanted to leave early and none of us was thrilled with the idea of getting wet so we skipped it this trip. Now on to It's tough to be a Bug, we all loved looking at the tree of life as we walked towards the show this is one fun waiting area. It was a long line but went real quick, as we enter and the CM hands us our glasses and mom goes not another 3-D. I explain it's not as bad as HISTA it's cute. She tells me she doesn't like things jumping out at her, she leaves the glasses on for a short time and when I looked over she had them off. We all liked the show. This is a must do for me I love all the 3-d movies and mom watched them but wasn't crazy about them. We all agree it's time to leave because we wanted to take a break today to be able to catch Tapestry of Nations parade and Illuminations tonight that is why we skipped the Farewell BBQ at Westgates. We want to go to the villa and swim in the pool and the outside whirlpool before we go to Epcot but first my daughter wants to go to the library. We get there about 2:45 and they closed early today because it's Friday and they close right after classes this wasn't posted yesterday when my daughter checked. They give her another library to go to so we are off and I wanted to find the Harley shop too. We go with the directions she told my daughter and it looks like a road to nowhere so we stop at a fruit stand to double check. The lady at the school library said it wasn't that far and then at the fruit stand after already driving 15 mins. they tell us we're going the right way just keep going it's a while, we finally find it 30 mins later and we were moving down the road. My daughter goes in as mom and I look through some brochures and she's right back out and they won't let her on line because she wasn't a local student why didn't they tell us that before they sent us there. Now it's 40 mins back to rt #192 and I go a little further down and finally find the Harley shop so at least the trip wasn't wasted. I get two Harley t-shirts and we are on our way back to our villa. We have a good time in the pool I stayed a short time and that was enough for me I just wanted to get wet. I get bored just hanging out by a pool it's not my cup of tea, I like to stay busy and wanted to take a shower and get ready for Epcot. So we all go back to our villa and get ready. We arrive at Epcot about 6:30 or so and went straight to the energy building and it was working today. Mom liked this one a lot and again she keeps saying " I can't believe it". Next we go to the Land building and do the boat ride again mom "can't believe it" Christina is not impressed with this. I stopped at the Pin station and ask about the Flower & Garden pin and was told to go to Canada and they think they are out. I had checked also yesterday when we were here and it was too far away to backtrack, I thought for sure they would have it at the pin station. It's now getting late and we want to get a spot for TON parade and eat some dinner we decide on the Cantina I never plan it but I believe I have eaten here every trip it's fast food but good (IMO) and prices are good too. The line is long we get a table by the wall I thought it was good, mom & I get in line to get our food while Christina saves the table. We are up and ordering our food as TON begins and believe it or not people came in between our table and the wall to watch the parade as we were eating. Mom was a little (a lot) upset with this she didn't want to eat with others behinds in her face, they were not even eating there and we were paying customers trying to eat our meal we paid for. Ok I'm off my soapbox now. We didn't enjoy TON at all I could hear the music but that was it as soon as it was over everyone left. At least we had ok seats for Illuminations I had gotten one Margarita for me and Christina to share at the Cantina line because they didn't have the rainbow ones I love. I only really had to have three things this trip the Almond cookies (done) Epcot Margarita's (now done) and a dole whip(still need to get). As we are waiting for illuminations Christina goes up in the Margarita line to get us two rainbow's (they were out so settled for regular) she waited a long time and when she was ordering the Cm asked for the second ID. She didn't have mine with her and she couldn't get out of line, what made her mad was the young gentlemen in front of her got two and he never said nothing to him but questioned her. Now she is 24 but doesn't really look that old but she had her ID. When she comes back I said all that time and you only got one and she tells us the story and the line was too long to go back into and wait. My mom sees how upset Christina is at the fact that she was questioned but the men were not, so now mom goes with her up to the front of the line that Christina did already wait her turn in and asked the CM "do I look like I need an ID", the Cm says no and they pay for the second Margarita. These are good and I finish mine quickly, now I don't drink hardly at all so I was laughing and having a good time at this point. Mom & Christina loved Illumination and before it stated everyone put down the umbrella's on the tables. When it was over we waited for the crowds to leave as we sat and finished are drinks. We decide to stop at Downtown Disney for a quick look we were ready to go with the break we had today. Christina does not like Disney characters on her stuff she was tried and her knee was hurting and she wanted to wait and listen to music in the car. We only went to the World of Disney I got a picture frame some pins and the watch I was checking out at all the parks but wanted to wait until I got my discount. It's a blue face watch with Donald, goofy and Mickey and 2000 on the face, it came with a figure of the fab four to hang watch on for $95.00 I have 1763 of 5000 I wear it and I'm not saving it so this means nothing to me, my total was about $250.00 with my 10% discount. I can't remember all mom bought because I had stopped taking notes but I know she got the same frame, a t-shirt for my sister in law and some pins too. Back to the villa and lights out at 1:00am. The end of another great Disney adventure. Day # 7
This is our last full day of Disney, we had planned to go to 3 parks and do what we missed or wanted to do again, our main goal was to be at MK for the MSEP. I canceled our PS for 1900 Park Fare and 50's Prime Time we were lucky enough to have done both of these earlier in our vacation. We were to meet our host to do our comment report on the resort at 9:00, we had rescheduled this from Wednesday because we slept in, so we were up and in the lobby by 9:00. As luck would have it he wasn't on duty today I had called and left a message we were available today only and never confirmed if he was, so this was good news we just took the card with us to fill out and we are off. We decided to get a good reasonable priced breakfast before we start our day and then just snack until our dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern at 5:40. We stopped at Shoney's buffet total was only $20.00 for three and it was good with lots of choices. We arrive at MGM at 11am main attractions here not to miss was Muppets 3-D & Star Tours so we look at the board and no wait. On our way they are just letting in for Doug Live I wasn't sure if mom & Christina would like this and at first they say no they didn't want to, I explain a little about it and we have plenty of time and I talk them into it and they both love the show. Next we get a Fastpass for Star Tours and go to the 12:00 show of Hunchback of Notre dame we had good seats in the middle section, good show as always and mom loved it. Now we go to Muppet Vision 3-D and mom is oh no not another 3-D as they hand us the glasses. I explain to her that this one really isn't as scary as the other two it's more geared towards little kids with the Muppets and this time she keeps her glasses on the whole show and she liked it. It's now time for our Star Tours fast pass we walk right up this is so cool. I ask for a non moving seat and they tell us we would have to return later well this wasn't an option for us and mom says she will just go on the ride. We get front row seats and I'm not crazy about this ride and get dizzy so I look down for a lot of the parts and explain to mom to do the same if she feels dizzy, we all survived the ride. We drive to TTC to park and then we hop on the monorail to go to Epcot we are there by 2:00. I really hope to be in MK by 5pm to catch to Carousel of Progress before dinner as in closes at 5pm. We didn't have much to do in Epcot so we should make it. We go straight to the Land boat ride and food rocks and Living Seas Building and see everything we wanted to there. At 4:45 we are in transit to Mk it was getting close and not sure if we would make CoP but we arrive hop on monorail and walk fast and we are there in plenty of time. Mom was tried after the fast walk so it was good she was able to rest in the show. We all loved the show I especially like the dog he is so cute. It's time for dinner and we are hungry by now I have eaten at Liberty Tree Tavern before and I knew they would love it. As I give our name a family is trying to make ps and are told there's nothing available in MK for tonight we ran into this a lot this trip, I'm sure glad I had my ps for where we wanted to eat. We see all the characters some even twice. Pluto is so funny he comes to our table when we first get there so we get to see him twice and he rubs our heads and it messes up my daughter's hair it was funny. He gets on his knees and kisses my mothers hand. We get pictures with all the characters and our waiter even gets a picture with all 3 of us with Minnie. We are out by 6:30 the total for 3 was $65.00 with tip. We get a fast pass for Splash Mt. this will be another first for me this trip, our time is between 9:30 and 10:30 this is good we can watch the MSEP then go to Splash. Off to catch the round trip on the WDW train we are done by 7:00 now to BMTRR 30 min. wait we are off by 7:35. Mom saved our parade spot since 7:00 it was already getting crowded so we wanted to make sure we had a good spot for MSEP this was our last night and we couldn't chance missing it tonight. We sat on the wall across from the walk way to Splash and BMTRR, it was a great spot no one is allowed to stand there so you don't get crowded out. It was extremely crowded ( so the CM's were telling everyone and you could tell by looking around) and we enjoyed the parade and had front row seats for pictures. I would recommend this location but you must get there early and hold your spot if you move you will lose it. At one point my mom had to use the ladies room and guests were trying to fit in her spot and there was only enough room for one there. I had to keep telling everyone (about 15 times this happened) my mom will be right back and we did put a backpack in the empty spot. It was funny and we had a blast just watching people trying to find a spot at the last minute and thankful we have a good spot to see the parade. As we are waiting I get talking to a couple next to me and we do the usual where you from they were from Yonkers NY and I go to explain where we live in the Hudson Valley and she says no need we know right where it is. They also go to Lake George yearly too, they are time share owners and DVC members so we get talking about the ins and outs of owner ship and it made a nice evening even better. Now on the other side my mom is in a long conversation with a women behind us that got separated from her family across the street and couldn't get back to them. Can you tell we like to talk to people? Me and my daughter went and got Dole whip cones and a dole whip float for mom she deserved it after saving our spot, she enjoyed just resting off her feet for a while. We people watched while waiting for the parade to begin, I sure wouldn't want to be the CM controlling the parade crowd some people were so nasty to them as they roped off the area. We all loved the MSEP this was my daughters favorite thing at WDW. I think we even enjoyed it more due to the great seats we had I know I enjoyed it more then I did in Oct. and no heads in our pictures either was a big plus. After the parade Mom stays and watches everyone leaving as we go to Splash to use our FP I was a little scared after Rock -n- Roll Roller Coaster. I'm really afraid of the drop being really bad. I was getting a little upset to say the least but I loved the inside of the ride and it was well worth the trip. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and I will do Splash again. I forgot about the fireworks and we heard them as we were in line and mom got to see some in between the trees but we never saw Tinkerbell this trip. We are now getting ready to leave this is always the sad part for me leaving for the last time this trip. As always I took pictures of the Castle and Main St. on our way out. Well I didn't want to leave yet so I talk mom and Christina into going in Exposition Hall with me there is hardly no one in here. We take all kinds of pictures in the cut outs some in Steamboat Willie, Snow White etc. and in the car it was lots of fun. As we exit I find the CD maker and it took me awhile but I picked my 10 songs and push make CD. I realized when I paid for the CD it would take 15 minutes, so we wait I already took the time to pick the songs. I think I just was making an excuse to stay in MK longer (lol). As we are doing all this we see the second parade has already started and of course by the time we finished it had just finished so we didn't miss the crowds leaving as we had hoped to. My daughter was a little upset when she saw the crowds we decided to get in line for the boat it looked worst then it was, we only waited about 15 minutes. We had parked close so we didn't need the tram, our tram driver bringing us in warned us of the tram crowds and told us we should walk to our car so we did. We got a little confused but found our lot in no time but ran into a young lady and her daughter walking that had no idea even what lot they parked in only that it was close to the entrance, but she still had a positive attitude and that was really nice. We stopped so my daughter could buy phone cards and we get to our villa did wash, cleaning and packing and lights out by 2am at least we don't need to get up early tomorrow sadly we are checking out. The end of a very long and wonderful 3 parks in one day Disney adventure. Day # 8
Happy Mother's Day This is our sad day we must check out and fly home today luckily our flight isn't until 6:40 tonight so we have this Mother's Day to enjoy together. We set a wake up call for 8am I'm up earlier we packed most everything last night and did the last load of wash so we are pretty well set & ready to go. We have to check out by 10am we made all our calls on phone cards so I called the front desk and I check out over the phone this was good saved us waiting in line to check out. Mom was trying to get everything she bought in her suitcase and believe me this was not going to happen so we talked her into putting some stuff in a bag to carry on. We are off to our 10:40 ps at Whispering Canyon we all loved this place, it's really nice when you walk into the lobby to just stand and take it all in. I took a few pictures and my daughter was making fun of me. Our waiter was great he joked with us and everyone the whole time we were there, we had the place to ourselves there was only a few other tables that were occupied you could see they were getting ready for lunch. At one point he had two ladies from Chicago get up and lead a round of the Hookie Pookie it was lots of fun. My daughter had the all you could eat and only had one serving she only wanted the potato logs and the biscuit and gravy. I had the Grizzly and mom had the Humphrey and the total with tip and drinks was $33.00. We three ladies now wanted to go to Downtown Disney for some last minute shopping. I got a few Christmas ornaments I never can resist the Christmas shop but I did get the 2000 Christmas ornament I was glad to see it out already. We all did much more shopping then we should of, mom bought a nice Disney bag to carry everything in she bought. My daughter had room still in her suitcase and I just carried a extra bag on. It was getting late now and we didn't want to take a chance of missing the plane so we head to the airport. We had to get my daughters rental car from Florida rental and I haven't heard anything about this company and wanted to make sure all went well. This was the only company at a reasonable rate that would rent a car to my daughter at 24 all the other companies you had to be 25 or there was this huge surcharge per day. It all worked out well and she didn't have any problems at all. She made it to Newport Richie to stay 3 nights and 4 days with a friend and then she had to drive back to the airport to catch her flight on Wednesday 5/17 I was worried she might miss it but she didn't and was at the airport early, I was relieved when she called me at work and said she was there waiting for her flight. All did not go as well for me & my mom. We were at the airport in plenty of time, a first for me I'm always last minute. We had a nice dinner before our flight at Stinger Ray's our waitress was so nice and got our order to us quickly. Mom had a burger and I had the Teriyaki Chicken and it was good better then I had expected, total with tip and drinks (I had a Margarita) was $32.00. We go to our gate and all is fine we are in row 2 this was funny because I always seem to sit by a wing. Mom is doing good she took her pill to keep her calm while we ate and all was going fine we were just waiting to take off and it seemed like we should of already. Now the captain makes an announcement that we need to change planes due to a computer problem and there's a plane coming in at 7:25 that we should be able to board. A lot of people were complaining I work in transportation and as I always tell my employees "Safety Before Schedule" so this didn't really bother me I would rather be on a safe plane late then to have them not care and take off with a bad computer. So we all exit the plane and everyone goes to the phone it is now 6:55 we aren't expected in Albany until 9:40 but of course my ride and better half left early so I couldn't get him. Oh well he will find out when he gets to the airport I guess. We don't start boarding the other plane until about 8:30 or so, we all load back into our same seats a few less people I figure they had connecting fights and had to make other plans. Now it's 9pm we are all in our seats waiting to take off and we hear another announcement that this plane is having electrical problems you hear a big sigh and I tell mom "Safety Before Schedule" the last thing I want to do is pressure the pilot to take off in an unsafe plane. A mechanic comes in to try to correct the problem we wait a while and then they announce we are ok, everyone claps as the mechanic exits the plane. We take off about 9:15 or so and we are told we will make up time in the air guess there's no speed limit up there. LOL Other then getting off the ground luckily we had an uneventful flight. We arrive about midnight and have over an hours drive home, I need to get up at 4:30am for work and one of my dispatchers starts her vacation the Monday I'm due back. I will never approve a vacation like that again, if we got in at the planned 9:40pm it wouldn't have been so bad but I will never count on it as I did this trip. I've learned the hard way to keep that first day back open just in case something happens to delay my return in the morning. Needless to say going back to work with all my reports due and a staff member on vacation and only 3 hours of sleep it was a long week, I don't think I've caught up yet. I would like to thank everyone that posted info on the boards to make our vacation even more special. Thanks for reading my trip report and allowing me to share our Disney adventures with all of you. I always look forward to reading trip reports so I try to make the time to complete one from our trips. I know it has taken me a long time to post all 8 days but a lot has happened since we returned including a death in the family and my stepson's wedding next weekend that he just decided like 4 weeks ago it would be 6/10/00 you know how kids are. I'm also trying to recuperate from the sadness of my daughter leaving and returning to Okinawa Japan and I won't see her for another year and she will also miss her stepbrothers wedding she is a little sad he didn't plan it when she was home. At least at the end of my last trip in Oct. 99 I had already started planning this May trip but now we don't have another trip planned at this time. Maybe I can go for our next timeshare week in 10/01 that's something to look forward to. I can start working on my boyfriend now and maybe I will get him to agree. I didn't get to do some of the magical things I wanted to do this trip like the talking water fountains, the umbrella in MGM and I looked but still haven't found the ring at the Haunted Mansion. I will do these things next trip it was more important for my mother & daughter to have a great time and to see want they did of Disney and for us to just be together we have a lot a memories that will last our lifetime. Now it's back to reality!!!!!!!! Judy Falcon Autumnsam@aol.com Mail a Comment to Judy Falcon |
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