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Robin Goble -- November 2000 -- Walt Disney World (ASMoR, Offsite)November 4 - 11, 2000 CAST:
HISTORY This trip came about because my darling nephew had never seen the ocean (and you thought some of your excuses to go to WDW were thin!). Every year I try to take a trip with Michael--just he and I. This year he said he wanted to go to the beach. Living in Texas, I figured that we would go to Corpus Christi or Padre Island for a weekend trip but I never seemed to get motivated to get the trip going. Then one day it hit me...Florida has beaches...*and* Florida has DisneyWorld--how convenient is that?! I knew I didn't want to take Michael during the summer because of the crowds, but early fall is not an option for me either because I am a CPA and 9/15 and 10/15 are tax filing deadlines so I have to be working then. The end of October was also not possible because Michael's birthday is the 22nd and his mother's is the 26th. I finally settled on the first full week in November. Taking Michael out of school was not really an issue with me because he's a bright kid and could catch up easily. I got our plane tickets in June and, once the dates were set, began to narrow down my hotel choices. At first, staying on-site was not even a consideration. I knew most of the guidebooks recommended staying at a Disney property (because I bought most of the guidebooks!), but I could never seem to justify paying that much money for a room when you could get a larger room for less money off-site. The last time we were at WDW (1997) all eight members of my immediate family came and we stayed in Kissimmee at the Quality Inn and Suites. I always rent a car when I travel (did I mention that besides being obsessive/compulsive, I'm also a control freak?), so being farther away from the parks was not a problem. I like the Embassy Suites chain, but their Orlando locations seemed too expensive, so I finally settled on the Homewood Suites on International Drive for $85.00 a night with the Orlando Magicard discount. I had checked rates for Disney properties on their website, but none of the value resorts were available, and everything else seem too expensive. I originally made car rental reservations with Avis, but kept checking rates until I finally got the best one through National. I was pleased since it's one of the few rental companies that are actually on the airport premises. I got a full-sized car with their internet special of 15% off the weekly rate ($102.00 before taxes). It pays to keep checking with the car companies because they are constantly changing their rates and running specials. I tentatively scheduled us for 5 days at WDW, one at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure, and 2 days at the beach. I wanted a beach close to Kennedy Space Center because I thought Michael would really like to go there. I chose Cocoa Beach over Daytona because it seemed smaller and quieter and, although Daytona had more attractions and things to do, I didn't like the idea of Michael playing on a beach where people were allowed to drive their cars. (Oops! Here pops up the worry-wart aspect of my personality. I had originally thought about a Disney cruise, but, knowing Michael, was afraid he would fall off the boat. I have since learned that Disney child-proofs their ships with tons of plexiglass, so this is once again a consideration for a future trip). All my plans changed, however, one night while I was on Disney's website. On a whim, I put our travel dates in and, lo and behold, there was an availability at the All Star Movies Resort for four nights with 5 day unlimited magic passes. Michael loves the Toy Story movies and I thought he might enjoy a whimsical hotel instead of a plain old adult one. So, I did one of the few impulsive things in my life and booked the room. Now everything started falling into place. I cancelled my reservations at the Homewood Suites and booked one night at the Doubletree Castle so we'd be closer to Univ. Studios for our visit there. I chose the castle because I thought it might be fun for Michael and would ease us gradually out of the Disney withdrawal that I knew would come when our days there were over. By this time it was September and my mother was already dreading a week without her only grandchild. I had thought about asking her to go with us, but just last year she had total knee replacements done on both of her legs and this year had to have some additional knee surgery done in May when she sheared off the bolts that held her knee-cap on. A commando Disney vacation was certainly one thing that she did not need and, in reality, could not even do if she wanted to. The more I thought about it though, the more I felt that it might be possible. The last time we visited WDW, Mother was in desperate need of her knee replacement surgery. We had rented an ECV (electric scooter) for her each day at the theme parks, because she could not walk for any length of time without great pain, and it worked out well. I had built what I thought were a lot of rest breaks into our schedule because I knew that Michael couldn't keep going all day long without a rest. When I explained all of this to Mother she jumped at the chance. I quickly added her to our reservations. We decided to rent an ECV from an outside company in Orlando rather than risk not getting one at the parks since they have a limited supply. Deb Wills' web site (www.wdwig.com) had much useful information about touring WDW in a cheelchair or ECV. I arranged to rent an ECV from Walker Mobility ($228 for 6 days). They drop the ECV at bell services of the resort you are staying at before your arrival and pick it up from your resort when you are through. I believe there are several other companies that do the same thing. I would highly recommend Walker Mobility as we had no trouble at all with the ECV or their service. Deb Wills' site has contact information for Walker Mobility as well as two other companies. In our past trips to WDW, we had never eaten at any Disney restaurants other than counter service places, so I wanted to try some sit-down restaurants this trip. I decided on Rose & Crown to watch Illuminations, Tony's Town Square to watch the Main Street Electrical Parade, Chef Mickey's for a character breakfast, and 50's Prime Time Cafe and O'Hana's just because they sounded like fun. I later added another character breakfast at the Restaurantosarus in Animal Kingdom. Four days before our trip I faxed my room preferences to the All Star Movies Resort and all that was left to do was wait! Saturday, November 4, 2000 "Do they speak English here?" Plan: Arrive in Orlando, check in at All Star Movies (ASMo), lunch at food court, swim, go to MK, supper at Tony's Town Square (or ride attractions), and watch the MSEP. 5:00 am...Finally, it's time to get up! Actually, I had been waking up every hour since around 1:15. Mother said she woke up at 3:30am and couldn't go back to sleep. We left for the airport at 5:45 and arrived at 6:00. Michael and his parents were there waiting for us. We quickly checked in and went to our gate. At our gate I noticed that our boarding passes had us all sitting in different rows! I had confirmed our seats when I initially made the reservations and we were supposed to be in seats A, B & C of row 6. I went back to the ticket counter and explained that, while they could seat Michael with someone else if they insisted, I didn't think that the other person would be to keen on the idea of sitting with someone else's 7 year-old. The ticket agent heartily agreed and quickly changed us to the same row. The flight to Dallas was uneventful. I had originally thought that we would have time for breakfast between flights, but our flight to DFW arrived at Terminal A2 and our flight to Orlando was departing from Terminal C. It took a bus and a train to get us from A2 to C and we arrived just in time to board. Luckily, Mother had stocked her purse with cheese crackers, a lunchable, and cookies for Michael, so he ate and took a 30 minute nap before it was time to land in Orlando. As we were making our final descent into Orlando, Michael was asking questions about Orlando and Florida. In all seriousness he asked, "Do they speak English here?" Is he precious or what?! Our plane arrived on time at 1:00pm and we had our luggage and our rental car (National) by 2:00. We had no trouble finding our way to WDW and the All Star Movies Resort. We drove up at 2:30. Michael made a bee-line for the kids' area where they were showing 101 Dalmations. Check in took all of 5 minutes. Our room was not ready, but we were given a card with a phone number to call in about an hour to find out our room number. While we were waiting for our room, we stopped by Donald's Double Feature gift shop to pick up the millennium pins that came with our package. Michael spotted a pin he liked better on the Cast Member's lanyard and immediately traded. This was the first of what was to be many trades by Michael during our stay--he really got a kick out of it. Although Michael had eaten on the flight to Orlando and wasn't hungry, Mother and I were so we went to the food court for lunch. We both had cheesesteak sandwiches with fries and a piece of cake (one slice of lemon cake and one of carrot cake, then we both shared), and we picked up three of the refillable mugs for a total of $49.69. (The cost sounded horrible at first, but it did include $26.97 for the three mugs which were 8.99 each and we certainly got our money's worth out of them during the week.) The cheesesteak sandwiches were very good. While we were eating I gave Michael the $50 of Disney dollars that I had picked up at our local Disney store earlier. I explained to him that this was his money to spend on whatever he chose, without question from Mother or me. This prompted his immediate return to the gift shop to pick up a little pewter train ($8) that he had been eyeing earlier. By this time it was 3:30 and Mother and I were finished eating. I went to the car and got Michael's swimming trunks. He changed in the restroom while Mother and I refilled our mugs, and then we went out to the Fantasia pool. All of the All Star Resorts have two pools, but we never even saw the Mighty Ducks pool--the Fantasia one was too handy! The pool was quite large with plenty of lounge chairs and tables and chairs. There were always at least two life-guards on duty, and sometimes as many as four. I'm not sure what time (if ever!) the pool closed. We went by several times after 11:00pm and there were always life-guards there. There were also plenty of other kids for Michael to play with. It was nice just to relax and people watch for a while. At 4:20 I called the front desk to check on our room and it was ready. All of my requests were met (thanks to Deb Wills' site for info on faxing room requests): ground floor (so it would be easier for Mother to drive her ECV into the room to recharge the batteries), in the Toy Story section, with a view of Andy's Room! We were in the "Woody" building, room 9705. I went to move the car and carry in the luggage while Mother stayed at the pool and watched Michael. The room was small but very cute and I knew that Michael would love it. We couldn't have had a more convenient location to the pool (a high priority for Michael), playground, food court, laundry, gift shop, game room, etc. It looked like the Fantasia section would also be about as convenient and the 101 Dalmation section seemed to be fairly close. I thought our location was perfect. By this time, Michael was finished swimming and was hungry so, while he got dressed, I went to the food court and got pasta with alfredo sauce and mashed potatoes ($7.49), refilled our mugs (do you see a trend here?), and brought his food back to the room for him. We left for the Magic Kingdom at 6:15pm, but first had to stop at bell services to pick up Mother's ECV. She drove the scooter to the car and we then began the process of disassembling the ECV so it would fit in the trunk. The instructions claimed it could be taken apart in 30 seconds and, although it took us a tad bit longer than that our first time, we soon got the hang of it. Some of the parts were fairly heavy (probably 40 pounds or so), so a slighter person might have trouble lifting the parts into the trunk. Luckily, this was not a problem for me. We drove to the Ticket and Transportation Center (TTC), assembled the ECV and hopped on the ferry to the Magic Kingdom. We were on Main Street by 7:15. We had priority seating at Tony's Town Square at 7:00 for dinner and thought about seeing if we could still get in even though we were late, but since Michael had already eaten at the resort and was itching to ride something, we decided to skip it. It seemed too unfair to finally arrive at the MK only to have to sit in a restaurant and watch your aunt and grandmother eat! There was already a mob of people gathering for the 8:00 parade, so we decided our best bet would be Tomorrowland. We went to Buzz Lightyear, hoping to get a Fast Pass, but they were out. The stand-by line had a 25 minute wait, so Michael and I decided to tough it out and wait in the regular line, because we had never done Buzz before. Michael was very impressed with the queue and especially like the life-size talking Buzz. I thought the ride was cute, but Michael was a little frustrated with the laser gun. At the end of the ride his score was 1,200 and mine was 216,000. He was disappointed by this until I pointed out that his score qualified him to be a "Space Scout" which sounded like a lot more fun than the "Planetary Pilot" that I qualified for! After Buzz, we all rode the TTA with no wait. By this time, it was 9:00 and Mother and I were ready for supper. We went to Cosmic Ray's where Michael had a chicken sandwich with fries and a drink ($7.25) and Mother and I both had half of a stacked sandwich (ham, cheese, turkey, lettuce, tomato), potato soup, and a large diet coke ($16.69). At 9:30 we found a spot for the 10:00 parade and watched Cinderella's castle change colors until it was time to start. Mother and I had both seen the original MSEP years ago at Disneyland, so it was nice to see it again, although I think I like Spectromagic better. We had planned to hang around a bit after the parade was over while the crowd thinned, but the crowd didn't seem too terrible so we left immediately and took the ferry back to the TTC. At the TTC, Mother drove her ECV to the car while Michael and I took the tram. We were back at the resort by 12:00 and Michael was asleep by 12:03! I hurried to the food court to refill our mugs again (they close at 12:00, but there were still several people inside and I had no trouble getting in. Back at the room Mother and I split a Butterfinger and she went to bed while I showered and updated the trip notes. I called for a wake-up call for 6:00 the next morning. Setting up a wake-up call is all automated, which I thought was pretty neat. I was in bed by 1:30. Sunday, November 5, 2000 "I'm not too sure about this Kali River Rapids thing." Plan: Character breakfast at Restaurantosarus, Animal Kingdom, rest/swim in the afternoon, Epcot at night. The wake-up call came at 6:00am sharp. Mother answered the phone but didn't speak so all she heard was music. After our late night, Michael did not want to get up. I went to the food court to get some diet coke in our mugs. We left the resort about 7:05 and we parked, assembled the ECV, and were at the gate by 7:25. The All Star resorts sure are handy to Animal Kingdom (AK). While we waited at the gate to check in for our breakfast, I felt something hit me in the head. A few seconds later, something hit my arm. After a few more seconds, I heard Mother exclaim, "Ouch!" and rub her head. We finally figured out that, as birds landed in the tree we were standing under, they were knocking off these little acorn-like things that were pelting us! After that, we got a kick out of hearing other people yelp and seeing them rub their heads and look around to see what had hit them. We wondered how we would get to our 7:40 priority seating when the park didn't open til 8:00. At the far right entrance gate Cast Members checked your priority seating and ran your admission through the scanner. After several parties were checked in, a Cast Member (CM) would walk that group to the restaurant. Our CM was Karen and she led us at a very brisk pace, talking all the while and walking backwards. Once we got to the restaurant, we found out that the CM that escorts your group is also your server. These CM's had loads of energy. When we first arrived, we had our picture taken and were then seated at our table. Breakfast was very plentiful with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits, french toast, hash browns, dino-hash, egg burritos, gravy, pancakes (plain, blueberry, chocolate chip, and Mickey), bacon and cheese omlet, fruit, cereal, donuts, cookies, orange juice, milk, coffee, etc. Donald, Pluto, Goofy and Mickey were in attendance and came around often. We saw all of them at least twice. While I was taking Michael's picture with Mickey I said, "Smile and say 'Donald Duck'!" Mickey violently shook his head "no!" Breakfast for two adults and 1 child was $43.31 w/o tip. Our picture turned out good so we bought the package of 2 5x7's and 2 magnets for $26.50. While I was signing the check, Goofy sneaked up behind me and watched over my shoulder for a while. I charged the breakfast on my room key. We found this option to be very handy because you didn't have to carry around much money with you--just enough for any vendor snacks you wanted. By now, the rest of the park was open and Michael wanted to find a pin station so he could make some trades. He tended to trade for Mickey pins, and by the end of our trip, he had quite a collection. He bought an AK pin because he wanted to trade for a Mickey pin that the CM working at the pin station had. The CM wouldn't trade with him because she said she already had one of the AK pins. I said that I thought CM's had to trade and she said that she didn't have to if she already had that pin. I was less than amused and thought that she could have used a dose of pixie dust. I guess she could tell that I was not pleased--I mean, here's a 7 year-old that just wants to trade for a Mickey pin for crying out loud! So, as we were walking off, she finally said she would trade with him anyway. Once our pin trading was completed we headed for It's Tough To be a Bug (ITTAB). We walked right on and I regretted not having more time to enjoy the tree of life carvings. Mother had a hard time on her ECV with some of the sharp turns and inclines in this queue. While we were waiting to go in to the show, a CM pointed out a hidden mickey for us and talked about some charitable activities Disney was involved in and what a great company Disney was to work for. Now she definitely took her pixie dust before she came to work! Mother and I both thought ITTAB was very cute and we laughed at Michael trying to touch the 3-D creatures. When the villan bugs started attacking though, Michael decided that it was not so fun anymore and began to cry. Go figure. After ITTAB we hurried to Africa to get Fast Passes (FP) for the Kilimanjaro Safaris (KS). It was 9:50 and our return time was for 10:45-11:45. We decided to head for the 10:30 showing of Tarzan Rocks. On the way to the theater we spotted Tigger. I had bought Michael a disposable camera to take his own pictures with so he immediately grabbed his camera to get Tigger's picture. When Tigger saw Michael pointing a camera at him, Tigger bounced over and put his nose right to the lens of the camera. Michael snapped the picture anyway and Tigger laughed with the entire crowd at Michael's close-up. I had read in other trip reports that AK seems hotter than the other parks and it felt like it to us too. We grabbed a couple bottles of water on the way to Tarzan ($5) and were soon settled in our seats. Michael absolutely loved the show. He clapped his hands and sang along with all the songs. He loves Disney's Tarzan movie (in fact, I had just made him a Tarzan cake for his birthday a couple of weeks before) and he listens to the soundtrack all the time, plus, he has just gotten into in-line skating, so this show was a perfect combination for him. After Tarzan we headed back to Africa to use our FP for the Safari. We all enjoyed this ride. I knew about the poacher story-line from other trip reports and the RADP boards but I don't think Mother or Michael even noticed--they were too busy looking at animals. After the safari, we got some popcorn for Michael ($2.50) and went to Asia. The thing that impressed me the most with the AK is how Disney created a total environment for whatever country you were in. Asia was lush and green and misty and you could smell incense and spices in the air, but as soon as you got to Africa, it was hot and dry and barren. It was amazing to me that these lands could be right next to each other yet so different. We intended to get Fast Passes for Kali River Rapids (KRR) but the ride was nearly a walk-on so off Michael and I went. Still daunted by his ITTAB experience, Michael kept saying, "I'm not too sure about this Kali River Rapids thing." I assured him that he would like the ride (pretty slick talking since I had never been on the ride myself but I had been on similar rides before). Sure enough, Michael loved the ride. His first words after it was over were, "Let's do it again!" We got slightly wet, but nothing too bad. When we met up with Mother at the exit, a couple gave us their FP's that were about to expire, so we ran for the ride again. By this time, the stand-by line had lengthened considerably, but we were able to just walk on. This time Michael and I were in the "wet seats"--the one's that go backwards down the drop--and we got soaked thru to our underwear! It was now 1:30, so we squished over to the Rainforest Cafe for lunch. Michael had the gorilla grilled cheese while Mother and I split an appetizer sampler and the cheese and basil pizza ($33.38). We paid the check with $35 in gift certificates from Freeride. We added $5 for a tip and congratulated ourselves on the bargain of the day. We left AK at 3:30 and were back in our room at 3:45. Housekeeping had made a toothbrush holder for us out of a hand towel. One tip I had read was to put the day's housekeeping tip ($1 per person per day) in a small envelope and leave it every day instead of waiting til the day you check out. We did this and our housekeeper did something extra for us every day--whether it was leaving extra Mickey soap, making something with the towels, etc. I went to the food court to fill up our mugs and came back with a piece of lemon cake, a piece of chocolate peanut butter cake, and a sugar cookie ($9.50), while Mother called home. We were all tired from our late night and early morning so we napped from 4:45-6:45. After our nap, Mother took Michael to the pool while I went to fill our mugs and put our wet clothes (from Kali River Rapids) in the dryer then went to the pool to sit with Mother. While we were sitting, a man and his daughter walked up to look at the pool. The little girl was about 7 or 8 and she had bought the fairy tale! She was dressed in a long, blue, sheer Cinderella dress complete with the tiara, the feather fan, and the plastic "glass" slippers with blue maribou fluff on the toes. She was precious. You could tell that, in her mind at least, she *was* Cinderella. I remember thinking that her father better start saving his money right now because she is going to want the whole package. The Disney wedding with birds carrying her veil and forest creatures and Mickey and Minnie dressed in white! Mother said to the father, "Looks like you have a little princess." I asked the girl, "Are you Cinderella?" She shyly ducked her head and nodded, "yes." I told her that it was a pleasure to meet her. That we had seen several characters today but we hadn't met Cinderella til now and she certainly was beautiful. The little girl was positively beaming when they left. The father stopped long enough to mouth "Thank You" behind the little girl's back. Michael finally got out of the pool at 8:45 and declared that he was starving so we went to the food court. Mother and I had cheeseburgers and fries and Michael had a cheeseburger *and* more pasta with alfredo sauce. We got one of the orders of fries with chili and cheese on them--very tasty ($22.65). After supper, Michael wanted to go to Donald's Double Feature to try and trade pins. With our room package we each got a "flex feature" which we could use for a free character breakfast, photo with Mickey, boat rental, etc. One of the features was a model of Epcot's Spaceship Earth that came with two pins and a lanyard. Michael decided that's what he would use his flex feature for so we picked it up at the gift shop. We did a little shopping and were back in our room by 11:00. I went to the car and drove the ECV back to the room so we could recharge its batteries. Michael and Mother were asleep by 11:30. I updated my notes and joined them by 12:00. Monday, November 5, 2000 "Goofy is HUGE!" Plan: Character breakfast at Chef Mickey's, monorail to Grand Floridian and Polynesian, Blizzard Beach, Epcot for priority seating at Rose & Crown to watch Illuminations. Our wake-up call came at 6:00am again. I answered the phone and spoke but just heard music. I don't know if Mickey ever answers these or not. We left the resort a little after 7:00 and drove to the Contemporary Resort for our 7:30 priority seating at Chef Mickey's. After we checked in, they again took our picture and then we waited for our table. If you knew what you were doing and didn't want your picture made you could have skipped it and just waited for your table. Chef Goofy was entertaining the kids while we waited. Michael told Goofy that Michael's dad is a chef and got a big "thumbs up" from Goofy. Michael came running over to me and exclaimed, "Goofy is HUGE!" This reminded me of the Disney commercial where the older brother (about 8 years-old) is explaining to the younger brother (about 5 years-old) about Disney World and he says, "Goofy is huge. Goofy could beat up Dad!" We saw Goofy, Minnie, Mickey, and Pluto (many licks for Michael) but always seemed to miss Chip and Dale. Michael loved the napkin twirling and continued to periodically twirl his napkin long after the music stopped. We weren't going to buy our picture this time and told the CM so, but as the CM walked away, Michael said "He's going to keep them?" so plaintively that we forked over the $25.00 for them. The bill was $67.89 counting the $25.00 for the pictures. Mother and I used our flex feature for this character breakfast so it only cost us $35.99 for Michael's breakfast and the pictures. By this time Michael was dying to go to Epcot (he's the only child in the world that likes Epcot better than any of the other parks!) so we ditched the plans for Blizzard Beach and headed to Epcot instead. Michael wanted to take his Spaceship Earth model into the park with us but we vetoed that idea. We got to the park at 9:10 and while Mother and Michael looked at the pin station, I got Michael and I Fast Passes for Test Track (return time of 10:45-11:45). We then went into Ice Station Cool which Michael loved. He kept saying, "This place is really nice." Since we had never been before, Mother and I both took a tiny taste of Beverly. Yech! Although I saw a man chug a whole cup of the stuff, smack his lips and go back for more! After we left Ice Station Cool, Michael made a bee-line for the fountain that comes out of the sidewalk and was immediately drenched. Michael remembered this fountain from our 1997 trip (when he was almost 4). At that time, he played in the fountain for hours and discovered that, if you sit on the big fountain spray in the middle, and V your legs just right, you can direct the water flow like a giant lawn sprinkler. Michael was doing this very thing when a grown man with a group of his friends stopped to look at the fountain. The man was saying, "There's supposed to be a big spray around here somewhere." when the big one went off with Michael sitting on it and Michael started to swing around to spray it at the man. I have never seen an adult move so fast in my life as Michael chased him around with the water spray and his friends hooted with laughter from the sidelines. Michael was delighted to find out that he hadn't lost his touch and could still spray the water great distances. We warned him, however, that he could not spray passer-bys as not everyone enjoys getting wet as much as he does. At 11:00, we changed Michael into dry clothes that we had brought with us and he and I went to Test Track of use our FP's. They were having technical difficulities so it was about a 15 minute wait even with the Fast Passes. The longer we stood in line, the more worried Michael was getting that the ride would be scary. I reminded him that he had thought Kali River Rapids would be scary too, so he changed his mantra to "I'm not so sure about this Test Track thing." and he did just fine. After we were finished I bought him a Test Track pin for being so brave. We decided that the ride wasn't much different from any ride we take with his grandad! We couldn't see Michael in our picture because one guy in the front of the car had his hands in the air. By this time it was noon and Michael was hungry so we headed to World Showcase to eat our way around the world at the Food and Wine Festival. As a side-note: in this next section I'm going to list everything we tried at the Food and Wine Festival. While it may sound like an inordinate amount of food, in our defense: the portions are small samples, Michael ate most of it (honest! Mother and I were lucky to get one bite of most things), and it took us from 12:00 noon to 5:30 to do it! Our first stop was Greece where we tried Pork Souvlaki ($3.50) and Baklava ($2), both of which were excellent. The Souvlaki was a skewer with pork, peppers and olives in some kind of sauce. Michael took the plate of Baklava (puff pastry, honey and nuts) and promptly sat down on the pavement to chow down. The first sign that Mother and I might not be getting too much to eat was when Mother asked Michael if she could have a bite of the Baklava and he handed her a tiny flake of the puff pastry! He was in heaven. We next went to the country of "Chocolate." Honest, that's what the sign said and I, for one, am glad that Epcot has the sense to recognize that chocolate is deserving of both its own country and booth. Here, for $2, you could get either three strawberries with a small cup each of melted white chocolate, dark chocolate, and milk chocolate, or, almond pound cake with the same three chocolates--good form! We wisely tried one of each and Michael drank the left over chocolate out of the cups. Next it was Poland for Pierogis (potato dumplings) with keilbasa (Polish sausage) and sour cream ($3) and Kulebiak (puff pastry stuffed with a sauerkraut filling--$1). Again, everything was wonderful. Michael was way impressed with the pierogis and wanted to get more but we told him that there were many more booths yet to go. Canada was next on the agenda where we tried Cheddar cheese soup ($2) and maple fudge ($1)--Yum. Then came New Zealand for lamb chop with rocket pesto ($4) and a kiwi spritzer ($1.50). We were amazed that Michael was eating everything. He may have waivered on It's Tough to be a Bug, but he had no fear when it came to trying food! We stopped at the Kidcot activity in France to let our food settle a bit while Michael started making a mask. They had little cafe tables set up with paints and little smocks for the kids to wear--it was soooo French and very cute! After the kids finish, a CM stamps the mask with a stamp that has Mickey on it and says "France" and then writes a few words in French on it. There were two French CM's working while we were there and one of them wrote "Bonjour" on Michael's mask. In Michael's music class at school they have been studying different cultures and have been learning to say a few words in each language. Michael was very proud that he could already say "Bonjour" so I told him to go and say that to the CM's. Michael went up to the young Frenchman and proudly said, "Bonjour!" The young man responded with a long string of French. Michael's eyes widened and he gasped, "I don't speak that much French!" while the CM's and Mother and I had a good laugh. After our short break we left for the Mediterranean where we tried the Marrakesh Combo (beef and chicken on a plate of couscous--$3.50) and Choukchouka Salad (a strange tomato-y salad served with pita bread--it tasted a lot like spaghetti sauce to me--$1). We shopped a bit in Morocco the stopped by Japan where we tried the Golden Shrimp (about $3 I think-- I lost the receipt). In America we tried the key lime tart ($1)--very good. While we were in America we saw Esmeralda and Mary Poppins. I'm not sure why they were there instead of France and England, but it was a nice break. Michael also stopped at the Kidcot stand where he got to make a chef's hat. They were very cute and authentic looking and Michael was very proud of his. In fact, we ended up having to carry it on the plane on the trip home so it wouldn't get crushed. Also while we were in America we talked to a very nice British family who wanted to know whey there were so many Americans in America--after all, hadn't we all seen it already? We laughed and explained that, while we had indeed lived in America all of our lives, it was a rather large country and we hadn't quite seen all of it yet! After America we didn't stop again until the apple strudel in vanilla sauce ($1) from Germany beckoned to us. Michael loved the trains they have set up there and he watched them for quite a while. We stopped in Africa for a quick rest and some cokes then went to China where we tried the Wontons in peanut sauce ($2) and Beijing Lau Bing ($3) which was seasoned ground meat in kind of a wheat tortilla thing. They were both excellent. In Norway, we stopped for Michael to add some more to his mask at the Kid station and to play on the Viking ship. And in Mexico we again stopped at the Kidcot station and got Michael the kid's quesadilla (cheese in a grilled flour tortilla--$2) and some Agua Fresca (watermelon water--$1). In Brazil we tried the cheese puffs ($1.50)--yum, and in Switzerland we had to have the chocolate fondue which was served with fruit so it almost felt healthy! As we got ready to leave (or should I say waddle out of) the World Showcase, we stopped at one of the Gourmet Markets to pick up a Food and Wine Festival pin for each of us. They are very cute--a little chef hat with the name and dates of the festival on it ($7.50 each). There was also a food booth that didn't have the name of a country on it but had delicious flourless chocolate cake ($1). The cake was about a big around as a half dollar and they had a smaller quarter-sized layer of cake on top of the first layer. On the top of the second layer was a raspberry and a sprinkling of powdered sugar. It was a nice touch and the cake was very good and fudgy. Several times on our trip around the world we had seen the big double-decker character bus making its rounds and when we got to the entrance of World Showcase the bus had stopped and the characters were all out for pictures and autographs. They had some characters that you don't see that often like Baloo and Daisy Duck and Raffiki. We took pictures of Michael with Eeyore, Chip and Dale before the characters were whisked off. Michael noticed that we were right by the sidewalk fountain again so off he went. To his credit though, he did not get very wet this time. We were all very tired by now so we decided to head back to the resort and catch Illuminations another night since Michael was already saying that we would have to come back for more potato dumplings anyway. Back at our room we rested for a while then Mother put Michael in the bath tub while I went to the food court for supper. Mother had the chicken strips, Michael had chicken strips and macaroni and cheese, and I had a ham and cheese sandwich. For dessert we got a Mickey rice krispie treat, a piece of cheesecake, and a cream cheese danish and all shared ($28.71). We were all in bed by 9:00! Tuesday, November 6, 2000 "I'm too stupid to find a straw!" Plan: MGM, priority seating for lunch at 50's Prime Time Cafe, rest and swim at the resort then back to MGM for Fantasmic! Without the aid of a wake-up call I slept in til the late hour of 6:20am. I got a shower, updated my notes from yesterday, then went to the food court to bring breakfast back for everyone. Mother had a croissant and some link sausage, I had an egg and cheese croissant, and Michael had cereal, toast, some of my egg, and apple juice ($13.93). Of course I filled our mugs with diet coke. Michael declared that he wanted to go back to Epcot, but we told him today was MGM day. We left for MGM at 8:35 and got to the parking lot about 9:08. For some reason, it was already very full and we were parked at the far end of a row. I put the ECV together and we were about half-way to the tram stop when a CM stopped us and said that, it might be extra trouble now, but if we wanted to go back to our car we could park in the medical parking lot and would be glad that we did later when we left the park. So, we walked back to the car, took the ECV apart and "followed the blue line" to the medical parking where we put the ECV back together. The CM was right though, we got to park in the lot right by the place where the Disney buses pick up and drop off and we were very grateful for the shorter walk when we left MGM that afternoon. The second we entered the park Michael said he wanted to ride the Tower of Terror (ToT)! Now the ToT is one of my favorite rides, but after Michael's reaction to ITTAB I thought it was out of the question for him. I explained that the ride was dark, the hotel was creepy, the lights would go out and there would be lightning, etc. but he was not be be dissuaded. He asked if the ride turned you upside down and when I said "no" he said "then I want to ride it" so off we went. We got Fast Passes with a return time of 11:45-12:45 but then noticed that the stand-by line had a 15 minute wait posted so we got in the stand-by line. The wait was more like 5 minutes and then we were inside. Michael was getting a little apprehensive so I whispered softly to him the whole time and told him what to expect and what was going to happen next. He was fine on the ride (although he did hold my arm very tightly the whole time) until after we got off and were in the lobby, and then he burst into tears and said he didn't like the ride. I comforted him with a ToT pin and when we stepped out of the gift shop he exclaimed, "Now, let's go ride the Rock 'n Roller Coaster!" Now I was really wanting to ride this attraction because I had never done it before and I love roller coasters, but I thought that Michael didn't need to try it after his scare on the ToT so I suggested that we go try Star Tours instead. On the way to Star Tours Michael did some pin trading at the end of Sunset Blvd. The stand-by line for Star Tours showed a 40 minute wait and we couldn't get Fast Passes because our return time for the FP's we got for ToT had not started yet, so we picked an outside table at the Backlot Express so Mother could watch Michael while he played in the water from the AtAt Walker at Star Tours (I really think the child was a duck in a former life) and I could go get us something to drink. This was our hottest day yet and, although it was only 10:40, I was already feeling not-so-fresh! There was a long line inside the Backlot Express with only one cashier working. Even though it was early, everybody was already ordering meals and the whole process was taking forever. They finally opened another ordering line and the girl in front of me and I moved over to the new line. The cashier took her order and then, instead of taking mine, took the order from a family in another line! Of course they ordered lots of food and kids meals with various options. I wanted to scream "I JUST WANT A COKE!" Finally I got to give my order for two diet cokes but then I had to wait until the CM's filled all of the food orders before me before they would make my cokes. When I finally got our drinks the CM explained (like I was too stupid to know) that the coffee stirrers stuck in the lids were not straws but just markers to show that the drinks were diet. Duh! He then started to tell me where the straws were but I grabbed the drinks and bolted--I just wanted out of there. Apparently, however, I *was* too stupid to find the straws because I wandered around for a bit looking for them with no luck so we had to do without! Serves me right for being cranky. When I finally came out with the drinks the line for Star Tours looked much more manageable. The stand-by line posted a 30 minute wait but it only took us 15. I think that when a big show lets out the attractions that are nearby are momentarily mobbed, but once the initial throng of people go through, the lines go back to normal. Mother was talking to a nice lady from New Jersey who was waiting with her children for her husband to finish Star Tours. We gave her our FP's for ToT since Michael did not want to ride it again and headed for Star Tours. Michael adored the ride and wanted to do it again. We shopped around in Tatooine Traders for a bit since I have a brother-in-law that's a big Star Wars fan. We decided to try and find Al's Toy Barn since Michael loves Buzz and Woody and it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. When we finally found it the lines were huge so we passed on it and decided that it was almost time for our 12:30 priority seating at 50's Prime Time Cafe anyway. The Prime Time Cafe was very busy and even with our priority seating we had a 20 minute wait. Our server was Cousin Yvonne and she was pretty easy on us. Michael had a vanilla shake and the Mickey macaroni and cheese. He didn't quite eat everything on his plate but Yvonne gave him a clean plate sticker anyway because she said, "Mom always liked him best." Mother and I tried the fried cream cheese appetizer (different, but very good) and shared Mom's fried chicken. I had a strawberry shake and we all split a S'More for dessert ($43.00). After lunch we went back to the resort. It was about 2:00 and housekeeping was in the process of cleaning our room so we grabbed our refillable mugs and headed to the food court. Michael discovered the playground and went there. When Mother and I got back to our room housekeeping had put our stuffed animals (Eeyore) on the window sill and had made a wash cloth soap dish to go with our hand towel toothbrush holder. I took my video camera to get some pictures of the resort while Mother rested in the room. When I got back I changed into my swimming suit and went to find Michael to see if he wanted to go swimming. Of course he said yes. After swimming for a while I got out and sat by the pool with Mother who had joined us by this time. By now it was 6:00 so we asked Michael if he wanted to go somewhere tonight or just swim. No one was shocked when he opted to stay and swim. I had told Mother earlier during the day that, if I had things to do over again, I would have booked another night at the ASMo instead of having us move off-site mid-week. We had originally planned to go to Islands of Adventure on Thursday but since Michael was scared of some of the Disney attractions, I didn't think there would be much for him to do at Islands of Adventure. Also, we were having too good of a time where we were. So, when I went back to the room to rinse the chlorine from the pool off, I called the front desk to see if they could extend us for one night. Unfortunately, the resort was completely booked and they weren't extending anyone. Oh well, you can't blame me for trying. By the time I got back to the pool, Michael was hungry so Mother and I went to the food court and brought dinner back to the pool to eat. Michael had the kids chicken strips, macaroni and cheese, rice, and a roll. Mother and I both had the cheesesteak sandwich with a slice of chocolate cake and a piece of cheese cake ($29.13). We went back to the room after refilling our mugs again. We discovered that Michael was almost out of underwear so while Mother started packing, I took a load of clothes to the laundry. It was 8:00 and the laundry was a busy place. I had to wait 30 minutes for a washing machine. After I put the clothes in to wash, I went to the car and got the ECV to recharge the batteries. Back at the room, Michael was not happy about having to get ready to leave the resort tomorrow. "But I want to stay here with Buzz and Woody," he kept saying. Sadly, I felt the same way. I went to change the clothes over to dry and finally finished up at 9:30. Mother and Michael went to bed about 10:20 while I updated my notes and watched some of the election results (Ha!) til about 12:00. Earlier while I was at the laundry, I saw a man there with his 5 or 6 year old son. The father was very patient and kind with his child while they waited for their clothes (his wife had sent him to watch them), getting the boy a snack when he said he was hungry and a drink when he was thirsty. Between loads of laundry, the father and son would go outside and have sword fights with the boy's plastic swords. I thought to myself that later in his life the boy will appreciate being taken to Disney World, but he will cherish the sword fights he had with his dad late one night while they waited on their laundry. Wednesday, November 8, 2000 "Can we go back to Toy Story?" Plan: Magic Kingdon, check in to the Doubletree Castle, watch MK fireworks from the beach at the Polynesian, priority seating at O'Hana's. I woke up at 6:20 again, got dressed and finished packing. Our express checkout bill was on our door. We called bell services at 7:30 and they were at our door in less than 10 minutes. We had breakfast at the food court and filled our mugs one last time. This morning Michael had 4 pieces of toast, cereal, and some eggs from my croissant sandwich. I had the egg and cheese croissant again and Mother had a muffin ($10.62). After we ate we went to the gift shop to finish up our souvenir shopping and Michael did some pin trading. We drove to the TTC about 9:30. Mother took the ferry over while Michael and I rode the monorail. We had read on Deb Wills' site that you could take an ECV on the monorail but that it was a tight fit and tricky to manuever, so Mother decided not to try it. Michael wanted to ride the train so we rode to Frontierland where we got off to get Fast Passes for Splash Mountain. Our return time was 10:50-11:50. The stand-by line had a 15 minute wait so Michael and I decided to go ahead and ride. It took less than 5 minutes before we were on our way. Michael was thrilled with the ride so we hopped back in line and rode again with about an 8 minute wait. After we finished our second ride it was time for our Fast Passes so we rode again with virtually no wait. The third time we rode we were in the front seat but we didn't get nearly as wet as we did on Kali River Rapids. Michael wanted to get the picture of us in the front of the car ($10) and a Splash Mountain pin (which he immediately traded for a Toy Story one). He wanted to ride Splash Mountain again but I figured Mother was getting tired of waiting for us. Next, we rode Pirates of the Caribbean with no wait. Michael liked it too but not as much as Splash Mountain. We got back on the train and rode to Main Street so Mother could pick up her ECV. Michael and I stayed on the train and rode to Toon Town while Mother drove her ECV over to meet us. On the way, she stopped to check on Fast Passes for Winnie the Pooh but the return time was already 6:00pm and we knew we wouldn't be at the MK for that long. Once we got to Toon Town, Michael stripped down to his shorts and went to play on Donald's boat while Mother and I had a diet coke. It was hot again today. We saw some paramedics come and help out one lady who was finally taken out in a wheelchair. After Michael was done playing he and I took the train back to Main Street while Mother rode her ECV. It was 2:30 by now and we wanted to get out of the park before the 3:00 parade but we wanted to get some goodies on Main Street before we left. We first went to the candy store to try one of the marshmallow thingies ala Sue Holland ($1.88). I don't know how Sue stops with just one marshmallow thingy becasue we certainly didn't! We got a couple of Mickey truffles ($.65 each), a raspberry white chocolate chunk cookie ($2.50), a huge Mickey Mouse almond nut cluster ($3.50), a couple of Minnie Mouse truffles ($.40 each), and a white chocolate Mickey Mouse sucker ($1.25). We also found some individually wrapped Mickey Mouse gum-drop/jelly-like candy for all of the kids in Michael's class at school (24 at $.25 each) and a couple packages of Winnie the Pooh fruit snacks for Michael which he ate immediately ($.65 each). Next, we went to the bakery to try the banana bread (also thanks to Sue Holland). I got 3 pieces of it because I had no idea how large the slices were. They were at least 2 inches thick ($6.33 for all three). No wonder Sue can't eat a whole piece in a single sitting. The banana bread was a huge hit with Michael. He ate a piece and a half of it while we rode the ferry from MK to the TTC. The few crumbs Mother and I got were very good! Michael fell asleep in the car on the way to the Doubletree. You could certainly tell the minute you were off Disney property. There was road construction and traffic cones, people honking their horns...we already missed the ASMo! We checked in to the Doubletree at 3:30. We had a premium tower room that was very nice--a lot more room than at the ASMo. When we checked in they gave us hot chocolate chip cookies--just what we needed after we bought out the candy store and bakery at MK! We tried them much later and they were good. Mother stayed with Michael while I drove back to the ASMo to pick up our luggage (the ECV was in the trunk so there was no room for our bags while there were passengers in the car). I left the Doubletree at 4:00, picked up our luggage from bell services, and was back by 5:20. I wish I had remembered my refillable mug to get "one for the road!" Mother and Michael were at the pool (much smaller than the ASMo, but it had a nice fountain in the middle of it) when I got back. Michael swam til 6:00 and then we got cleaned up and headed back to Epcot. Since none of us had ever seen the Boardwalk, we decided to park there and take the International Gateway over to Epcot. When we told the CM at the entry gate that that's what we were going to do he said that he was sorry but they had just closed the Boardwalk up. I took me a couple of seconds to realize that he was just kidding! The Boardwalk Inn was gorgeous--definitely a place I would like stay and we enjoyed the Boardwalk as we walked to Epcot. When we got to Epcot, I stopped in at the Yorkshire County Fish Shop for 2 orders of fish and chips, a diet coke and a water ($17.82) while Mother and Michael headed straight for the Poland booth to get Michael some more of the Pierogis (potato dumplings). We met up and sat on a bench by the Poland booth to eat. Mother and I had the fish and chips and Michael ended up eating 5 plates of the potato dumplings! ($3 each) Mother originally got him two which he devoured so we sent him back for two more. After he ate those he went back again for a final one. He said that the CM working at the booth finally asked him how old he was and if he was eating all the Pierogis by himself! Mother and I shared another Kulebiak ($1) and for dessert Mother and I each got the strawberries and dipping chocolate (from the newly formed country of Chocolate) and Michael had the pound cake and dipping chocolate ($6). While we eat, we can hear Off-Kilter playing a short distance away. I have heard a lot about them and I must agree that they are very good. By now it was 8:05 so we hurried to England to get a spot for the Tapestry of Nations parade at 8:10. Michael loved the parade--he kept reaching out his hands to the puppets but we were too far away for any of them to touch him (we were on the pavillion side, so there was a path for pedestrians to walk on in front of us throughout the parade). Several of the puppets did wave at him though. It was 8:30 when the parade ended so we went back to Canada to try and find a spot to view Illuminations. Mother ended up parking her ECV in the wheelchair viewing spot since there was plenty of room there. Michael sat down beside her chair and I leaned against the railing behind her. A cute little girl named Summer came and sat down by Michael and shared her popcorn with him--he was smitten! With Summer keeping Michael company, the wait for the fireworks did not seem very long at all. The show was wonderful. Michael loved it and said, "Can we see it again tomorrow night?" We slowly walked back to our car, stopping on the Boardwalk to look around a bit and watch some people feeding the ducks. There was a huge turtle in the water that would come close to the surface when they threw the duck food in the water. We made it back to our car by 9:30 and started out for the Doubletree. We stopped at an Eckerds drug store on the way to get some eye wash for Mother (she had some ash in her eye from the fireworks at Illuminations) and diet cokes for in the morning. Michael fell asleep in the car. We were at the hotel by 10:30. Somehow, I carried Michael up to our room and put him to bed. On the way through the lobby, Brad the bell hop offered to get a luggage cart to put Michael on. I joked that I would have no idea how much to tip for a boy! After we put Michael to bed, Mother and I had a coke and some of the candy from the MK. Mother went to bed and I updated the trip report until about 11:45. Thursday, November 9, 2000 "Please do not let children climb on or around the rocks." Plan: Islands of Adventure, drive to Cocoa Beach Once again I was awake at 6:20--no need for an alarm clock with me on a trip. We all showered and dressed and then made Michael work on his make-up work for school while Mother and I packed. We called bell services to store our luggage for us til we were ready to leave for Cocoa Beach later this afternoon. We left the hotel at 9:30 and had breakfast at Denny's. Michael had 2 eggs over-easy, 2 pieces of bacon, 2 pieces of sausage, 2 pancakes and 2 slices of bread and butter. Mother had 2 pancakes, 2 sausage, 2 bacon and grits, and I had a biscuit with scrambled eggs and gravy, hash browns and sausage ($14.62 without tip). At 10:15 we left to go to Downtown Disney. Our first stop was the World of Disney where we shopped for a long time. We then went to the Lego store and Mother and I sat outside on a bench while Michael played with the legos. The giant lego statues were incredible. We got amused at the sign by the lego dinosaur family that said "Please do not let children climb on or around rocks." Most parents certainly didn't let their children *play* on the rocks, but that did not stop the parents from setting their small children on the top of the rocks and walking away to take a picture of them with the lego creatures! It made me very nervous. After we left the lego area Michael's radar found a fountain coming out of the sidewalk so he played in that for a while. We then went to the Ghirardelli soda fountain. I had a chocolate shake, Michael had a strawberry soda and a chocolate chip cookie, and Mother had a cone with toasted almond ice cream dipped in chocolate and rolled in nuts ($18.62). By now it was time to head for the beach so we went back to the Doubletree to pick up our luggage and drop off the ECV. We were on the road by 2:00. Michael fell asleep in the car and missed seeing all the cruise ships when we passed through Canaveral. I didn't realize that the port was right on the road. We saw the Disney Wonder and several other huge ships. We were in Cocoa Beach by 3:00. Michael was awake by now and hungry so we stopped at Dairy Queen to get him a cheeseburger and Mother and I a coke. I was surprised to find that Dairy Queen didn't sell hamburgers--they just had hot dogs and barbeque sandwiches--so we got Michael a Subway sandwich instead. In just a few minutes we had found the place where we were staying (Crawford's Cocoa Cabanas--try staying there without singing that annoying Copa Cabana song by Barry Manilow!). The Cabanas were wonderful. Mr. Crawford came out to greet us and immediately made us feel like family. He helped us with our bags and showed us around our cabana. We were right on the beach. He told us that there would be a rocket launch the next day at 12:15--Michael was excited about that. It was about an hour and a half until high tide. It didn't take Michael long before he was in the ocean. I changed into some shorts and walked on the beach with him while Mother sat on the deck and watched the waves--it didn't take us long to settle! We also met the Crawford's dog, Chloe, a long-haired Dauschund. She was precious. Michael played in the ocean until it started getting dark, then we all went inside. I went to the Publix grocery store to buy some food for us for the next day. I got bread, lunchmeats, milk, cereal, fruit, snacks, cokes, etc. (around $60.00). After I got back we had sandwiches and chips for supper. The freezer had frosted mugs in it and Mother and I consoled ourselves about the fact that we couldn't refill our mugs from ASMo anymore buy putting the frosted mugs to good use with diet cokes with lime. We had ice cream and cheesecake for dessert. It was nice to have a little bit of room to spread out. The cabana had a small kitchen (complete with stove, oven, microwave, refrigerator, dishes, silverware, etc.), a living room with a futon and a day bed with a trundle bed underneath, TV, and small dining table and chairs, a bedroom with a double and twin bed, and a bathroom. Just outside the back door was a clothes-line, a community washer and dryer, beach toys, boogie boards, etc. The cabanas do not have maid service but they supply fresh towels and clean linens. Everything you need to feel right at home. I was exhausted so I laid down for a little bit about 7:30. Michael and Mother went to bed about 9:00. I updated my notes and then just sat in bed and watched the moonlight on the waves...heavenly! Friday, November 10, 2000 Plan: Beach, maybe Kennedy Space Center. I was up at 6:20. Mother and Michael got up later. We made breakfast from the groceries I bought the night before--cereal, toast, and juice--and then stepped out to the beach. It was cloudy this morning but that didn't stop us from enjoying the ocean. Mother, Michael, and I walked along picking up shells for a while then I went to put on a load of laundry. While I was in the cabana I changed into my swimming suit to go in the ocean with Michael. We picked up enough shells to take one to each of his classmates. It took all of 5 minutes to find enough. I was amazed at the number of nice-sized shells that were on the beach. At most of the beaches I had been to, you were lucky to find one or two shells at most. Here, if you didn't like the tons of shells at your feet you just had to wait a minute until a wave deposited some more! Michael and I played in the ocean til almost lunch time then went in to make some sandwiches and get ready to watch the rocket launch. A little after 12:00, we brought the binoculars from our cabana out to the deck to watch for the launch. It was still cloudy but promptly at 12:15 we saw the ignition, saw the rocket for a moment, then lost it in the clouds. A few seconds later we could *feel* the blast off--too cool! We took a nap from 1:00 until 3:00 then went back out to the beach. Michael decided to try his hand with a boogie board and was soon body surfing like a pro (okay, a 7 year old pro!). He got very daring and Mother and I would have been alarmed by the waves pounding him but we could hear him laughing the entire time. Mr. Crawford and Chloe came out and we talked to him for a while. It was 6:00 by now so we asked him where we could get some good seafood. Mr. Crawford recommend a restaurant called Florida's Seafood just down the road on SR520 so we dragged Michael out of the waves and went to dinner. Can I just say "yum!" We were very hungry by the time we got to Florida's Seafood so we got the fried rock shrimp appetizer (delicious) and Michael had the fried cheese (yes, he ate the whole thing by himself!). Mother and I both had the Canaveral Platter which had rock shrimp, flounder, scallops, and crab cakes. You could have it prepared any way you wanted (steamed, fried, grilled, blackened, etc.) and we opted to have ours fried. The dinners came with a salad (I had cole slaw and Mother had the Greek salad with feta cheese--it was delicious!) and baked potato, so Michael had both mine and Mother's baked potatoes. The food was excellent and very plentiful. Neither Mother or I could finish our meals. They also brought out blueberry fritters sprinkled with powdered sugar during your meal. Our server said that, for now, the fritters were blueberry but that they change several times a night because they are constantly running out. The total for the meal was $43.00. We rolled home and Michael watched TV until he went to bed at 9:00. Mother turned in at 10:30 and I made it until 11:00 before I crashed. Saturday, November 11, 2000 "I wish we were just now getting here!" Plan: Home. I broke from tradition by waking up at 5:30 this morning instead of my usual 6:20--I guess I had going home on my mind. Mother got up at 6:30 and Michael followed shortly at 7:00. I took the car to fill up and to get some snacks for Michael for the flight home ($18.50). Michael had breakfast while Mother and I finished packing and loading the car. Then we sat and watched the ocean from the deck until time to go to the airport. We left at 9:30 and had an uneventful trip back to Orlando. After we had turned in our rental car, checked in and headed to our gate Michael said, "I remember this airport! I wish we were just now getting here and we still had a whole week to do fun things!" Me too. Several planes, trains, and automobiles later, we were home. Some final thoughts on our trip:
Well, that's all I guess. I hope you enjoyed reading this report as much as I enjoyed living it (fat chance!). Okay, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoy reading other people's trip reports. If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me. Robin Goble RGoble5972@aol.com Mail a Comment to Robin Goble |
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