 |  |
| Discussion Boards | Reviews | News | Trip Planning | Shop | Travel | Site Map |
| Disney Trip Report Archive An archive of reader-submitted trip reports | |
| Alex Stroup, editor | Search just the Trip Report Archive. |
|
Carol Kelley -- February 2000 -- Walt Disney World (ASSR)The details:
Howdy all! This is the account of the trip that myself and hubby took to the Walt Disney World Resort to celebrate our tenth anniversary! This will be a long one, so put up your feet, grab a cup of something yummy and enjoy! Planning Sometime shortly after I returned from the 4th Annual radp festivities, hubby announced that he wanted to take me to WDW for our anniversary. WooHoo!!!! This really surprised me cause he is a lay on the beach kind of guy and we had really been considering a resort in Jamaica or South Carolina coast for this occasion. In reality, however, Jamaica resorts fit into two categories, *have a wild and rowdy, possibly au natural* trip for a fairly reasonable price, or if you wanted classy and elegant, you paid for it, so Jamaica was out and the South Carolina coast just really didn’t seem right for this trip. So when he said WDW I jumped on it!!! The first order of business was deciding how much vacation we could afford and I determined we could handle four nights at an All-Star and the associated passes and meals, so we settled on leaving Wednesday, February 23rd, returning Sunday, February 27th. Our actual anniversary, by the way is February 24th. We had enough miles for one frequent flyer ticket, so I got on the phone with Delta to book the frequent flyer ticket. Of course, no frequent flyer flights were available when I wanted so we played around with dates and cities until we finally found the following: Delta Flight 831, Tuesday, February 22, leaving Huntsville, AL at 10:45 am , changing planes in Atlanta and arriving at Orlando, FL at 2:59 pm. Delta Flight 410, Saturday, February 26, leaving Orlando, FL at 9:30 pm, changing planes in Atlanta and arriving in Huntsville, AL at 11:22 pm So this fit in with our 4 nights and were close to our original dates, so I asked them to hold it. I then went on the delta-air.com website to see what the companion ticket would cost and found that it was $206.00 so I bought that ticket and then called Delta reservations back to firm up the SkyMiles ticket and get our seating assignments next to each other. Now time to find our hotel room. I called CRO and got a room at All-Star Music for the rack rate of $99.00 a night plus tax. The Magic Kingdom Club Card that dad had given us last year had expired and the new format for 2000 would not allow him to just drop by his personnel office and pick some up so that option was out for us. In addition, Annual Pass rates had not been released for that time period. However, at least we had a room and flights to get down there, so all was covered. Shortly after that, I found out my company had permanently crossed the 500 employee threshold and could qualify for MKC membership. I did some checking around and found the phone number to apply and then talked to our personnel director. She agreed to give them a call to get things going. I was hoping that every thing would happen in time for me to receive my card before the trip, but unfortunately the applications came in 4 days before we left, so no chance for the card to arrive in time. After I had gotten our flights and rooms, I started thinking about how this trip was going to flow. I wanted to make this relaxing for both of us, especially for Rick, cause he has a bad knee and walking a lot is not something he enjoys. I even considered getting him a Care Central scooter for our entire stay, but he said it wasn’t necessary and he would get one at the parks if he needed it, plus our time in the parks was not going to be near as extensive as it had in trips past. This decision, however, turned out to be wrong, we should have rented the scooter! After much reading of Deb Will’s menu sites and pouring over the park schedules, night time fireworks schedules, and Steve Soars live entertainment site, we planned the trip to go like this: Tuesday, February 22nd
Wednesday, February 23rd
Thursday, February 24th (Our Anniversary!!)
Friday, February 25th
Saturday, February 26th
That was the touring plan for this trip, would it work? We’ll see. Now back to getting ready for the trip. I finally heard on radp that AP rates for late February through April had been released so I called CRO back to see if I could get something. I was hoping for a moderate resort, but they were all booked solid, and the Premiums were way out of my range, however, they did have an AP rate of $354.00 including tax for four nights at All-Star Sports. It is a little more juvenile decorations wise than All-Star Music is, but we saved almost a whole nights lodging over rack rate, so I agreed and moved us to the Sports. Also, on the same phone call, I transferred over to Dining and made all of our PS arrangements, having them make note of our anniversary on the 24th for 50’s Prime Time and for California Grill. In addition, I sent in a request for a car from Tiffany Town Car and received my confirmation the same afternoon. I also checked on parking options at our local airport and decided on Thrifty Car Rental parking at $5.50 a day. They valet park your car and take you by van to the front door of the airport and when you return, the van meets you at the baggage pick-up door. For the record, our other options were self-parking for $5.00 a day and schlep your luggage to the door or a transport service that would pick us up at the house. However, their pick up time for our flight was ridiculously early. All of the cost options were the within $3 - 4 dollars of each other, but the Thrifty parking seemed the most convenient. So our half of the trip plans were taken care of. During all these preparations, I was also talking with the kids grandparents on how best to take care of them while we were gone. We went through lots of different ideas, but ultimately planned that my mother who lives closer would keep them during the week and get them to school and let the bus drop them off at home like normal and she would pick them up there each day and then on Friday, mom would drop their bags at our house after she took them to school and Grandma Dixie would pick them up that afternoon and take them to her farm in Scottsboro about 50 miles away for the weekend. Since our flight would come in so late on Saturday, we would not have them home until some time Sunday afternoon. I mention these plans because they did play somewhat of a part in how our trip progressed. On the Friday before we left, I faxed our room requests which were courtyard view of either Surfs Up or Touchdown, non-smoking, and if possible a King Room. I did note that it was our anniversary. Also, late Friday I realized that Monday was a banking holiday, so I had to rush around taking care of that kind of stuff and also had to go by the post office and get a stop mail card. Even though my boys and my mother would be there every day, I really didn’t want them messing with the mail. The weekend was rather laid back as I finished packing what I could pack and Rick worked both Sat and Sun. Saturday night, we met most of the rest of my family at my mothers for a birthday party for my grandmother who is 91! It was a really nice evening. I also took that opportunity to drop off some of the boys stuff with her and give her a house key and directions on where the boys had to be all week. I didn’t realize how busy my boys were until I put it in writing! Wow! Monday was a holiday for the boys and Rick started his vacation time so they spent the day finishing packing their stuff for their visit to grandmas. I went to work and piddled through the day, switched my e-mail and voice mail to vacation mode and went home!! We had Rick’s brother over for dinner, watched TV and went to bed. ON TO THE TRIP!!!! Tuesday, February 22, 2000 The Plan: Arrive at Orlando Airport, meet Tiffany Town Car Driver, stop for Mt. Dew and beer Arrive at All-Star resort, check-in and purchase admission for Rick and e-Ride tickets for both of us and have luggage service handle the suitcases If time allows (before 4:30 pm) take bus to Animal Kingdom and experience Kilimanjaro Safari and Festival of the Lion King After Animal Kingdom closes, eat dinner at Rainforest Café, if no time to go into park, eat at Downtown Disney Rainforest Café After dinner take transportation to Magic Kingdom and get e-ride bands and enjoy e-ride attractions Planned e-ride attractions: Buzz Lightyear Alien Encounter Haunted Mansion Splash Mountain Big Thunder Mountain Railroad Space Mountain Country Bear Jamboree Timekeeper Depending on how we feel, either go to Pleasure Island Adventurers Club or back to room to unpack and get ready for next day We got up normal time that morning and I got the boys off to school and ran to the store and the post office then went back home. While I was out Rick was getting the bags ready. I made a couple of phone calls to grandparents and our neighbors. I checked radp and #radp-friends and chatted for a few minutes and then we left for the airport. We stopped at McDonalds for breakfast ($5.00), then on to Thrifty rental car for parking. We stopped the car under the awning, pulled our bags out and went in and handed them the key and filled out paperwork. This took all of two minutes. Their van was there by the time the papers were done and the driver loaded our bags onto the van for us. We arrived at the airport rather quickly and tipped the van driver as he unloaded our bags for us ($4.00) and proceeded to the check-in desk. We both had electronic tickets and after showing our IDs, received boarding passes all the way through to MCO. We had a little time to kill, so we wandered around the gift shop laughing at all the *Alabama* souvenirs. We wandered our way to our gate and boarded the plane which was an MD-88. We left exactly on time and enjoyed 23 minutes in the air to Atlanta. We spent more time on the runway and going to and from our gates than we did in the air. This flight is so short that they don’t even do beverage and snack service. We got to our gate in Atlanta right on time and proceeded to make the hike to the center portion of the terminal so that we could take the tram to our next gate. We were hoping for a ride on a golf cart, but couldn’t get one. After the tram ride to the next terminal we once again made the long hike down to our departing gate. On the way we stopped at Burger King and picked up a Whopper, Fries and a Coke to share and then soon after boarded our 767 to Orlando. Our connection time was just long enough that we didn’t have to rush, but we didn’t have to wait much either. It was just right. This flight also pulled out right on time and we took off towards Orlando. Soon after leaving Atlanta the cloud cover broke and we had sunshine all the way down to Florida. We listened to the headphones provided on the plane, read Sky Magazine, and chatted about nothing much in particular during the flight. We landed in Orlando a few minutes early and made our way to the train and then on to baggage claim where our driver from Tiffany Town Car was waiting. He helped us with our bags and we went down a level and waited outside for a bit while he got the car from the parking area. Is this a new policy at MCO? I got the impression from previous trip reports that their car was waiting at the curb and you hopped right in. I wish I could tell you our drivers name, but I can’t. From our conversation, it seems he had been with the company for quite some time and the Lincoln he was driving was gold color. He was very professional and courteous. I did notice when the bags were being loaded that he kept a child’s car seat stored in the trunk. So if anyone has small children they do provide proper seats for them. On the way to All-Star Sports, we stopped at a 7-11 store and picked up some beer and Mt. Dew, plus some batteries for our FRS radios ($30.48)(3:32 pm). Once we arrived at Sports, the luggage and the drinks were handed directly to the luggage service folks and I went inside to check in. My husband presented the $5.00 internet coupon to the driver and paid him $80.00 including tip on American Express. We planned to give him another $10.00 for the return trip. He inquired about our return trip and we agreed on 7:30 pm on Saturday, February 26th. While I was in line to check in, Rick changed into his tennis shoes for the parks. We were greeted by a check-in agent rather quickly. She found our reservation in the computer after a couple of tries. (Apparently, there was another Carol Kelley checking in on the same day, but with a different checkout day). We paid the balance on our room ($265.52) and purchased a 5-day UMP for Rick. ($253.36) By the way, the CM did not know what I was talking about when I asked for an *UMP*. She had only heard of *Unlimited Magic Pass*. We also purchased e-ride tickets for that evening ($21.20). One thing the CM did that was nice was asked if we had stayed there before and when and because we said November and December, she gave us the short version of the check-in information. She handed us the usual brochures and showed us where our room would be on the map. Our room was 6203. Which translates to Building 6, Courtyard View, Surfs Up, 2nd Floor, Room 03. The room was indeed a handicapped room with a king bed, we were told. WooHoo!! I’ll describe the room in more detail later as we did not go to the room even though it was ready. After receiving our American Express Waist Packs, we headed for the bus stop. Oh about timing from airport to bus stop. We landed at MCO approximately 2:45 pm and were standing at the Animal Kingdom bus stop by 4:15 pm. So only 1 ½ hours was spent in transfer, stopping by the store, and check-in. I was really pleased. As a matter of fact, a huge Mears All-Star bus was at MCO as we were leaving and was just pulling in at All-Star Sports about the time we walked to the Animal Kingdom Bus stop, so that gives you an idea of how much time we saved. And the crowd cheers: After 5 pages she’s finally getting to a park!!! I warned you that this would be long! The bus to Animal Kingdom arrived rather quickly and as we boarded the driver warned us that the park would be closing at 6:00 pm and we indicated that we knew that so we found a seat and off we went. We arrived and went to the turnstiles and my AP worked first time! I’m sure all AP holders breath a sigh of relief when their AP works after not being used for awhile. We proceeded on back to Africa and took our time strolling through the Oasis and just looking at the atmosphere around us and made our way through Africa and the township of Harambi to Kilimanjaro Safaris. We walked straight onto a jeep and enjoyed an incredible safari. All kinds of animals were out. We saw hippos, and gators, and zebras, meerkats, four cheetahs, Thompson Gazelles, both lions and many more than I can remember. One thing I did notice slightly different is that the animal identification cards had been moved from the seat backs and mounted over head on the inside roof of the jeeps. The only disadvantage to a late evening safari was the sun was at eye level, so there was quite a bit of glare and some of the animals were a bit difficult to see. Rick was really amazed with this part of Animal Kingdom. This was his first time because as you may recall, he joined everyone later in the day in our November trip and we had already done the safari. After our safari, we proceeded back through Harambi and Safari Village to Camp Minnie Mickey to catch the last showing of Festival of the Lion King. We walked right in and to a seat and the show started about 5 minutes after our arrival. It was, as usual, a wonderful performance and Rick loved it. This was another thing he missed by sleeping in on our last trip in November. We both laughed and sang, and clapped our hands and took lots of pictures. By the time the show was over, Animal Kingdom had closed, but we were in no hurry, so we just slowly strolled out of the park and over to Rainforest Café. As we were nearing the podium to check in, we kept hearing tales of 1 ½ hour waits to be seated, but I had a coupon for 1st available seating and a free appetizer. This was sent to me from the corporate office in response to a problem I had with service at the Downtown Disney location in December. I checked into the podium to see what 1st available seating meant and was given a ticket for immediate seating and told to get in the line of others that also had already been called for their adventure and then, because we were only a party of two, we were called ahead of that line. Wow! That was pretty cool. We were seated immediately and our server Jenny took our drink orders. Rick had a beer and I had a Mudslide. We then ordered our appetizer which was the Forest Flatbread. This was pretty good and I soon realized I would not be able to eat a full meal in addition to this appetizer. Rick had planned to order the Primal Steak and I noticed that you could add shrimp to that for a small extra amount so we decided to do that and split it. Jenny asked what I had been planning to order which was the Mogambo Shrimp and suggested a child’s order of Fettuccini Alfredo and I agreed. Our meal arrived very quickly and it was wonderful. I had my fettuccini and the shrimp off of Rick’s steak and a couple of bites of the steak. Everything was fresh and very tasty. After we declined desert, we paid the check ($63.34 with tax & tip) (7:27 pm) with my Diner’s Club card. (I receive two points for every dollar on their Rewards Program which is more than the American Express program, so we use that card whenever it is accepted.) After our dinner we strolled to the bus stop and waited for either the TTC or Epcot bus to arrive so that we could transfer to the monorail to get to the Magic Kingdom for e-ride night. When we indicated to the Transportation CMs waiting there that the restaurant was still rather full and had long waits they rather jokingly lamented on how late they would be running that evening. The bus to the TTC arrived first, so off we went. We arrived and then hopped on the monorail to go to Magic Kingdom. Both passes worked and we strolled down Main Street heading towards Frontierland to get our wrist bands at Splash Down photos. About the time we got to Casey’s Corner the lights dimmed and Fantasy in the Sky Fireworks began. We had a perfect view and it was really nice. We held each other and listened quietly to the music and watched the smiles on everyone’s faces as each colorful explosion hit. It couldn’t have been a more perfect moment. After the fireworks ended, we once again began the slow upstream walk through exiting crowds towards Splash Down photos. Once the sun set, it began to get a little chilly so I put on the sweatshirt that I had brought and we stopped at the Briar Patch and bought a sweatshirt for Rick. ($42.40) (8:45 pm) It was purple and had Pooh on it, but in size 3X there usually aren’t that many choices and when your cold it doesn’t matter. We then went to Splash Mountain, and even though e-ride night was still about 10 minutes away, we still walked straight onto a log. We had a wonderful ride and the best part is there were no delay messages and we didn’t stop at all!!!! We sat in the back of the log and only got an occasional drop of water on us. The picture turned out pretty good so we purchased it and had it sent back to the room. ($10.55) (9:11 pm) We then went left and proceeded to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. By this time e-ride had begun and we were asked to show our wristbands as we entered the line. We walked straight to a train and went on our wild journey through the Gold Rush mountain. We then went over to the Country Bear Jamboree show, which I had not stopped at since 1997. We walked straight in and sat down and had a nice little rest while the bears regaled us with their wacky mix of country song and humor. After departing the Bears, we stopped in Pecos Bills to use the restroom and used the phone to call home informing my mother of our room number and to let everyone know we arrived safely. We talked to the boys briefly and learned that my youngest son had passed his Tenderfoot Board of Review. So he is advancing rather nicely in Scouts. After leaving Pecos Bills, we strolled past the Rivers of America and proceeded to…… The Haunted Mansion….. (spoken in a spooky voice) and had a delightfully frightful visit with 999 Happy Haunts. I’ve got one question though, what happened to the hearse outside? It’s been gone for quite a while now. We then strolled through the hub and past the castle to go to Tommorowland and we rode Buzz Lightyear with about a 5 minute wait and did battle with the Evil Emperor Zurg and saved the Galaxy!!! I don’t remember our scores, but we were within 20,000 points of each other. It was a lot of fun. After Buzz Lightyear, we both decided that we weren’t interested in Alien Encounter, Astro Orbiter or Timekeeper and Rick wasn’t going to ride Space Mountain, so I declined as well, so we decided to call it a night. We strolled down Main Street and soaked in the sounds and the lights and headed for the exit. We then decided we really needed to head on back to the room and get settled so we passed on Pleasure Island for the evening and proceeded to our bus stop. It was a rather long wait for an All-Stars bus (about 30 minutes), but we just found a bench and watched the water and just relaxed. When we arrived at the resort, Rick stopped by Team Spirits and got a couple of draft beers, ($10.50)(11:50 pm) cause the ones we bought that afternoon wouldn’t be cold and we arrived in the room. This room really is suited for a couple! It has a very comfortable king size bed, two nightstands, instead of the one in double rooms. It had a refrigerator in the bottom section of the dresser, though you did lose two drawers, but we still had plenty of room. The closet area had an extra rod and shelf which was lower easier wheelchair access. The safe was also lower in the wall. The room also had an extra peephole. Even though we didn’t use it there was a data port in the wall. I’m assuming it was for a TDD phone. The bathroom was larger than the double rooms and even though we’ve heard otherwise, this room had a regular tub with hefty support bars instead of a roll in shower. The tub had a hand held shower head as well and the clothes line was also lower. I also noticed that the fire alarms looked like they would have bright flashing lights. Fortunately, we did not get to observe this. Even though we’ll make do sleeping on a double bed if we have to, having a king sized bed really helped make this trip. The only inconvenience we saw in this room was that there was no plug in the wall behind the bed on Rick’s side, so in order to plug in his C-Pap Machine (for obstructive sleep apnea), the cord had to reach a bit to the wall on the side of the bed. (Note, bring an extension cord next time). We called housekeeping and requested a dryer, iron and ironing board and some extra pillows which arrived within 15 minutes. We also arranged a 10 am Mickey Wake Up Call. We unpacked our stuff which had been delivered to the room, took showers and went to bed for the evening. Wednesday, February 23rd The Plan: Have Mickey wake us up about 10:00 am planning to get to the bus stop by 11:00 am (Relaxation, remember!) Spend the afternoon exploring Future World at Epcot and eat brunch at The Land food court Planned Epcot Attractions: SpaceShip Earth Test Track Ellen’s Energy Adventure Cranium Command The Living Seas Living With the Land Honey I Shrunk the Audience Journey Into Your Imagination Oh Canada Start the World Showcase on the Canada side and see Off Kilter and British Invasion Have dinner at Rose & Crown and see Illuminations 2000, ROE from the restaurant (7:30 PS at Rose & Crown) Go to Pleasure Island, Adventurers Club for the rest of the evening We both got up about 9:30 and were extremely glad that we had turned in early the night before. Boy did that bed sleep good! While Rick was in the shower I ran down to Sport Goofy’s and picked up a few sundries that we forgot, plus some shampoo, cause Rick hated the shampoo in the dispenser. ($14.70) (10:10 am) As I was coming back to the room, I noticed the room connecting to ours had two double beds! So those of you looking for larger lodging for bigger families on site, try two All-Star Rooms and request a King Room connected to Two Doubles! As we were getting ready, Rick & myself discussed the plans for today and all of a sudden, Rick said “what about breakfast?” and I replied, “but we’re having lunch as soon as we arrive at Epcot”. Rick’s reply was nope, he wanted breakfast food. So in the spirit of flexibility, we got out of the room by 10:30 and proceeded to the food court for breakfast! Rick had an egg platter with a biscuit on the side and I had a sausage, egg, & cheese croissant. ($10.67)(10:38 am) We used my refillable mug for drinks. Once Rick’s craving for breakfast foods had been fulfilled, we proceeded to the Epcot bus stop. A bus arrived in short order and we were off to Epcot. Upon arrival, we immediately went to Test Track and obtained Fast Passes which were between 4:30 and 5:30 pm. Our first attraction to experience would be the Universe of Energy Pavilion, presented by Exxon, containing the show *Ellen’s Energy Adventure*. We waited for a short while outside the building and were some of the first into the pre-show theater. We got a seat along the wall and watched Ellen talk about the show in her usual sarcastic, wisecracking manner. I don’t dislike Ellen, but her mannerisms grate on me after awhile. After the pre-show was complete we continued into the theater and enjoyed the ride through the past learning about Energy. After leaving Universe of Energy we wandered into the Wonders of Life Pavilion where we watched Cranium Command. This attraction is always a must see for me and is hilariously funny. This kids reactions match my boys perfectly! At this point it was time for a snack, so we go to Pure & Simple where Rick has a Cheese Cake an apple, and a Diet Coke and I have a Chocolate Sundae with Chocolate Sauce and a Regular Coke. ($12.30)(1:11 pm). After our break, we leave the pavilion and make our way towards SpaceShip Earth. The line seems rather lengthy, so we go over to Guest Services to check on a scooter rental for Rick. His knee is starting to bother him a bit and we were hoping to avoid it getting worse. Alas, no scooters available, and Rick won’t allow me to push him about in a wheel chair, so we meander back over to SpaceShip Earth while he swallows a couple more pain pills. The line is still longer than we’ll wait for, so we head over to the West Side of Future World. We get in line for Honey I Shrunk the Audience and wait until the next show starts and really laugh it up to Professor Szalinki’s misfortunes and hijinks. After leaving Honey, we look at the line for Journey Into Your Imagination and since it’s not a walk-on, we pass. We then wander over to The Land Pavilion and wait in a short line to see Living With the Land. We both really enjoy this boat ride and marvel at how wonderful all of the plants look. After that was done, we headed out again and decided to skip The Living Seas. We headed back to Space Ship Earth and the line was acceptable, so we enjoyed that attraction. Everything in the attraction seemed to be in very good shape and we did not stop at all! After leaving Space Ship Earth, we still had some time to kill before our Fast Pass window to Test Track, so we wandered around the Leave a Legacy information. Rick was really interested in this. We also went to Ice Station Cool. I convinced Rick that the Beverly was delicious and he took a big gulp of it!! The look on his face was priceless!! After that we went over to Fountainview Café where Rick had a Franzipan Berry Tart and a Diet Coke and I had the Millennium Dessert and a Coke.($11.74)(4:06 pm) We sat outside and enjoyed watching the fountain dance and scarfed up these wonderful deserts! We had finally reached our Fast Pass window, so we wandered over to Test Track. The fast pass line was about 30 minutes, but the standby line was 2 hours! We probably could have gotten on sooner in the singles line, but we wanted to have a picture together! The ride stopped while we were in line, but once they got it going again, we had a complete run without any stops! It was great!! We purchased our photo and had it sent to the room. ($10.55)(5:11 pm). After leaving Test Track, we wandered over to the Canada Pavilion and got a seat in front of Off Kilter’s stage. We watched The Pipes of Nova Scotia at 5:40 then stayed to enjoy the 6:00 pm performance of Off Kilter! This was great! Believe it or not, this is the first time I’ve ever seen them and they sure do live up to the reputation they’ve earned on radp! We really enjoyed their performance! After Off Kilter finished we meandered over to the U.K. and parked ourselves in front of the Rose & Crown check-in stand to watch Tapestry of Nations. We were at the end of the procession so had a lot of time to wait listening to the music. But we really didn’t mind. We leaned up against a garbage can and got a bottled soda and some popcorn ($5.00) and enjoyed the evening. Tapestry was beautiful! The puppets and drummers were all enthusiastic from beginning to end and it really is a wonderful performance!! After the parade was over, we turned around and checked in for our Priority seating for dinner at Rose & Crown, asking for a lagoon table, then wandered over to watch the 7 pm show of British Invasion. This was fun and they were a good group. Our buzzer went off about the time they finished up their set, so we made our way back to the restaurant. We did indeed get a table right on the water. It was getting mildly chilly so we put on our sweatshirts and we were fine. Ann-Marie was our server and she was wonderful! We ordered drinks. I ordered a mud slide and Rick tried to order Bud Light, but they didn’t serve any American Beer, so he tried one of their medium lagers, but really didn’t like it all that much so got an iced tea. We ordered the Wild Mushrooms as an appetizer and for entrees, Rick ordered the King Cut Prime Rib, and I ordered the English Pie Sampler. Both meals were delicious (we sampled each other’s dinners) and the service was wonderful! However, they need a larger women’s restroom! Right on time at 9:00 pm the lights lowered and Illuminations 2000, Reflections of Earth, began. The narrator blew out the torches and the Chaos portion began with flames and fireworks. This view is outstanding and I really enjoyed the restaurant. The show was spectacular as always! After Illuminations was over, we begged off on desert and paid our check ($61.12)(9:20 pm). Oh they did not charge us for the beer Rick didn’t like or for my soft drink that I ordered later in the meal. We strolled out of Epcot through the International Gateway and made our way to the bus stop at the Beach Club to go to Pleasure Island. We got to Pleasure Island and proceeded to the Adventurer’s Club and proceeded to have a wonderful evening with the club members consuming many beers and mudslides along the way :-) ($52.75)(12:48 am) We left the club shortly after the last Hoopla show and ran into the cast on their way out as we were making our way to the bus stop. We thanked them for a nice evening and let them get on their way. We got on a bus within a few minutes and were carried to our resort safely and swiftly! When we arrived in the room, there were two messages from my parents to call home. Since it was an hour earlier at home and I knew that my parents stay up rather late, we decided to go ahead and call. My youngest son broke a tooth that day. She said that Tylenol and Ambesol was controlling the pain, so I said that I would call the dentist the next morning and get his advice. We chatted a few minutes with them and apologized for the late hour, but this was the first we had been in and then went on to bed! Thursday, February 24, 2000, Our Anniversary!!! The Plan: Have Mickey wake us up about 10:00 am planning to get to the bus stop by 11:00 am (Relaxation, remember!) Have lunch at 50’s Prime Time Café (11:30 PS) Spend the afternoon exploring the Studios Planned Studios Attractions: Great Movie Ride Star Tours Backstage Pass Little Mermaid Backlot Tour Hunchback of Notre Dame Muppets Return to the hotel to rest and change clothes for dinner Around 6:00 pm take bus to Magic Kingdom, then Monorail to Contemporary Dinner at California Grill (7:30 PS) Watch Fireworks from restaurant Go to Pleasure Island, Adventurers Club for the rest of the evening We got up that morning again around 9:30 and got ready. I called our dentist and explained about the tooth and they said that unless the nerve was screaming at him, there was no need for an emergency appointment so we set a regular appointment to have it looked at next week after we got home. Shortly after that my mother called again and said that Kevin had slept through the night without any pain and ate breakfast and was off to school no problem. I relayed everything the dentist said and assured mom that Kevin was fine and not to feel bad and all that stuff. My mom is a worry wart!! We got out to the bus stop about 11:00 with Rick complaining about being hungry, but I was not going to miss our lunch at 50’s Prime Time, so I insisted he wait! :-) We arrived at the Studios and proceeded to 50’s Prime Time Café and checked in. We headed for the living room, and literally before we could sit down the Kelley kids were called to lunch. Lydia was our server and was really good. We drew on our placemats and teased each other about our behavior. The View Master thingy wasn’t working and I blamed Rick for breaking it! It was lots of fun. We ordered an appetizer of onion straws and I had the Tuna Melt and Rick had the Fried Chicken Dinner. ($44.01)(12:32 pm) Both were good, but I miss the chicken or tuna sandwiches with soup that you used to be able to order. During our meal it was discovered that it was our anniversary and all the servers sang Happy Anniversary to us. Once again, I made a paper airplane, but didn’t get in trouble for it. Lydia also made one and we flew them next to each other. Hers was better. :-) Now, in the Studios I can never remember what order we did things in, so I’ll just wing it here. We did Sounds Dangerous, cause Rick really enjoyed it during our November trip. I like it too, but I won’t wait in a long line for it. I know we did Star Tours which is really lots of fun for both of us. Building Death Stars and blowing them up seems to be an obsession with those outer space folks. :-) You’d think one of these days Star Tours would actually go where it advertises. :-) We also went to Hunchback of Notre Dame and enjoyed the show there. Everyone did a super job and was really enthusiastic! I never get tired of this show! We saw Muppet Vision 3D which is really hilarious! I love poking at all of the bubbles and laughing at the silly jokes! This just makes you feel good! After leaving Muppets, we picked up a soda at the stand with all the Coca Cola bottles that fizz at you ($2.50). And then went over to the Backstage Pass. We had not been through it since 97 and decided to give it a go since it had closed for a while and changed some. The Bette Midler short “Lottery Ticket” was shown in the waiting area. I enjoy seeing that again. We then went into Jim Henson’s creature shop which had not changed since our last trip through there. After leaving that area, we moved into the redone area with the Home Improvement sets. The Tool Time set and the Taylor’s house and backyard was there. The green screen portion was the same nailing the sheetrock scene as used to be done with Tim in the old Super Star Studios attraction. We then went past the working sound stages. The first one was an old set from the Mortal Kombat series, I think. What was neat was that the top part was raised up and we could see into the set, whereas last time we went through, we saw the boarded up top of the “From Earth to the Moon” sets. We next saw production of Z-Games and then saw into a new PBS show in production. After leaving the sound stage area, we saw some of the Live Action 101 Dalmatians sets, however, I know Cruella’s car was no longer part of the display. I don’t remember what else was removed. We left the Backstage Area and went back around to the front and rode the Great Move Ride. We got the gangster side this time. I haven’t been on the cowboy side in quite awhile. I’ll have to request that the next time I ride. After leaving the Great Movie ride Rick found him a seat with an ice cream ($2.50) while I wandered down Sunset Boulevard to check on Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror. RnR had a 40 minute wait and ToT had a 20 minute wait so I decided to pass and joined Rick in strolling back toward the exit and to an All-Stars bus. The time on the ice cream receipt was 4:14 pm so I’m assuming we left the park around 4:30 pm. We got back to the room and Rick took a short nap and I walked over to the Hoops Up and Center Court areas and just looked around. I had not seen those areas in two previous stays at the resort and wanted to see what they looked like. A lot of the All-Star Sports Resort was being renovated. In the Touchdown Hotel, the helmets were blocked off and some of the Coca-Cola cups in Home Run Hotel were missing there outer layer. The area around the shark fins in Surfs Up looked like they were about to get started on something there. We realized that mom should have the boys at her house by now, so we called and talked to both of them. Kevin was really glad to talk to both of us. He was really worried that we would be mad about the tooth. He said it didn't hurt anymore and we all suspected that it was hurting more from hitting the concrete than the nerve being exposed. We both got dressed for dinner and then hopped on the bus to Magic Kingdom. We got some looks in our dress clothes lugging the book bag, but we had to carry the sweatshirts and I carried a change of shoes. I wasn’t going to wear heels anywhere except for dinner. We arrived in the Magic Kingdom and went to the Town Square Exposition Hall. Our objective was a picture in front of the castle! Main Street was already way too crowded with folks lining up for the parade to have an actual picture made, so we opted to have a green screen photo made right there in the camera shop. The picture turned out great!!!! We chose the nighttime view with the fireworks going off behind the castle and Tink putting her wand on the Walt Disney World logo. The Fab Five are at our feet around a medallion with the new 2000 symbol. We are really pleased with it. We ordered 1 8x10, 1 5x7 and 4 wallets and had it delivered to the room ($35.94)(6:48 pm). We left the Magic Kingdom and went over to the monorail to get to California Grill in the Contemporary. We checked in at the podium and asked for a window seat. The restaurant did have our anniversary on the reservation! We sat in the lounge for a few minutes and tried to decide which side of the beeper was the top. Our drink server Patti showed up and turned it over to the correct side (LOL, figures we’d get it wrong) and I ordered a Mud Slide and Rick had a Whiskey Sour. ($14.35) (7:06 pm) Our table was ready within 5 minutes and was perfect! We had a great view of the Magic Kingdom and the Castle! Our server for the evening was Kenton. For an appetizer, Rick ordered the Winter Greens with Blue Cheese Dressing and I ordered the Sonoma Goat Cheese Ravioli. We declared both delicious! For our main course I ordered the Grilled Pork Tenderloin and Rick had the Tamarind Barbeque Beef Filet. Both were also wonderful dishes! Our excellent waiter talked us into desert. Rick had the Cheesecake and I had the special Chocolate Soufflé dish that has to be prepared early. The desserts arrived just as the lights were dimming for Fantasy in the Sky and they were accompanied by a thin piece of chocolate for each of us that wished us a Happy Anniversary from California Grill written in white chocolate. They were beautiful. We decided we wanted to save those. The fireworks were wonderful from our seat. We got a good view of Tink starting the show and just sat in awe watching the fireworks at eye level. It was a perfect evening! Another note about our dinner. At the table next to us there was some folks that had a child with them. A girl about 13. She was given a gift and when she opened it, it was a huge framed certificate stating that she was declared an official citizen of Walt Disney World and had a date on it some time in January. I thought I overheard them say that only one was presented per year. Does anybody have any information on this? When we received our check, ($106.16)(8:51 pm) the restaurant had given us Rick’s desert on the house in honor of our anniversary. After leaving our table, we went out to the catwalk and watched the fireworks from Fantasmic and Illuminations. Both were interesting to see from there, but are only really appreciated from inside each park. Plus it was Cold out there! We left the restaurant and decided to head on back to the hotel, even though we had planned to go to Downtown Disney to do our shopping and then on to Pleasure Island. Rick was beat and could go no more. :-( I don’t remember how we got back, but I think it involved Downtown Disney, because we didn’t decide to head back to the hotel until it was too far to walk back to the monorail to get to the Magic Kingdom or something. We should have just called a cab, but oh well. We got back to the room around 10ish and had a much needed night’s sleep! Friday, February 25th The Plan: Have Mickey wake us up about 10:00 am planning to get to the bus stop by 11:00 am (Relaxation, remember!) Go to Magic Kingdom and have lunch at Cosmic Rays Starlite Café to watch Sonny Eclipse Explore Magic Kingdom attractions: Carousel of Progress TTA Jungle Cruise Pirates of the Caribbean Enchanted Tiki Room Hall of Presidents Railroad Hop on Monorail and continue over to Epcot, take boat across Lagoon and explore: France Morocco United States Live Entertainment as we could schedule in Dinner at Tangierine Café and watch Tapestry of Nations Continue to Pleasure Island/Adventurers Club for rest of evening (hopefully meet other radpers there) Today went nothing like our plan, so just throw that out the window :-) Anyway, here goes. I got up about 8:00 this morning and took our clothes to the laundry room and got them started. The boxes of detergent in the machine is 1.00 for one load, but they have a box in the little grocery store section of the gift shop that is four loads for 3.50. Rick was up when I got back with the clothes, so we put them away and proceeded to finish getting ready. Rick wanted to eat at Biergarten so I called and got PS for 6:00 pm that evening. We also called out to Grandma Dixie’s house to remind them that they were supposed to pick up the boys this afternoon. We went to the food court and had breakfast. We ordered a bagel, biscuits & gravy, and a croissant with egg, cheese, & sausage and used our refillable mugs for drinks ($9.60)(10:33 am) We needed to get our shopping done and Rick wanted to ride Countdown to Extinction, so that’s what we did. We got on the bus for Animal Kingdom and proceeded back towards CTX. The line was rather long so we got a Fast Pass and just putzed around in Dino Land. As we were leaving the CTX area, we got a CM to take our picture and they asked us if we enjoyed the ride. We told them we had ridden it before and enjoyed it, but we had just gotten a FP and would be riding it in a bit. They asked what we would be doing while waiting, and we told them just looking around in the area. That seemed to please them. We looked in some of the shops and looked into The Boneyard. My husband, hater of sand would NEVER go in there. We got us a soda ($2.50) and found a bench in the shade and just passed the time. Once our Fast Pass time arrived, we went back and got on the ride very quickly. We loved it! Our version seemed to be just as rough as it always was and I could swear there were a couple of extra dinosaurs jumping out at us toward the end!!! As we exited, we purchased the picture ($11.55)(12:31 pm) and then slowly headed out of Animal Kingdom, browsing to look in shops and to look at Animals in the Oasis as we left. Our destination for the afternoon was Downtown Disney for shopping. I can never understand why they don’t provide busses directly from the parks there, but anywho……. whatever. We got on the first resort bus to come along which was a Dixie Landings bus. We rode that bus and got off at the first stop at Dixie Landings to wait on a bus to Downtown Disney. This was a very long wait, with very few busses for any destination showing up. This reinforces my belief that All-Stars has some of the best bus service on property! Finally, a Downtown Disney bus showed up and we got on and proceeded to the Marketplace. We looked around some of the smaller shops and then wandered into World of Disney where we were able to get all the shopping done we wanted except for my Mom & Dad who really don’t appreciate the finer points of Disney character merchandise. We decided to get their gift in one of the World Showcase Pavilions. We picked up a couple of rolls of film for us and a Cinderella doll for Grandma Dixie, a Mickey Explorer watch for Kevin, a pair of YingYang Mickey Boxer Shorts for Matthew, A Spaceship Earth Icon Polo shirt for me, “Owl” for Kevin, a Terk for Aunt Tammie and a Mickey Logo V-Neck T-shirt for Matthew ($175.20 with 15% AMEX discount)(2:59 pm). Whew, I think it would have been cheaper to bring them along!!! Also I thought Terk was black!!! This one was blue!!! After leaving World of Disney, we looked for a place to get an afternoon snack, but nothing looked appealing, so we headed for the bus stop to go back to the resort to drop off all the stuff, take a rest and get ready for Epcot this evening. We couldn’t get resort delivery because we were checking out tomorrow. When we arrived at the resort, I ran the stuff to the room and got our mugs and Rick stopped in the food court. Funny, our picture from last night had not arrived yet. I went back to the food court to meet Rick. Rick had the cheeseburger w/fries basket and I had just an order of fries with cheese sauce. ($7.36)(4:09 pm) After our snack, we found a couple of chairs by the pool and just sat there for a bit. We went back to the room to get ready for dinner and Pleasure Island tonight. Since it was Friday, I needed to pay bills, so I called up my telephone banking service to make sure the paychecks were there and keyed in the bills. That also let me know exactly how much we had in the bank, and I adjusted the register printout I brought with me. After taking care of the mundane things of life, it was time to head out for dinner. We got on the bus to Epcot and made our way through Future World to the boat dock over to World Showcase. I love this boat ride, but at sunset, it’s hard to see anything cause the sun is right at eye level and is very bright! We checked in for our dinner at Biergarten and were seated in about 15 minutes. We were at a table in the back portion, but were on the rail. We had a great view of the stage and were fairly close to the buffet line. This place is really pretty inside. Similar to the Mexico pavilion, you feel like your in a German village outside at night. Our server Brigit came and took our drink orders. I had a coke and Rick ordered an iced tea. She explained the buffet to us and off we went. Everything on the buffet was delicious, but I was disappointed that there were no Lentls on the buffet. I had been looking forward to that. The entertainment was a lot of fun. There was a band that played several numbers, plus played something on those long horns. They also had some guests come up front for a yodeling contest which was quite funny. None of them could yodel at all! The guy that was the biggest ham won however. We paid our check ($50.31)(7:17 pm) and wandered around some of the shops in the pavilion and then took the next boat towards Future World. When we got to Future World we went to Fountainview Café for the express purpose of watching the fountain at night! Rick ordered a beer and I ordered a Coke ($5.73)(8:07 pm) and we found a seat and just sat with our feet up and enjoyed. It was perfect! Well we were now starting to push for time to get to Adventurers Club by 9:00 to meet other radpers, so we left Epcot and headed for the monorail. We waited to ride up front and got a wonderful view! Just as we were approaching the TTC, the Magic Kingdom fireworks went off! It was great! We got our co-pilots licenses which are new for 2000 and then proceeded to the Downtown Disney bus stop. Once again, I think they should have direct buses to DD from the parks. We had a bit of a wait for this bus and got to the Pleasure Island stop about 10 after 9, so we were late again! To make matters worse, when we approached the Pleasure Island gate, we ran into a survey taker. He asked quite a few questions about Pleasure Island and which clubs we were visiting and had visited and what our admission media is and so forth. I’m not sure what he was getting at, but it ate up some time. We finally got into the Adventurers Club and no other radpers were there :-( We however, enjoyed the shows for the evening and eventually we did see Peter (Fudgie) and spent some time with him for some of the shows. He had a friend with him so left for a bit to show him around. Peter came back later and we went into the library for the last cabaret. We started to sit at the bar but they wouldn’t let Peter sit there (he’s such a kid:-)) so we got some stools along the wall. All in all it was an enjoyable evening. At least our bar bill seems to think we had a good time :-) ($83.25) (1:15 am) After the last show, we sat in the Main Salon and talked with Peter and the bar cast for awhile and then finally decided to leave. We were hunting for a restroom and went into Planet Hollywood. As I came out of the restroom, Rick was at the bar and had ordered us yet another round ($10.95) (1:40 am), but I just couldn’t handle any more. So we left and headed for the bus stop. We got back to the room, took showers and crashed. We were both beat. Hmm, our picture from Thursday evening still hasn’t arrived. Saturday, February 26th Have Mickey wake us up about 9:30 am (last day have to check out), pack up and arrive at bus stop by 10:30 am Take a bus to the Studios and boat over to the Beach Club for Breakfast with Goofy After breakfast walk over to Epcot World Showcase for the following: Mexico Germany China Italy Japan Morocco Live Entertainment as we could schedule in Return to Boardwalk through International Gateway and have dinner at Flying Fish (6:00 pm PS) Have taxicab return us to All-Stars and meet Tiffany Town Car Driver for return to the airport Today’s plan also went totally out the window, but still was a good day! We got up that morning about 9:30 once again and got ready and got packed up. We set the luggage by the window with a tip for the luggage folks and set the leftover beer and sodas on the table along with a tip for housekeeping. We had been leaving daily tips for housekeeping, by the way. We got a phone call from the front desk telling us we had a package and could they bring it to the room now. Our pictures! Great! They showed up right away and we were able to include them in our luggage. We went to the lobby to finalize our bill, then on to the bus stop to spend the day at Epcot. A bus arrived shortly and we were off. Part way to Epcot, I mentioned that I would really like to see Carousel of Progress and Sonny Eclipse which were at the Magic Kingdom. So once we arrived at Epcot we went to the Monorail to get to the Magic Kingdom. We finally arrived at the Magic Kingdom and worked our way over to Cosmic Rays. The Magic Kingdom was the most crowded I had ever seen and we should have done this yesterday, but so much for well laid plans. We got in the burger line at Cosmic Rays and after about a 30 minute wait Rick ordered the Meteor Meal (double cheeseburger) with Bacon and carrots and a medium Diet Coke and I ordered the Meteor Meal (double cheeseburger) with fries and a small Coke. ($16.12)(12:31 pm) We went to the fixins bar and loaded up then looked for a table. We finally found one, but it was in a lousy location for watching Sonny Eclipse so this trip was kind of a waste. It was hot and noisy in there too. We were just miserable, in general. We finally got out of there, and went to Carousel of Progress and had about a 5 minute wait until the next theater rotation. However, there was a band playing in Tomorrowland and it was impossible to hear the narration on the outside TV monitor. I was really bummed. We finally get inside and get a seat and I was instantly happy again. Everything about this attraction just seems right to me, and it really is my favorite in all of Walt Disney World!! *It’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow!* We leave the attraction and go up the ramp to ride the Tomorrowland Transit Authority and then after leaving that we take the secret path to Mickey’s ToonTown Fair to get on the train. We sit back and relax and take the train all the way around and then continue on again to Main Street. As we were riding the train, Rick commented that he had never seen the Grand Floridian, so in the extreme spirit of flexibility, after leaving the Magic Kingdom we head to the boat dock and board a boat for the resort. The boat ride was very relaxing and lots of fun. Rick saw the big ferry boats for the first time. He didn’t know they existed. Portions of the Grand Floridian are being remodeled and we are routed through some plywood construction walls to get from the boat dock to the front area of the resort. We stroll through the pool area and then enter the main building and stop at the Grand Floridian Café. We ordered deserts and sodas. Rick had a cheese cake and a Diet Coke and I had a strawberry shortcake and a Coke. ($19.43)(3:11 pm) This is obviously not my idea of a cheap snack!! We then wandered through the lobby and made our way to the monorail stop. Rick had the same feeling about this resort that I do. It’s pretty and all, but not our style. We took the monorail to the TTC and then got on the Epcot monorail. We had been sort of discussing Leave a Legacy all week and Rick told me he definitely wanted to do this, so we stopped at the stand and got information. We filled out the contract which basically says they are going to take our picture and place it “somewhere” within WDW and that the location could change at any time. The pictures were guaranteed to be displayed for a minimum of 10 years, but could be unavailable at any time due to moving their location or refurbishing their location, etc., etc. They also stated that visible jewelry might be edited out of the picture. We did an image with both of us which was $33.00(4:03 pm) with Annual Pass discount. They then took our picture and gave us a credit card thing with our password on it for access to the web site. Our certificates arrive at the house within a week noting the location of our picture. East 6-G-10-11-19 By the way, I was wearing my radp gold lapel pin and it was “not” edited out of the picture and is fairly visible if you know what your looking at! After doing the Legacy thing, we walked towards Mexico and began our stroll around World Showcase. We did El Rio del Tiempo in Mexico which is a nice relaxing attraction. We then wandered through the Germany shops to find gifts for my mother and father. I wanted to find a reasonable Hummel figurine, but all of the ones they had at the pavilion were the limited edition ones which were quite expensive. We ended up getting Mother some crocheted doilies and got Dad a beer mug with some German flags and stuff on it. We also picked up some postcards of Neuschwanstein castle. ($40.28)(5:09 pm) We then strolled through a few of the other pavilions and then went to The American Adventure. I had missed this the last few trips and Rick also missed it in November, so it was a must see for us. We lucked out and got right into a show and really, really enjoyed it! Now during the day, we had both decided to skip the Flying Fish, because quite frankly we were tired of big meals (and expensive meal tickets). I didn’t want to just go back to All-Stars food court either. We finally decided to go to the food court at the Millennium Village. Rick ordered a Pork Sandwich and I decided to get adventurous and ordered a Rice Pudding and a Vegetable Roll. We shared a canned Coke ($12.50)(6:27 pm) I ended up throwing my selections away! I didn’t like either of them! I went back and got a chicken salad sandwich which was ok. ($4.00) We then left the pavilion and checked out the highly acclaimed Millennium Village restrooms, although I didn’t really mention anything to Rick about them and the first thing he said when he came out was “Those things are huge!” We then made our way slowly and reluctantly out of Epcot and headed for the bus stop. I was really bummed out to be leaving. We were late meeting our Tiffany Town Car driver, but he was right there at the front of the resort waiting patiently. He told us that since our luggage was still there, he wasn’t worried about us and knew we still had plenty of time to make our flight. We claimed our bags and our driver loaded them into his car and we made the sad trip back to the airport. As we were leaving we noticed the traffic opposite us was really backed up bad! We knew that Sinbad was performing two shows at Pleasure Island that evening, so maybe that was the cause of it all. We arrived at the airport and had our bags checked at the curb and Rick gave our driver another $10.00. We then proceeded to our gate. We sat down and looked at our tickets and realized we weren’t sitting together so when the counter opened up we got our seating assignments fixed and then waited to board. (They had changed our plane from a 757 to a 767, so that’s why the seating assignments got messed up). Since my “dinner” at Millennium Village had been less than satisfying, I wandered over to the Burger King and ordered a Large French Fry and a Coke ($4.01)(8:51 pm). I love Burger King French Fries. A funny note while we were waiting at the airport. There was an Asian family (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, I don’t know) that was arriving at the airport. I think some of the family was arriving late and they missed their original flight to Atlanta (which was only 30 minutes earlier than the one we were taking) and were transferred to our flight. Well the Matriarch of the family was giving the ones that were late all kinds of he**. She gave them a tongue lashing that the whole airport could hear. It was in their native language so I couldn’t understand a word of it, but the meaning was very clear. I'm sure the situation wasn't funny to them, but to us it was hilarious! We boarded our plane and had seats on the left side, window and aisle and settled in for our flight to Atlanta. We had a Southern take off and passed WDW turning around. I can usually make out Epcot when we do this but wasn’t able to, however, I did see Downtown Disney. Planet Hollywood, Cirque de Soleil and all of the lights around the lake were very obvious. Our flight was uneventful and I dozed through the flight some. We landed in Atlanta pretty much on time and once again our connecting flight was a long walk away, so we made our way that direction also stopping at the restroom. We were probably one of the last flights of the day through there and the most of the shops were closed and none of the little golf carts were running either. :-( We walked straight onto our connecting plane which was about mid-way through boarding when we arrived. The plane was extremely empty and we had seats on the right side of the plane, window and aisle, so when the doors closed, I suggested we move to the left side of the plane so we could stretch out between 3 seats, so we move and what does Rick do, but sit right down next to me leaving the seat on the aisle empty. :-( Oh well. I settled into my seat and promptly fell asleep and didn’t wake up till we landed in Huntsville. Rick told me the flight had been quite bumpy, but I never noticed a thing. It was raining in Huntsville when we arrived, ugh! We made our way to the carousel and claimed our bags. I also stopped by the Delta desk to make a claim for our FRS Radios that must have slipped out of a side pocket that I didn’t zip all the way in our luggage on the way to Orlando. We also lost the laundry powder and dryer sheets that I had packed in zip lock bags. They said I couldn’t make a money claim for them which I wasn’t expecting to, but did want them to look in lost and found. I still haven’t heard back from Delta on the radios, so I’m not sure what happened to them. Fortunately, they were not expensive ones. We stepped outside and within a couple of minutes, the shuttle from Thrifty Car Rental/Parking showed up and loaded everyone’s luggage that was waiting. The driver got our last names and radioed that ahead to the shop. When we arrived our car had been pulled under the awning. Rick put our luggage in the car while I paid for our parking ($27.50)(11:48 pm CST) and we then made the short drive home. As we rounded the corner and hit the garage door button, we noticed the garage door was closing! This meant that it had been open since at least Friday afternoon when the boys and their stuff had been picked up! Also the inner garage door was unlocked as well! Fortunately, nothing had been bothered but Rick was furious just the same and wanted to call to Matt and find out why he left the door open. I told him it would accomplish nothing, but he called just the same and I was right, it accomplished nothing, except to tell us that if we go out of town without the kids again, we will somehow leave the house out of the equation. It was midnight central time, and we were tired so we brought in only what we needed and crashed for the evening. Thus ends our anniversary trip to Walt Disney World! SUMMARY/CONCLUSIONS This trip turned out wonderful! I hope to continue the tradition for our 15th and 20th Anniversary! So, how much did it cost, what did we especially enjoy and what would we do differently? Here are the highs and lows and all the statistics! In addition to wearing amazingly comfortable good walking shoes, get some kind of gel insole or heel support. Those worked wonders for our feet! Even with shorts on, putting on a sweatshirt at night helped keep me comfortable when the sun went down. Even in the winter months I would see Scouts with sweatshirts and shorts on during camping trips and thought they were nuts, but it works! COST
Also, here is a comparison to see how much we should be kicking ourselves for not buying Rick an Annual Pass back in November.
OR
So the difference was not that much, and it is most unlikely that Rick will make another trip this year, so we did alright in my opinion. However, that was only due to the fact that we had access to Stars & Stripes tickets in November. If Stars & Stripes tickets are not an option for you then the cost savings of an AP could be significant. WHAT WE REALLY ENJOYED!
WHAT WE SHOULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY!
Well, I guess that ends my trip report! Until I venture into WDW for the 5th Annual radp festivities, ya’ll…. Have a Great Disney Day!! Carol Kelley TDC ScoutMom ckelley@camber.com (or ScoutMom@webtv.net) Mail a Comment to Carol Kelley |
|