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Eva Greguski -- June 2001 -- Walt Disney World (Offsite)May 31 through June 11, 2001 Cast of characters:
Since we are now within the "100 day" mark of our leaving, I decided to begin writing a Pre-Trip report to post on Mouseplanet.com. I thoroughly enjoy reading the trip report section, and I especially enjoy the ones with the Pre-Trip reports attached to them. I think it is very interesting to see how people's plans change once they actually "hit the World." We have changed our plans several times since we began planning last May, and we will probably change our minds a few more times before we leave. Special note: we are all Disney veterans, so hitting all of the sites is not essential to us. However, our challenge on this trip will be trying to have a great vacation for all three generations of travelers. Bryan and I both come from large families and we travel frequently, so I don't think it will be too much of a problem. We all understand that we each have different interests and schedules, so we decided dividing up during the day but meeting for dinner would be the best way to make this a successful family vacation. Bryan and I will try to take some time alone (we just got married in December) and take in Pleasure Island and the water parks. This began as a trip where Bryan and I would fly from Long Island to Orlando and meet my parents and grandmother with their RV. Bryan's parents live in Ocala, so they are able to visit WDW once or twice a month - they will be joining us at some point during the trip. We had originally planned to camp at Fort Wilderness in July and would spend 10 nights. Those plans change a little (okay, a lot) and we now have a seven-night reservation at Vistana. Bryan and I own a time-share and needed to burn up a week before the end of the year. My grandmother has also had some hip problems, so camping isn't the best idea at this time anyway. I managed to score a two-bedroom villa (sleeps 8) for the first week of June, so sadly we canceled the FW ressie and changed to Vistana. On a positive note: we will be camping for ten nights next May, so we will be back at Fort Wilderness soon enough. Also, we have all decided to drive, caravanning with my grandmother's minivan and our Ford Ranger pick-up. Bryan managed to rig his schedule at work so he could take a couple of extra days, so we can now take our own car. Delta has also been threatening a strike, and since they are one of the only two airlines that fly direct to Orlando from our (small) local airport, we decided that driving would suit our needs. Besides, we don't mind I-95 - we keep a funny journal and note interesting road signs in order to make the trip more bearable. Having our own car at WDW is also a plus - I really don't like to rent. We haven't yet decided which of the Annual Passes we will purchase - if we can save enough money, we would like to buy the Premium Annual Pass. We have never been to any of the water parks, and we are planning to use these passes for three trips - June, December and the following May. We can definitely justify the purchase of the PAP, but if it doesn't pan out, we will be happy with the AP. Following is a summary of our planned daily activities with our PS's. We have made one (sometimes two) PS's a day so that we can be guaranteed one sit-down meal a day. We try to keep most of our meals in the $20 per person range so that we can keep a decent budget. We usually spend more than we intend (those souvenirs!!!), so making a PS at a reasonable restaurant may keep us within our budgets. Some of these restaurants are ones we have visited; others are ones we have never been to. We are looking forward to all of them! Our strategy is to visit the park where early-entry was the day BEFORE since we are not staying onsite.
I hope you have enjoyed reading this lengthy pre-trip report. If this is any indication of how long my final product will be, maybe Brian should post it on a Friday so you have a weekend to read it!!! (Editor's Note: Actually, I usually put the blockbuster reports on Mondays when MousePlanet has it's greatest traffic!) The Report 100 days before we left I posted my Pre-Trip report on MousePlanet. A lot of things changed in those 100 days, and we altered our plans a little bit before leaving. A few weeks before we left, Bryan found out that he has a good shot at getting a promotion and a transfer to Central Florida this fall. I elected to go down to Florida a few days early (with my parents and grandmother) to scout out the area. Mom, Dad and Grandma were visiting with my aunt and uncle in Winter Springs for a few days before we hit WDW, and I decided to tag along. I also had an added advantage: my uncle had been a real estate broker in New York City before he retired, and he is very savvy to the ways of the real estate market. Watching home prices and mortgage interest rates and viewing open houses is sort of a retirement hobby of his now, so I had a great tour guide for looking at housing. Bryan had to finish up a couple of jobs Saturday morning (he is a kitchen designer) and meet with a few contractors, so he flew down to meet us on Sunday morning. He was pretty bummed that I was going down to Florida without him for a few days. I won't bore you with the details of the pre-WDW portion of the trip (mostly eating, visiting with family, and swimming in their pool), so I will cut to the good stuff. What will follow is a general review of the resort (Vistana) and the airline, as well as what we had planned for the day and what really happened. We had a couple of trip spoilers (an emergency-room visit and a grouchy Grandma), but I will get to all of that. We sort of took a Zen-approach to touring on this trip. When it is just Bryan and myself, we go commando. With a large, three-generation group, we knew this wasn't possible. We all decided that we would make 1 PS a day and meet for meals. This worked out very well and it was nice knowing that we could look forward to a good meal at least once a day. Our touring plans may not make a lot of sense if you were to map them out, but we sort of went were our moods took us. If a ride had a long line, then we would skip it and move on the something else, even if it was on the other side of the park. We have all been to WDW lots of times, so hitting every site wasn't essential. We enjoy looking at flowers, watching the ducks and searching for Hidden Mickeys as much as the attractions. Thursday, May 31 - Saturday, June 2 We all woke up at 5:30AM so that we could leave the house at 7AM. With luck, we all showered and left the house at 6:50AM and got to JFK by 8:10AM for a 10:50AM flight- a miracle considering New York City traffic usually drives people to insanity. The God of Disney must have been looking over us that morning as we headed down the Long Island Expressway. What was also a miracle was that the four members of the family who were leaving that morning were ready in a reasonable amount of time - Mom and Grandma are bathroom hogs and take FOREVER to go anywhere. Check-in at JetBlue was a breeze - when I changed my ticket I scheduled myself for a 1:35 flight, since changing to the flight to my parents' flight time would cost me an extra $100. By showing up early, I was able to get on their flight for only an extra $27 - that includes the $25 change fee and the $2 fare increase. A bargain! Bryan and I had booked our airfare for only $145.50 per person, round-trip, so I didn't mind paying the extra $27. Review of JetBlue: I hope they quickly add additional cities and consider another hub since this is probably the second-best airline I have ever (the best is British Airways). The leather seats were a dream and the DirectTV at every seat was wonderful!!!!!!! The flight attendants were so nice and the snack food was pretty good - we had a choice of chocolate chip cookies, bagel chips, blue potato chips or French vanilla chips (like cookies). I had the blue chips - they are Terra Chips - I love those. You could have a second snack if you asked them for one. Their on-time rate is one of the best in the industry (we left 15 minutes late because of weather but arrived 10 minutes early) and they do their best to get everyone boarded quickly and efficiently. The only downside is that they only use JFK as their hub and Islip is much closer to us (we live in Central Long Island). If we can schedule flights for off-times (like Sunday mornings), we will continue to fly with them. The other major carriers have a lot to learn from them. My parents had reserved a car through Priceline before they left - they successfully bid for a luxury car for $25/day, plus taxes. They got a Lincoln Town Car from Budget and it was beautiful! I don't really like those kind of "old-fart" cars, but it is pretty nice sitting on leather seats in a luxury car for a week. I picked up my rental car on Sunday when Bryan arrived. Skip ahead to Sunday.......................... Sunday, June 3 Planned: PS at Crystal Palace - 5:15PM We will be spending most of the day at Magic Kingdom and will check into Vistana late in the day. Traditionally this is the park we visit first on each of our trips. What really happened: On the way to pick up Bryan at the airport we stopped for perishable groceries at the Albertson's around the corner from my aunt and uncles - we swiped an extra cooler from them and spent about $27 on food for the condo - milk, bread, that sort of stuff. Bryan's flight also left late that morning, due to some bad fog and rain, so he arrived at 15 minutes late. While I waited for him I picked up our rental car. I also bid on Priceline, and got a Ford Ranger pick-up for $15 a day - $160.23, including taxes and fees - a great price!!! Picking up the car was a piece of cake and we went upstairs to wait for Bryan. We decided it was worth the extra expense of the second car, since we keep very different schedules from the rest of the group. First funny story of the trip: while we were waiting for Bryan's bags there was a couple trying to retrieve their bags off the carousel. The wife (I assume) forgot what her bag looked like and the husband was getting very upset. A new, black suitcase would pass and he would ask, "Is that the one?" and she would reply, "Yes - no, wait, no it isn't." Then a ratty looking bag would pass (you know, the kind with all of the tape and twine holding it together) and he would ask, "Is that it?" She would reply, "No, wait, yes, no, I guess it isn't." How could she not know which bag is hers? Wouldn't she remember if she wrapped eight layers of duct tape around the bag to keep it closed??? Bryan's parents decided to meet us at Vistana, so as soon as Bryan left we hustled down Route 417, paid our $2 in quarters and meet them at the lobby. We decided to check-in early in case we were late at the parks that day, and I am glad we did. I had pre-checked in on the Internet through their Diamond Lane, so check-in literally took less than 5 minutes. They swiped our credit card to cover phone charges, gave us parking passes and room cards and we were on our way. We checked in about 1PM and our villa was ready - thanks again to the God of Disney. Review of Vistana: a beautiful resort, which is probably why they only allow timeshare exchangers to come once every four years. We requested a first-floor villa in Cascades (the newest section) and we got everything we asked for. It was a two-bedroom villa with a king-sized bed in the master bedroom and two double beds in the second bedroom. Bryan's parents slept on the queen-sized sofa while they were there. There were two very nice bathrooms and a large, two-person Jacuzzi tub in the master bedroom. The kitchen was fully-loaded with a nice stove, dishwasher, sink disposal, full-sized fridge and microwave and the unit had a washer/dryer stacked unit. The W/D was kind of small for when there were seven of us, so we wound up doing 2-3 loads a day (we had to wash towels since there were only 8 sets). No one minded though - it was effortless and took about 15 whole minutes out of each day. It was really nice to have clean clothes every day too. Later that night Bryan discovered that there were no knobs on the stove - we called housekeeping and they brought us knobs in about 10 minutes. I found the knobs the next morning in the silverware basket in the dishwasher. We all had a pretty good laugh about that. Our unit was right across the street from the pool and general store - close enough for a two-minute walk but far enough away from the noise. The pool was beautiful - they have seven there but we only used the one. It had a 12 person hot tub, waterfall and really nice children's area with a zero-depth entry and fountains kids can run through. Bryan and I noticed how kids like to stick their butts in the fountains - adults did too. Wonder why that is? After the first night we generally went swimming when the pool first opened (8AM) since it was much less crowded. The pool stayed open until 1AM, and it tended to be loaded with teenagers until well-after midnight. Not that all teenagers are bad, but I wasn't always in the mood to deal with rough-housing and cannon-balling after a long day on my feet. We did an inventory of the villa items and finally left for the MK around 4PM. I knew it would take us forever to get moving, since we had two cars to unload and we wanted to visit with Bryan's parents for a little while. My father gets along swimmingly with Mike, so much so that we called them "girlfriends" throughout the trip. They even sat next to each other at meals. We parked at the Poly (I know, bad girl, but we were following Mike and that's where he went) and we headed to the TTC to get our AP. Mike lied to the guard at the gate and told him we were going to the Luau - the guard told him there is no Luau on Sundays. Mike is such a wienie. The guard laughed at him and told him that his car would be towed in 3 hours and 5 minutes. Good thing the guard had a sense of humor, because I wouldn't if we had to turn three cars around and drive back to the TTC lot. Mike and Patty had to renew theirs, so we all had some business to conduct there. We finally arrived at the MK, where we all hopped the WD Railroad. Bryan, Mike and I got off at the first station so that we could get FP's for Splash Mountain. At this time of day I didn't really hold any hope that we would get some, but we did for 7:05PM. We moved on to POTC (it was closed when we went last year), and rode it for the first of many times on this trip. We met the rest of the group for dinner at Crystal Palace, a traditional first meal for our trips. We waited about 5 minutes for our table (we showed up 1/2 hour early for our PS - we originally wanted a lunch PS but decided against it when we made the PS 60 days prior and changed it to dinner), and were lead into a large table on the right side of the buffet. Dinner was delicious, and I am posting a separate dining review at the end. This TR is long enough!!! We headed for the Haunted Mansion, rode Small World, and then it started to POUR. I really mean POUR. The hard, hail-accompanying horizontal rain that can hit Central Florida. This became an annoying trend for our trip - those afternoon thunderstorms tended to last more than a few minutes and sometimes came earlier in the day then we wanted. We knew Splash would be closed (there was terrible lightening), so we saw the Legend of the Lion King. The CM's were wonderful about the rain - they tried their best to make sure everyone was a comfortable as possible and did their best to squeeze everyone into the queue area. After LotLK, we started to head towards Tomorrowland and that's where the medical problems started. My mother has been plagued with phlebitis and poor circulation most of her life (everyone in her family has it - they are all very tall and suffer from all sorts of leg problems), and by this point my mother could barely walk. She is normally a very active woman and this was devastating to her. She decided to leave, and my dad and Grandma went with her. Good thing, since she would spend the better part of tomorrow in the emergency room. We decided to stick around Tomorrowland and wait for the fireworks with Patty and Mike. It was still raining (at times, pretty hard), so we went on Alien Encounter and Wedway before Fantasy in the Sky at 9:30PM. Here's the first of many Patty Paradox's: Bryan's mother HATES roller coasters, flumes and scary rides (she won't even ride Test Track), but she loves Alien Encounter. I like it enough, but she LOVES it. I actually don't like the sensation of the Alien breathing in my ears or on my neck (it really hurts my ears), so I tend to lean forward out of the headrest. We rode Wedway twice before making our way down to the hub for the fireworks. Due to lightening, Tinkerbell did not fly that night (or another other night we were there - lightening was in abundance last week), but the fireworks were good, as always. Patty and Mike went back home to Ocala, since they would join us again the following Wednesday. We got back to the resort by 10:15AM and by then it had stopped raining (go figure). We snooped around the resort and headed to bed. Bryan conked out almost immediately, but I stayed up updating Trip Report notes and thinking about the day. Asleep by 12:45AM. What a wonderful first day. Monday, June 4 Planned: PS at Rose & Crown, 7:20 PM. This will be an Epcot day. We have tried to make the PS for an Illuminations table - we will see if we are successful. What really happened: Up at 7AM. We wanted to finish unpacking and I needed to do a little laundry, so I let Bryan sleep until 7:30AM. We decided that we would like to try out the pool when it opened, instead of coming back to it at the end of the day since the night before was so crowded. We headed over to the pool at 8AM when it opened and decided this was going to work for us - we were the only ones there! One of the disadvantages to staying offsite is that it takes so long to get back to the hotel for a mid-day break (compared to hopping a bus or monorail back to the resort), so we weren't really interested in taking the afternoon rest. We swam until 9:30AM, when we decided we were starving and probably should have some breakfast, Mom, Dad and Grandma were awake when we got back and were eating - and they had bad news for us. Mom's legs were killing her and she wasn't going to make it to the parks today. She wasn't even sure if she would make it to the parks any day this week. Dad and Grandma wanted to take her to the emergency room and they would meet us later in the day. I had mixed feelings about going to Epcot, but Mom and Dad insisted since there was nothing that we could do. I also had to make a couple of job related phone calls before I could really start my vacation - before I left New York I got a lead for an art-related job in the Orlando area. The owner of the company wanted to meet with me and see my resume while I was in Florida. I wasn't exactly thrilled about having to go on an interview when I would rather be eating with Mickey Mouse, but you have to do what you have to do. Lucky me, the owner was in Palm Beach for the rest of the week and all I would have to do is fax my resume. I walked over to the business center at Vistana, sent my fax and we were on our way by 10:30AM. We have a reservation for Port Orleans - French Quarter for August so we decided to snoop around there before we hit Epcot. Like I said, this was a nice leisurely trip for us, and hitting rides and attractions weren't always at the top of our list. We loved Port Orleans and can't wait to stay there (only 73 days from that day I am writing this!). The grounds are beautiful and the resort is as charming as I thought it would be. We arrived at Epcot around 11AM. I was happy to see that a lot of the Flower and Garden Festival topiaries were still up and we walked around for a little while to take photos. We hit Test Track first. The Fastpasses were available for much later in the day, so we decided to try out the Single Riders Line. We waited only 15 minutes (the stand-by line was 90 minutes) and we decided that we would use the Single Rider Line from now on. Previously Bryan wasn't too thrilled about us going in separate cars, but I was less thrilled about waiting 1 1/2 hours or coming back 6 hours later with a Fast Pass. My car was kind of a stinker (no one screamed, laughed or seemed thrilled), but Bryan had a great car - filled with 5 other teenage boys. They had a great time. We left TT and poked around Mouse Gear and took pictures of Mission: Space for a few minutes before hitting Ice Station Cool. "Bryan - try the Beverly. It's my favorite one." Bryan, being a lot smarter than what he looks, knew enough not to trust me. He remembered that I loved the Ginger Ale and reluctantly took a sip of the Beverly. How do Italians drink that stuff??? After Ice Station cool we ate at Sunshine Season Food Fair (see my dining review). After filling up we got a FP for Living with the Land and decided to see Food Rocks. The line for LwtL was 60 minutes. Before FP was installed I never saw the line longer than 20 or 30 minutes. We really do like to use FP, but I don't really think this is an attraction that really needs it. We saw Food Rocks while waiting, which was our first time. I guess the show is cute enough, but I don't really need to rush back and see it again. We followed up FR with Circle of Life, a film I really like. We have seen this film several times before and I think it is very well done. Finally our time for the FP came and it was time to ride LwtL. The minute we walked on the ride I knew we had the same tour guide was last year!!! There was no mistaking this guy - his name is Kurt and he sounds like Ben Stein. Though the tour was good (this is one of my favorite attractions), I wish we had a guide less monotonous. After the Land Pavilion we hit HISTA. Bryan and I skipped JIYI since we both hated it when it first opened. I suppose I will try to ride it in August, but time is a precious thing to waste and I would rather see other things. As always, HISTA was hysterical - and as an added bonus we were able to walk right in. We took the Rose Walk over to the World Showcase. Epcot is our favorite park, so we tend to spend a lot of time there. We have probably seen every attraction and performing group 10 times over, so we now spend a lot more time looking at flowers, architecture and all of the little details. We probably walked along the Rose Walk for 15 minutes, looking at all of the varieties and reading the labels. We are both green thumbs, so this kind of stuff interests us. I also think this level of detail is what makes WDW so much fun to return to - no matter what season it is, there is always something new to see. We hit Canada first and stayed for a little while to listen to Fiddlestix. If you have never heard this group, check them out - they are fabulous! They are a great mix between bluegrass and rock and they are a lot of fun to listen to. I love watching them play - as a string player (cello) I can admire how difficult it is to play some of those fast passages. Mom and Dad finally called and told us that although Mom did not have to stay at the hospital, she needed to stay off of her feet for the next two days and use a wheelchair for the rest of the trip. What a bummer! Turns out she had an infection in her legs and they were swollen and irritated. They went to Osceola Hospital and were very upset with how this vacation was going. The hospital visit was horrible - Mom waited almost three hours to get triaged. My parents both work in the medical field (Mom was a nurse for 30 years) and they were disgusted at the level of care they received. Had they been more familiar with the area, they would have gone somewhere else. Seven years ago my cousin's appendix burst at WDW (doesn't my family have great luck) and he was rushed to Sand Lake Hospital - a much better experience. What concerned Mom and Dad most was another patient in the ER who was having chest pains - it took almost 2 hours for someone to see him. They were terrified that he would have a heart attack right there in the waiting room. Mom, Dad and Grandma would not be joining us for dinner, so we were going solo for the evening and probably the next day. I decided I wanted to go clockwise and we back-tracked to Mexico. Didn't I tell you my plans don't make any sense? I wanted to ride El Rio del Tiempo and Bryan wanted to get out of the sun. Temps were in the lo-mid 90's each day we were there and Bryan is VERY fair-skinned - time to reapply sunscreen! We rode El Rio (The Mexican IaSW) and browsed the plaza in the pavilion. The Mexican pavilion is one of our favorite spots in World Showcase - it always provides a nice respite from the hot Florida sun. We watched a senior citizen group try on sombreros and take photos of each other and decided we should probably move on to Norway. Boo, hiss! Maelstrom was closed for renovation! And we had vowed to watch the movie this time! Oh well, on to China. We arrived in China just in time to watch Si Xian (I think that is what they were called). It was a man and a woman playing a stringed instrument (I don't remember the name of it) and a dulcimer. They played for about 20 minutes and were great - they performed traditional Chinese music, some American tunes (Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star among them) and invited some children to come up and perform with them. Unfortunately, a young child was sitting up in the first row yelping during most of the performance. I had wondered where her parents were until her grandmother appeared five minutes before Si Xian finished. All the while she was yelling, screaming and hitting her brother. And guess what happened? Yup, her grandmother decided to bring her into the movie. Another experience spoiled by an inconsiderate guest. Real bad decision to bring upset children into enclosed, darkened environments. I don't even have children yet, but I can probably use enough common sense to know that taking a child into a dark movie theater with loud, unfamiliar sounds will PROBABLY make them more upset. Good thing we have both seen this film 20+ times, otherwise I would have been really upset. By this time it was only late afternoon and we still had a long time to go before our Rose & Crown PS. We shopped around Germany and I bought an amaretto cake to bring back to the condo for everyone to share. If you haven't tried one, they are worth the price. Only $5.50 for a decent sized brick and they are delicious - kind of like a Stella Doro breakfast treat. Next we hit Italy and poked around some more shops. Outside in the courtyard was a group performing - I think they are called Bella Fortuna. They wear masks and play synthesizers. I really didn't like them and neither did Bryan. I thought they were kind of creepy and they made me feel kind of uncomfortable - they sort of seemed nightmarish to me. By this time we were getting kind of sluggish and it was time for a little food, especially since we knew we may have to wait some time for a terrace table. We stopped to eat the Liberty Inn and bought a couple of kids meals. We got a table by the window so that we could enjoy the air conditioning but still had a good view of outside, which was good planning since the Spirit of America Fife & Drum Corps started marching. After they were finished we got in line for the 6PM American Adventure show (which means nap time for Bryan). I love this show and stay awake pretty easily. Bryan, on the other hand, gets very groggy in dark theaters and nods off during these types of shows. Feeling refreshed, we made our way over to the Rose & Crown for dinner. We told them about our changed dinner plans (2 adults instead of 5) and managed to score a terrace table pretty quickly. It looked like a huge thunderstorm was coming our way, so they sat us on the upper level of the terrace and rolled down the plastic sheeting. Within 45 minutes they realized that the storm would probably not hit us, so they rolled the plastic back up. Dinner was delicious and we had some of the best seats for Illuminations I had ever had (until later in the week - you'll see why). We left Rose & Crown after a yummy dinner and weeded our way back to the parking lot. Luckily a tram pulled up as soon as we left the gates and we were back in the car and on our way within 15 minutes. We chatted with everyone back at the condo and decided that Mom wouldn't go anywhere on Tuesday either. I sat in the Jacuzzi and watched an episode of Law & Order while Bryan folded some laundry. Despite my Mom's legs, this was another good day. Although the beginning of the week would be tough for her, it gets better! Tuesday, June 5 Planned: PS at Prime Time Café, 1:20 PM. MGM day. Bryan and I loved this place last March, and we thought my parents would enjoy coming here. Also looking forward to seeing Fantasmic! In our many trips, we have never been able to catch this show. What really happened: Mom was laid-up again today, and Dad and Grandma elected to stay back at the condo with her. Bryan and I hesitated about going out again today without them, but we decided to go ahead since all we would do is sit around the condo with them all day. Dad was going to take Grandma shopping and they would try to go out to dinner. All three had purchased AP's and all they had gotten out of them so far was 5 1/2 hours at the Magic Kingdom! Bryan and I were up at 7AM again and ready to hit the pool by its 8AM opening. Dad decided to come along and we were the only ones there except for an older couple in the hot tub. Dad sat in the hot tub and talked to them for a while and joined us in the pool around 8:30. I have mentioned how beautiful the pool is at Vistana? They have 7 pools, but we only used the Cascades pool throughout the whole trip. By 9:30AM other people had started arriving and we decided it was time to leave and have a little something for breakfast. Besides, weren't there theme parks to visit today? Bryan and I left around 10:15AM and got to MGM by 10:30. Parking was very amusing - I have never driven to the lot before, only have taken the bus. As we approached the tram there was a green army man yelling commands out from an army jeep. The funniest part of the loading was when the "tram director" announces the safety rules in English. The green army guy then yells "OK - once again, now in Spanish!" and the message is repeated in Spanish. I think I was the only one on the tram who thought that was funny. We had planned to spend the entire day at MGM, but, as always, decided we would probably go on things we liked and then split for the day. We did not really want to do the Fantasmic dinner package and I had no interest in sitting in the auditorium for 2 hours prior to show time. We first headed to TToT to check our return times for FP and they were only 1 hour away. We got a FP and headed over to RnRC, where the line was 90 minutes long. Okay, so we goofed, and we should have gotten a FP for RnRC and waited on the 20 minute TToT line. The heat was unbearable that day (very humid - major thunderstorm was approaching), so we decided to skip that area of the park and come back to it later in the week. We walked back to the center and took some pictures of the construction of the giant hat, or the "big blue monstrosity" as Bryan calls it. I already find this park to be the most difficult one to find my way around, and then WDW threw a giant blue hat in the middle of the only central point I know to confuse me more. I am not sure why I have so many problems navigating this park - maybe I am not MGM inclined. Since we were there we decided to ride the Great Movie Ride (a walk-on). It was wonderfully cool in the ride and it was a great time to sit back and relax. We got the cowboy this time (I prefer the gangster), but our cowboy was really into it. Last year we had the dullest gangster I have ever seen, so I was glad that at least the cowboy was lively. I am still amazed by some of the scenes in this ride (although the Sigourney Weaver audio-animatronic always makes me laugh) and I love the Wizard of Oz scene. I would have loved to have ridden it again (it was so HOT), but once was enough for Bryan. On to Millionaire, the most awaited attraction of our trip! We were too late to get a FP for the next show, so we opted to wait in line (about 1/2 hour). Here is where my biggest complaint of the trip was: why does Millionaire have an uncovered queue? The Disney folks know full well that this will be one of the most popular attractions this summer and they couldn't spring for an awning? For Pete's sake, this attraction just opened a few weeks ago! Awnings aren't new ideas! Everyone around me was sweating buckets - a really unpleasant sight. I though Bryan would pass out - he is very fair-skinned and doesn't have a really high heat tolerance. Good thing we were able to move up a little bit and move out of the sun. I made sure I commented on this at Guest Relations on our way out that day and asked for a comment card. I was told by the CM that they do not have comment cards, and was given a label with the WDW Communications address on it. The CM was less than helpful - good thing this was the only bad-attitude CM I ran across the entire trip. Anyway, back to Millionaire - we got into the 12:15 show and were seated rather quickly. I was pretty impressed by the set. I also thought it was really cute how reticent young children were to walk on the plexi-glass floor - many CM's took note of this and showed them it was ok to walk on it by stomping on the floor. Bryan commented on how little the set looks like what is on TV until you see it on the monitor with proper lighting. Anyway, we started off with a fastest-finger and it was a stinker - "put these baseball teams in geographic order going from south to north." Ugh. I can't even remember the teams now, but I had the third fastest time! I was so excited and disappointed at the same time. I quickly realized that after this round I would have to limit my Millionaire playing, since I could probably play all day - me and my addictive personality. The young man who got into the hot seat beat me by a few tenths of a second and he had a broken leg - he got a large sympathy groan from the audience and a few laughs as he hobbled up to the chair. He coasted along to 32,000 points, where he finished since he lost the 64,000 point question. That was the end of our segment and we headed off to our PS at the Prime Time Café. I was pretty bummed at getting third place, so Bryan tried to cheer me up as we waited for our table. "What do you want a trip to NYC for anyway?" he asked me. "We can hop the Long Island Railroad and be there in an hour." He was right, but I wanted all of that STUFF! We checked in about 1:10 for our 1:20 PS and waited almost 20 minutes for our table at Prime Time. Like I mentioned in my dining report, I like this restaurant, but I think we will try another one the next time we are at MGM. Our server, cousin Devon, was very good, but I spent most of my time getting irritated at the three young, out of control kids sitting next to us that thought it was hilarious to throw their food on the floor. Every time one of the kids wanted to get up (which was often), they would bump into me at our table. The seating is a little too-close-for-comfort here, and I want to try something different next time. We also waited what I thought was a LONG time, especially when I saw half of the tables empty when we were finally seated. The food was good though and wasn't too expensive. (See my dining review) After filing up, we headed for Drew Carey's Sounds Dangerous. I really like Drew Carey and think this attraction is fun. I know some people don't like it, which is fine with me because we have never had to wait long to get into the show. Although, for some reason I don't like the haircut section - for some reason the scissor sounds give me the hebee jebees! Next we went to Muppetvision 3D, one of our favorite attractions in all of the parks. I grew up watching The Muppet Show (and then to bed!) and I think this is one of the most well-designed attractions in all of WDW. I feel like I never have enough pre-show time since there is so much to see and the movie is hilarious. I also love the movie posters on the way out - the one for the Ricky Rat Show always cracks me up! By this time the humidity was unbearable and there was heat lighting striking all over the resort area. We thought for sure a huge storm would be approaching, so we decided to go back to the car and head for the Marketplace before the rain started. We wanted to do some souvenir shopping for family back home and we always leave it to the last day. I always intend to spend a lot of time at MGM but I get tired of it really quickly. Not that there is a lack of attractions (the most common complaint of AK), but there aren't a lot of attractions that interest me. It is almost impossible to see all of the shows in one day and I find it really difficult to time them properly. I am not a Star Wars or Indiana Jones fan at all (Bryan is, but this is my Trip Report!), so I skip Star Tours and IJ:EPS about 1/2 the time. We usually wind up spending 1/2 days at MGM and going somewhere else for the evening. Oh, and at some point during the day I remember splitting a root-beer float with Bryan at the Studio Catering Co. - yummy! After a quick drive to the Marketplace, we found a great parking spot and poked around World of Disney for about an hour. We were trying to decide which park to hit later that night and decided on MK. Neither one of us felt any great desire to go back to MGM and we were just at Epcot the night before. Oh, and the rain never came! The black thunderheads than were ever-present over MGM disappeared while we were in WoD - on to the MK! Here is where my notes get really scattered for the rest of the trip - I try to be a diligent note-taker, but I lose interest in a couple of days, Instead, I write smaller notes on receipts and scraps as I remember them and try to write my TR's shortly after I get back. I remember heading over to Splash Mountain with the hopes of getting another FP for the night. With luck they weren't all distributed, and we only had to wait until 7:30PM. Hooray! We moved onto Adventureland and did the attractions in there again. We wanted to see the Enchanted Tiki Birds again, and we went in with almost no waiting. Rode PoTC two more times (again, no waiting) and we got stuck twice on the ride. No matter, it was still more than 90 degrees with 90% humidity outside, so I have no objections to being stuck inside. The first time we were stuck in front of "We wants the redhead!" - my favorite scene, and the second we were stuck towards the end. I got to take a good, long look at all of the loot they had pillaged. After PoTC, we headed towards Frontierland where I wanted to see Country Bears. I don't really remember it as a kid and I am not even sure I have ever seen this. Bryan didn't remember it either and we both decided once was enough for both of us. For some reason I had a hard time understanding the audio (it sounded kind of garbled) and Bryan was a little weirded out by the bears, especially the one who sings "Blood on the Saddle." Those bears kind of rub me the wrong way too, and we opted to not see that again during our trip. Sorry to all the Country Bear lovers out there. Dinner time!!! Gee, and here we are right next to Pecos Bill. No argument here - give me a Paul Bunyan with all the fixin's!! Did I say that there would be no diet-watching this week!?! After stuffing ourselves we headed over to Big Thunder Mountain, where a long wait would settle our stomachs. I can't believe that we waited almost 40 minutes for this ride, but it allowed us to digest and we still couldn't use our FP's for Splash. Everyone on our train was really excited to ride and we had a great time - sometimes we are stuck riding with complete duds. Now the long-awaited Splash. If you remember from Days 1-4, we had a torrential downpour and lightening during our FP time on Sunday night and SpM was closed. On Tuesday the sky was still threatening and it was starting to drizzle, and I began to think that we were not destined to ride this at all. We handed in our FP and zipped ahead - we waited about 10 minutes until we were in our log (stand-by was 90 minutes). Every few moments an inclement weather announcement would come on, threatening to shut down the ride. Lucky us, full-fledged rain was coming down by the time we rode, but the lightening had stopped. We got drenched on the ride (Bryan got the brunt of the splash from a fluming log as we turned around the first corner), but it was so hot we didn't care. And wouldn't you know, it stopped raining shortly after we got off! We headed over to Haunted Mansion and rode it (again!) and this time got a really funny CM who circled around the stretching room with a fake rat in her arms. We got stuck in this ride too (for a good 10 minutes), although it allowed some time to dry off. We were stuck in the part where the hallway with the floating candelabra is and I looked for some hidden Mickey's. Not finding any, I decided it may be a good time to take a nap and then the ride started moving again! We poked around Fantasyland, where most of the rides had 60+ minute waits. So, we moved on to Tomorrowland and rode AE and Wedway again. We were able to get into Buzz a few minutes before the fireworks started, and once again Bryan kicked my butt. I can never seem to break 100,000, although this time I was in the high 90's. I vowed to beat him next time. Watched the fireworks from the Tomorrowland bridge (great location) and then snooped around Main Street shops on the way out. Tinkerbell didn't fly again tonight, or any other night that week, since lightening was still a threat. Back in the condo by 10:30, ate some cheese, crackers and fruit, bedtime by 12:15. Wednesday, June 6 Planned: PS at Liberty Tree Tavern (to be made in April - trying for 6:30PM). We will probably spend the day at Animal Kingdom and the evening at MK. Neither Mom, Dad or Grandma have seen AK - they are very excited. I hope they can wait four days into our trip to see it!! What really happened: When all the hubbub started to heat up the three weeks or so before the opening, we decided to change our PS that evening to Boma, since we really wanted to check out the new resort and be among the first to try out the restaurant. We got a PS for 6PM, since we wanted to be able to see the resort both during the light and at dusk. We were up by 7:30 and hit the pool again early that morning. We were back in the condo by 9AM, since we had agreed to meet Bryan's parents at AK by 10:30AM. Like I said from the beginning, none of us are early-risers-get-to-the-park-or-we-will-die kind of people. We have all been to WDW numerous times, and we would rather sleep in and enjoy our accommodations rather than rush through the parking mayhem that accompanies park openings. This was also the first day we needed to rent a wheelchair for Mom, and Bryan and I went ahead of Mom, Dad and Grandma to see if AK had any ECV's left. They did, and Mom, Dad and Grandma met us at Guest Relations about 10 minutes after we rented it. Tip: Send one member of your party ahead if you need to rent a wheelchair, especially if you want an ECV. At first I thought this might be cheating, but then I spoke with a CM at Guest Relations and they told me this is perfectly legit. Disabled guests can often take a much longer time to get into the parks (as my Mom did), since they often have to walk from their parking lot instead of taking a tram. As long as the unit is paid for, the CM will reserve it for you and hold it until the guest arrives. We were able to do this every day at each park we went to, freeing up some worries with my Mom. We would have pushed a regular wheelchair around for the week, but I am glad we didn't have to - those ECV's are great!! Mom was taking a long time in the morning to get ready, get in and out of the car, and walking from the car to the gates, but she was bound and determined to enjoy the rest of the week. Having an ECV waiting for her made it all worth it. We finally got every one situated in Animal Kingdom (Mom had her ECV, Bryan's parents had arrived and Dad bought ponchos for Mom & Grandma since it was threatening rain again), so we headed off to Festival of the Lion King. I thought this would be a good attraction for everyone to visit first, since we are all Lion King lovers and this is a fabulous show. Admission to FotLK was the first of many perks we enjoyed while accompanying a disabled guest - we all got to go in with Mom and her wheelchair and had front row seats. Each time we approached a gate we inquired about where she should enter and where we should enter, since we were such a large party (6 + one wheelchair guest), but each time the CM's let us in together! We were very happy, but would have been just as happy splitting up the party if we had to. We understand that seating is limited for disabled guests and we didn't want to be a burden on anyone. Lucky for us we got the royal treatment from the CM's for the rest of the week! Everyone LOVED the FotLK, although Mom and Dad want to sit higher up when she is feeling better. The acrobatic monkeys were amazing and the fire-eater was thrilling! And, it had POURED while we were inside - good show timing on our parts. We were famished after we got out and headed towards Tusker House for lunch. We chatted with a CM at Tusker for a little while (it had been raining AGAIN and we were waiting until it stopped before going to the safari) and complimented her on the general cleanliness of the parks. As usual, the CM was friendly and was delighted by the compliment - which we meant whole heartedly. While we were at Tusker we noticed several families leaving behind HUGE messes - aren't you supposed to bus your own table? The CM's would have everything cleaned up quickly and you wouldn't even know the Slob Family had just left. She told us that it is getting more and more difficult to keep up since the staffing isn't what it used to be (she has been at WDW for 10+ years), so getting compliments like that really made her day. We managed to go through the wheelchair entrance to KS, where two other families were waiting, also accompanying guests in wheelchairs. We had the jeep to ourselves and our guide was very good. I think it is a myth that the animals are only out early in the morning, since I have been on KS several times over the course of the day and have seen animals each time. The lion always seems to be sleeping each time I go on - morning or afternoon. I think the poaching storyline is a little silly, but we saw so many animals that it didn't matter. And because it was such a small group, we were able to ask the guide several questions throughout the tour. We walked through the Pangani Forest Trail after returning from our safari, where it started to rain heavily again. The walkways are covered with enough vegetation and the checkpoints are close together enough that we really didn't get wet. We wanted to go to Rafiki's Planet Watch, but the rain was coming down too hard and we weren't sure of how long the walk would be to the station from the train. So, Bryan and I decided we wanted to ride Dinosaur. Mom, Dad and Grandma wanted to go to Asia and see the Maharajah Jungle Trek. We split up and agreed to meet at Boma for dinner at 5:30PM. After walking all the way over to Dinosaur, we discovered it was down for repair and would be down for at least another hour. Boo, hiss, oh well. Bryan was thirsty, so we split a PowerAde (blech! I never had one and never will again) and went to see if ITTBaB had a long line. Luckily, the movie was a walk-on and we waited less than 5 minutes for the next show. We both loved the show but those stingers really hurt!! We debated about whether to see it again, but we wanted to get to the AKL and check it out before our PS at 6:00PM. We arrived at the lodge before 5PM and took a thorough look around - WOW! This place is beautiful, although I think it is a little too similar to the Wilderness Lodge. I know it is the same architect, but I was expecting something a little different. It is a shame that this is such a remote resort - I would love to stay here if the transportation was a little better. We were especially impressed with the fire pit in the lobby, the pool and the view. The CM's were extremely nice and we noticed a lot of impromptu tours and explanation of the artwork and style of the building. Also, there seemed to be quite a few public viewing areas of the savannahs, so those who didn't reserve a savannah view room don't have to miss out on everything. Bryan waited in the bar with his parent's for a while and I looked around the lobby until my parent's showed up. I absolutely loved the furniture in the lobby and would have purchased some of those chairs on the spot had they been available - they were so comfortable! I was also very impressed by the displays of artwork - working for a museum, I am impressed that Disney takes the time to display authentic artworks and explain them. Many people in the museum field are just coming around to recognize that although Disney is "artificial," there is a lot that can be learned from their exhibit techniques. I thought they presented a wonderful collection of African art, something which most people never get to experience in their lifetime. Mom, Dad and Grandma finally arrived and we went down to Boma to check-in. We were about 1/2 hour early for our PS, and we were seated within 5 minutes. Our CM who showed us to the table was very friendly - I think he was from Nigeria. He explained to some of the dishes on the buffet and noted that in addition to wait staff, there were many "ambassadors" from Africa who would be more than happy to answer our questions - they were wearing orange clothing. The consensus at our table was that the meats and desserts were to die for, although we were all a little unimpressed with the side dishes. Grandma didn't like anything (a common theme for the week - so I don't count her vote), but everyone else thought the side dishes were a little on the spicy side. I did love the mashed sweet potatoes and asked for the recipe from my server. I had a few other issues with this restaurant (labeling, spices - see my dining review), but I think I will try this restaurant again sometime in the future. I think I need to spend a little more time looking at the dishes and asking some more questions and I would enjoy it more. The Zebra Domes at the end of the meal more than made up for any complaints I had - delicious! After Boma, Mom, Dad and Grandma wanted to look around the lodge a little bit so we checked out the shops. Since we were done with dinner so early, it was decided that a night cap of Illuminations was in order - no argument here! Bryan and I went ahead and picked up an ECV for Mom while they parked and met us inside. After picking up the ECV (using receipt from AK - rent once per day, you can pick up an ECV at any park, providing they are available), we decided to ride Spaceship Earth. Bryan and I had skipped it on Monday because the line was long when we were in the area, and we will never wait more than 5 minutes for this ride - you don't have to. Grandma was certain that she had never been on this ride (she had, numerous times), so she argued about that with Dad for 5 minutes afterwards. Mom and Dad haven't been on the ride since Jeremy Irons was the narrator, so I think she thought it was a different ride. She insisted it was new, and we let her think so, even though I told her it has been there since 1982. It was almost time for Illuminations, so we lumbered up towards the World Showcase, Mom with her silly Minnie Mouse hat, riding on her ECV and the rest of her entourage trailing behind her. We must have looked so ridiculous. We were going to try to find her and Grandma a space near the railing (it was getting pretty filled up) when an angel appeared. Her name is Ree Wice and she works on the Friendships during the day and helps disabled guests find seating for Illuminations. She saw me trying to situate Mom and Grandma for the show when she asked if we would like to move to the disabled area. I told her that she can take them, and the other 5 of us would find a seat and meet up with them later. "Nonsense," she told me, "follow me." She escorted our entire rag-tag group to the disabled seating area in front of the Showcase Plaza and allowed all of us to sit in there with Mom. Again, I was afraid that people would think we were being selfish by taking up disabled space with able bodies, but she told us to stay put and enjoy the show. Ree appeared a couple of nights later and I was sure to thank her and get her name. A letter had already gone out to WDW - its little touches like this from CM's that make all the difference in a vacation. This section was even better than the Rose & Crown terrace we were seated at on Monday - I have never had such a good view of Illuminations before. We felt the heat of the fire from the exploding barge and I was able to make out each and every image in the globe. Everyone was thrilled and this was one of the best nights of the trip - even Grandma loved the show! We took our time leaving the park and met back at the condo at 10:15PM. Bryan and I went swimming again while everyone else stayed back and watched the news. Timothy McVeigh was going to be executed on the day we were returning to New York - what a horrible news story to watch on vacation. We were back in the condo by 11:30, had a light snack and went to bed. Tony's and Hoop Dee Doo coming tomorrow!! Thursday, June 7 Planned: PS at Tony's Town Square (to be made in April - trying for 9:00AM). Ressie for Hoop-Dee-Doo, 7:15PM show. This will be an exciting day for us. First, Bryan's parents will be joining us for the first time this trip and we have a ressie for HDD. We haven't seen the show in 10 years and Bryan and his parents have never seen it. Although we consider ourselves sophisticated Northeast folks, we enjoy the corny humor and the great fried chicken!!! Patty and Mike are very frequent visitors to WDW (Mike is a Disney Freak!) and they are a lot of fun to travel with. Mike is one of the few people who can keep up with my commando style, so we will probably break up so Bryan and his mom can have some time together and relax. What really happened: Bryan's parents actually joined us earlier in the trip, which was a nice surprise. We had already seen them on Sunday night and Wednesday. Mike would spend the next two days with us and go back to Ocala on Friday (he had to do some work), and re-join us for dinner Biergarten. Patty was going to stay with us for the rest of the trip. Up and at' em! PS for Tony's at 9AM, and even with two bathrooms, it is hard to get our group up and going so early. Bryan and I left by 8AM so that we could run ahead and rent the ECV for Mom. Everyone else was going to meet us at Tony's at 8:45 (wishful thinking). By the time our group was together it was a little after 9 - so we checked in and were seated within 10 minutes. While we were there we amused ourselves by reading the comics on the menus - very cute. We couldn't pull my dad away from the television - he was sitting on the floor watching "Scamp's Adventures" with a bunch of kids. Breakfast was delicious, but next time I know to order less. The portions are huge! I am not much of a breakfast eater (although I love the food, I feel sick in the morning if I eat too much), but I forced myself because everything looked so good. Bryan's Italian toast was so yummy and he ate that and most of the sausage on my plate. Our server brought us two cinnamon rolls to share and there wasn't a piece left on the plate! We had only been at Tony's for lunch and dinner and we will make it a point to go there again for breakfast. Lucky day - when we walked out of the restaurant an old car had pulled up on Main Street with no takers. I asked the driver if we could grab a ride and he invited us on. Mom, Dad and Grandma would meet us up at the hub and Patty, Mike, Bryan and I grabbed a ride. I mentioned to Bryan on the ride that I had never been on one of these before and the driver said, "Well, this is a car. Lots of people drive them now." Wise guy. Until then, I had never ridden the old cars - just the trolley. While we were riding up Main Street the driver slowed down because people were in the road. Someone was slowing him down - I leaned to Bryan and said, "10 bucks says it's Mom." Yup - there she was, driving down the middle of Main Street with that goofy Minnie Mouse hat, holding up traffic. We yelled at her to get out of the way from the car and all had a good laugh. She actually beat us to the end of Main Street in her ECV! Today was a pretty productive day at the Magic Kingdom. It wasn't too unbearably hot, except it did rain (again). We managed to hit most of the major sites and many of the minor ones before we left for Fort Wilderness (Hoop Dee Doo!!!). In no particular order we walked on PoTC (2x), Haunted Mansion, Hall of Presidents (where Bryan enjoyed a nap), Splash Mountain for Mike, Bryan and I while Mom, Dad, Patty and Grandma saw Country Bears, Jungle Cruise, Tiki Birds, Liberty Belle Riverboat (Bryan's first time), IaSW, Buzz Lightyear, Carousel of Progress, WedWay, and AE (Mike, Patty, Bryan and me). We took a longish break for a snack at Casey's around 2:30PM and watched the Magical Moments Parade from the Terrace. Not exactly front-row seats, but it was much more comfortable than elbowing our way on Main Street. I am not a fan of the afternoon parades but the floats in this parade are very well done. We felt like we saw a lot and everyone was ready to leave by 5:30 so that we could hitch the ferry over to FW for our Hoop Dee Doo reservation. The minute I stepped on the ferry a sudden rush of nostalgia and sadness hit me. We used to camp at Fort Wilderness on every family vacation to WDW and take the ferry to the Magic Kingdom almost every day. Also, my grandfather loved Fort Wilderness, and none of us have been there since he died 3 1/2 years ago. Our trips to Fort Wilderness started out as the only way my family could afford a lengthy stay at WDW, but they quickly turned into out lodging of choice as we got older. Every summer we looked forward to the perfect two-week stay at the Happiest Place on Earth! Sadness aside, I was glad to be going "home" and enjoyed the ferry trip across Bay Lake. We were very early for our reservation so we looked around the Settlement Trading Post for a while. I wanted to ride the bus around so that I could show Bryan the campground (he never stayed there), but we got distracted by the petting farm instead. We took a look around at some preferred sites and relaxed on the porch until it was time to take our photo (which came out pretty good and we wound up buying it). I was kind of nervous about tonight - Bryan and his parent's had never been to HDD, and they shelled out $50 each based upon our recommendation. And my family hadn't been there in almost 10 years, so I had hoped it was everything I remembered. We had the greatest time! Like I said, we don't go for the fancy vittles but for the corny show. I thought Bryan would laugh so hard his sides would burst. We had a great table (Table 43 - the big, round table in the center) and were the center of attention. The crew danced around us before dinner and slammed down a bucket of chicken in front of Bryan while they were serving us. I thought he would jump out of his skin! Everyone had a great time and we decided that we would try to go back next May. The funniest part of the night was at the end when certain members of the audience are invited on stage. The man they chose to be the angel at the end was hilarious - bushy beard, big beer belly - he looked hysterical in the tutu. What was funnier was the T-Shirt he was wearing - it had YMCA printed in big letters across the front of it. Also, the kids who were chosen to be cowboys were sitting at the table next to us. They missed a lot of the strawberry shortcake and were eating it voraciously. When it came time to play the washboards they had a TON of whipped cream on their spoons and played their washboards. They took of bite of shortcake, played the washboard, shortcake, washboard. It looked pretty gross - I was glad I wasn't the one who had to clean that washboard. They finally kicked us out around 9:15PM - a little late to go back to the Magic Kingdom to see Fantasy in the Sky. We took a bus back to the TTC so that we could drive back to the condo. This was our first experience with Busses on Demand, although it would have worked better if there hadn't been an "incident" with one of the busses. We saw a bus coming toward us and stop suddenly - we thought the driver had underestimated the turn and hit some bushes. There was another bus driving down the same road in the opposite direction and they were both stopped for some time. We feared there had been an accident, although we didn't hear a crash. After 10 minutes the busses moved (they were only a few hundred feet from the bus stop) and we found out what happened - a woman had freaked out because she got on the wrong bus and demanded that she be let off. Why she couldn't wait 200 more feet until the bus stopped was beyond me. No matter, we were on our way through the dark woods. Another day at WDW coming to an end - we only had three days left. Bryan and I went swimming again when we got back. We had both eaten so much that we couldn't go to bed yet. The pool was the most crowded we had seen it our whole week at Vistana, so we left after a 1/2 hour and decided to come back the next morning. The pool bar was also having Karoke night - and the singer had chosen "American Pie." Not the short version, but the painfully long one. How many drinks did she have before she chose that song? Beddy-bye by 12AM - Epcot again tomorrow! Friday, June 8 Planned: PS at Biergarten, 6:55PM. Another Epcot day. This is our favorite park and we always wind up spending the most time here. We will probably rest some and enjoy Vistana during the early part of the day and head over to Epcot at night. What really happened: Once again, we rose at 7AM and got to the pool at opening. This routine worked out so well for us. I wondered how I could get up so easily for Disney World and couldn't drag my body out of bed in the morning for work? Once again, we were the only ones at the pool except for two guys power washing the cabanas. Mike left for Ocala before 7AM, so Patty joined Dad, Bryan and me for an early swim. We returned to the condo for breakfast and Bryan and I left for Epcot at 10AM. With luck there were a few ECV's left for the day and we rented one for Mom so that it could be waiting for her when she got there. Had we known that she would need a wheelchair we would have rented one from an outside company so that she could take it with her outside of the parks. Oh well, hopefully she won't need to do this ever again. Rental took two minutes and we were on our way to Test Track. We chose to take the Single Riders Lane again. This works out really well for us, since I would rather wait less than ride with Bryan (sorry honey!). We talked with a family on line in front of us while we waited (about 15 minutes vs. the 90 minute stand-by). They were from Florida and had seasonal passes - they told us the last day for Florida Resident Seasonal's was that day - so the parks would probably be crowded. She wasn't kidding - Epcot was the busiest I had seen it that week. I can't even imagine what Magic Kingdom was like that day. We had a great ride on Test Track (finally, it wasn't threatening to rain) and moved on to Ice Station Cool to drink more free soda. I can hardly call it "taste-testing" since I have been in there more than a dozen times. Bryan wanted to fool around Innoventions for a while and I agreed that we should stick around Future World until it was time for lunch. The line for the e-mail postcards was a mile long so we moved on to the section of Sega games. Right away I spied Chip and Dale's Magical Racing Tour (we call it Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers at our house - don't ask me why - I think I screwed up the title when we first got it and the name stuck). Some kid challenged me to a game and I kicked his butt. Little does he know that this is the only video game besides Tetris that I am capable of playing. I stink at video games, but because of the subject matter I became the Champion of the Rescue Rangers in my family. Before I got married last December I would spend an hour or so every night playing, de-stressing before the big day. All that practice paid off - I am now able to beat eight-year-olds at their video games. You would think I would be nice and let him win, but No Way! I need to prove to everyone that I, too, can play these ludicrous, time-wasting games as good as any kid! By now we were starving and walked around Mouse Gear deciding where to eat. I called Mom at the condo to see if they left and they hadn't - she needed to rest because we were staying late to see Illuminations again. I suspected that my Dad also needed a rest from being the chauffeur to Mom and Grandma too, so we decided that we would meet for dinner at Germany, as planned. We decided on Le Cellier for lunch since neither of us had been there before. What a great choice! We had a wonderful server (Jason) and I was glad he gave us a comment card with our bill so that I could write a note about him. We had a delicious bowl of cheddar cheese soup - yum! Since we would be having a heavy German meal for dinner, we decided to split a steak sandwich and Jason was very accommodating. We had such a good experience that we decided to come back again for dinner on our next trip. The restaurant was so atmospheric - so cool and inviting on a hot summer day. It took a minute for our eyes to adjust when we went back outside. After lunch we took some pictures of Victoria Gardens before seeing O Canada. I think this is a beautiful movie, and unlike many others, I make it a point to see all of the World Showcase movies at least once on each trip. After Canada we head towards France, the only country we did not spend much time in on Monday. I wanted to see Impressions and Bryan wanted to get out of the sun - after a five minute wait, we were seated inside. Unfortunately there were a couple of idiots who made jokes and stupid comments behind us during half the film - I got the impression that they had a little too much to drink before coming in to the theater. Luckily, they quieted down at the mid-way point and we were able to enjoy the rest of the movie. They probably fell asleep. This is a beautiful film and I would love to own this for my video library. Does anyone know if WDW ever sold the movie? I wanted to hit some more of the Future World before we spent the evening in Epcot so we started walking back towards Spaceship Earth. When we got to the front we ran into Mom, Dad, Grandma and Patty, who had just gotten to the park. It was about 2PM and they all needed a little rest before spending the night out. "You guys are getting old," I told them, but I was kind of feeling the same way. As much as I love WDW, it does tire you out. We rode Spaceship Earth again and then headed to the World Showcase. Everyone wanted to spend some time walking around the countries before dinner, which was fine with me. We hadn't seen The Living Seas, Universe of Energy or Wonders of Life pavilions, but I didn't mind, since we spend so much time at Epcot anyway. We head for Mexico first and rode El Rio again. I know, this ride is corny, but it is a "must-do" each time I am at the World Showcase. After leaving Mexico (we always take the side exit through the gardens), we head towards Norway, expecting to skip Maelstrom, since it was closed on Monday. Much to our surprise it was open and we got on line. Bryan's mother is even more prone to sunburn than her son, so she waited in the shade until we got up to the doors. We must have looked funny talking to her from the line as she waited in the shade. We rode Maelstrom (fun! but I wish it was longer) and even stayed to watch the movie. I always feel really bad about leaving, and it was too hot to go back outside anyway. The film is really short, and we didn't have to wait at all in the small village area that we usually get stuck in. On Monday we had explored Norway and came across the Viking Ship that kids can climb on - I have no idea how I never noticed this before. I wanted to go get some pictures of it before we went to China, so we back-tracked a few feet and shot some funny photos. Next up: China. This would be our second viewing of China and the third CircleVision movie of the day. I love these, so you don't hear any complaints here. Besides, on Monday the movie had been ruined by the yelping child. Now I could enjoy it. Before we entered the theater we were entertained by the Dragon Legend Acrobats. They were very good, but I always have such mixed feelings about child performers. The image of these kids being sent away from their parents at a tender age to train as acrobats always comes to mind, and I have a hard time enjoying the show. However, they were wonderful, and performed a plate spinning routine at the end that was pretty neat. While we were leaving, Mike called on his cellphone. He was back from Ocala already (he has a landscaping business on the side and he had to pack it in early - thunderstorms), and he was waiting for us at Germany. We would be over 45 minutes early for our PS, but everyone was hungry and we lumbered over to Germany for our PS. We waited about 2 minutes to be seated and had great seats on the top level, at the center of the buffet. We had asked that we be seated at the top so Mom wouldn't have to climb stairs - the hostess was very nice about it. Dinner was delicious and I was impressed with the musical set they played. We had only been to Biergarten at lunchtime, and the music wasn't quite as extensive. The band played 20 minute sets and rested for 10 and we stayed long enough to see two sets. There were a lot of people dancing, especially for the Chicken Dance (ugh!). This is a fun dinner and is worth it for those who are budget-conscious and are looking for a good dinner show. We left Biergarten just in time for the 8:10 showing of ToN. Mom, Dad and Grandma had never seen it before and were thrilled! Bryan and I saw this parade 8 times during the Millennium Celebration and were glad they enjoyed the show. We wanted to get around to the front of the lagoon for Illuminations, so we took off to see if there was any disabled seating left for Mom and Grandma. Ree was there again (our Illuminations Angel) and remembered us from Wednesday night. She said to us "I have seats right here for you" and even made everyone slide down the bench an inch so that Grandma would have a seat. I sat in front of Mom's ECV against the railing and chatted with our neighbors until the show started. There was a young man about my age who was visiting Epcot with three generations of his family too. He was sitting with his grandfather and his parents were on the bench behind us. While Mom and his grandfather were out of earshot, we commiserated on how difficult it is to make a three-generation trip successful. Like me, he was having a good time but his patience was being tried from time to time. I said I imagined that I was irritating my parents and Grandma as much as they irritated me. He laughed and said "probably" and then the show started. Once again, Illuminations was spectacular and we took our time making our way out of the park. Ree came by and told us all to relax and we could stay as long as we wanted. It was then that I made sure to thank her and get her name for my letter. She really didn't know how nice of a gesture it is to seek out those who can't push their way to the front to get noticed so that they can have a good seat. While walking out Grandma noticed the sparkling sidewalks behind Spaceship Earth - she was delighted. She called them the magic sidewalks - it was one of the cuter moments of the day. Twenty minutes later we were back in the condo. No swimming for us tonight - we were all exhausted and had another long day tomorrow. Watched another episode of Law & Order, did some laundry and fell asleep. Tomorrow: Another shot at Millionaire, RnRC, Tot and 'Ohana's! Saturday, June 9 Planned: PS at 'Ohana, 6:40PM. Park hopping day. Usually towards the end of our trip we go where the wind takes us. None of us have been to 'Ohana, so this is probably the most anticipated meal of our trip. Knowing my mother and grandmother, we will probably end up at MK that evening. What really happened: By this time everyone was getting a little tired and crabby and the grouchiness reached it's zenith at 'Ohana's. We were up at 7:30AM to go swimming (what else) and the first thing I thought about was "this is our last full day at Disney World." On Friday night we had agreed to spend the early part of the day at MGM and go to Magic Kingdom to see Spectromagic, since it was only running the Friday and Saturday nights of our trip. Bryan and I managed to leave the condo by 10AM and drove over to MGM - we were determined to ride RnRC and TzToT before lunch. The green army men weren't parking today :( so we hopped the tram and hurried over to RnRC for our FP's. RnRC had a return time of only 1 hour later, so we got our FP's and headed over to TzToT and waited the 20 minutes for our ride. I love this queue - the mist coming from the gardens, the broken tile, the cobwebs. Even if you don't like this ride, you have to admire the ingenuity of this queue. We waited less than the posted 20 minutes and were on our way. As usual I laughed during the entire ride (mostly out of nervousness) and my knees were shaking a little upon touchdown. Our picture wasn't that great so we passed on it - the people in the first row had their arms up so high they blocked all of my face and half of Bryan's. We had a little time to waste before our FP so we browsed the shops on Sunset Avenue. We had debated about whether to buy Bryan's little sister an N'Sync T-shirt but decided that even though she would love it, we couldn't spend our hard-earned money on a boy-band shirt. Instead we bought ourselves a bag of cotton candy and ate it outside Rosie's All American. Hint: never eat cotton candy on a really humid day - it is gross. Some may like this hint better: never eat cotton candy - it is gross. We threw away half the bag and worked our way over to RnRC. RnRC is probably in the top three rides we love the most at WDW - Splash Mountain and Buzz being the other two. Since we had FP we bypassed the 45 minute queue and were quickly on our way to the pre-show. We had a minute before the show to take a good look at the posters in the hallway. After the short show we were on our way! They seemed to have changed the music a little bit from last year - Bryan and I remember one song throughout the ride but this time it was an Aerosmith medley. Not that I am a huge Aerosmith fan, but the medley is a little better. The music definitely adds to the intensity of this ride. The take off is so fast, and yet, the ride is so much smoother than any of the other mountains. After we rode RnRC last year we had completely written off Space Mountain as being archaic and uncomfortable. We still ride Space out of "duty" but like RcRC much better. After RnRC, we decided to walk around a bit to settle our stomachs. We took some more pictures of the "big blue monstrosity" since a lot of work had been done on it since we were there on Tuesday. The hat does look pretty cool, but I think it was a poor choice for placement. I had a yearning to play Millionaire today after my third-place finish on Tuesday so we went over to get some FP's for the next show. Lunchtime! The only indoor counter-service place I could think of was ABC Commissary (Toy Story Pizza Planet was closed), so we headed over there. Not our first choice, but it would do. The menu at ABC is really strange - burgers, Kikkoman entrees, wraps - nothing seems to go together. I am not a fan a Kikkoman products (too salty for me), so we stuck to burgers. They did the job and we were on our way to Millionaire. We ran into my Dad waiting outside Millionaire - Mom and Grandma were inside. For some reason he didn't want to play and he was trying to get us on our walkie-talkies. We thought we heard it squelching on RnRC, but we weren't about to answer it then. I told him to wait for us for our show and all of us would go over to Muppets after our show. There was already someone in the hot seat when we got into the theater, so we were all competing on his questions. The contestant had just graduated from high school and he was visiting WDW with some of his friends. Apparently their group had a run of good luck that day - 3 out of 5 of the boys had made it to the hot seat. He made it to 64,000 where he finally lost. The next contestant was: a 12 year old boy from Michigan visiting with his classmates. I was in eighth position this time - not as good as the last time. He did pretty well - he was lucky to get a complete stranger on Mickey Avenue who new all of the facts about "A Star is Born." He got up to the 32,000 question where he quit and settled for 16,000. Not bad for a 12 year old. After Millionaire we walked over to Muppets, stopping for some delicious pretzels on the way - one regular and one cinnamon/sugar. We got to Muppets just in time for the next show and the CM was even nice enough to let us bring the pretzels with us. We sat in the back row with my mom in the ECV. Once again, great show. By the end of Muppets Bryan and I were thinking about leaving and doing some shopping at the Marketplace. We had only been at MGM for about 4 hours but that was enough. Mom, Dad and Grandma wanted to stay behind and see more attractions but we wanted to go. We agreed to meet at 'Ohana at 6:15. Bryan and I shopped for the last few souvenirs to bring home at the Marketplace and then we headed to the Polynesian. The parking at the Marketplace was awful and it was only mid-afternoon. I can't imagine what the traffic was like Saturday night. Another advantage to staying onsite - save time looking for parking! We got to the Polynesian around 5:15 and spent some time looking around the resort - neither of us had seen the new pool since it had been finished. We met up with Bryan's parents in the lobby - they had spent the day at MGM also but left early and visited a friend of theirs who works at the Swan. We enjoyed a few drinks at the Tambu lounge and wait for Mom, Dad and Grandma to show up. That's where the trouble began. Dick Cheney was in town (we later found out he was attending an Hispanic conference in Orlando) and some of his family must have taken in the sights at WDW. We left MGM just in time but Mom, Dad and Grandma got stuck in some sort of motorcade traffic. They were in a BAD mood when they got to the Polynesian. I guess there was also some sort of political discussion in the car (Mom in a staunch Dem, Grandma a staunch Rep) and Dad immediately ordered a Scotch sour when he met us at the lounge. I had reached my limit of patience and I can only imagine how Dad felt. Mom and Grandma went on a tirade about traffic, the poor signs at Disney, and now Grandma declared she was tired of buffets. I slipped (oops) and told her that I was tired of all the complaints. It made me look like the worst kid in the world, but I had reached my limit. I had done all of the planning for everyone in the group for this entire week, including mailing menus to everyone, and there had been nothing in the way of compliments and a lot of complaints. Looking back I realize that the complaining may not have been all that bad, but I was very angry and even more annoyed that the dinner I had been looking forward to all week was being ruined. Mom and Grandma didn't talk to very many people during dinner but the rest of us had a good time anyway. As soon as we were seated a coconut race began and it was a little loud in the dining room while we were giving our drink orders. Our server (I can't remember his name) was great and we loved all of the food - I ate 8 jumbo shrimp! Bryan really loved the steak and turkey and I liked the steak and shrimp. Neither of us cared for the pork too much, but since everything else was so good we didn't care. In spite of all the Gloomy Gus's, I think this was probably one of the best meals I have enjoyed at WDW. We already have a PS made for dinner for our August trip. After 'Ohana's we decided to hit the MK for Spectromagic. We are all DIE-HARD MSEP fans and everyone was disappointed that it went back to California. I guess Spectro would have to do. We ran over to Tomorrowland to see if there were any FP's left for Space and Buzz - we were in luck! Both lines weren't too long (for a change) so we got an FP for Space and stood on line for Buzz. Finally, finally, finally, I beat Bryan at Buzz - 197,000 for me and 147,000 for him. Yeah!!!! A little triumph for me at the end of a tough night. Bryan decided that his stomach didn't sit with him too well so I went to ride Space by myself while he rode Wedway with his parents. It was getting closer to Spectro time so we went off to find my parents. Mom, Dad and Grandma has scored some great seats in the disabled area around the hub - good view for both Spectro and the fireworks. It was already 8:45 so we went in search of a spot along Main Street, hoping that something would was open only 15 minutes before the parade started. We found a little room near Casey's and stayed put. Bryan's mother wanted to edge her way towards the exit so she could make a quick getaway, but I wanted to stay put because I didn't want to be in the flow of traffic once the lights went out on Main Street. We had a pretty good view, although I still have to say I prefer MSEP over Spectro. I don't really like the music of Spectro as much as MSEP (I know, it's repetitive but MUCH cuter) and those dolls at the beginning are what nightmares are made of. I can't imagine how many children had bad dreams after seeing those creepy faces - I almost couldn't look at them too long. I have to give it to Spectro though - those floats are beautiful. We especially liked the Fantasia float. We decided to bag the fireworks and instead did some shopping on the way out. We still needed to go to package pick-up and we fooled around in the back for a while, watching some cartoons and snapping funny photos while we waited for our stuff. I have to say - package pick-up works very well. We had nightmares of 1/2 hour + lines and we never waited more than 5 minutes and we used it four nights. We caught the resort monorail and rode it around to the TTC and watched the fireworks from there. Sigh... tomorrow is our last day at Disney and we are flying back to NY on Monday. The only thing that ever makes me feel better is that I know we have another trip coming up in August. Back to the condo by 10:30 - swimming for one last time. We spent a little time packing up and finishing laundry so that we could just throw bags in the car the next morning. Sunday, June 10 Planned: PS at Chef Mickey's, 9:15AM. Our last day. :( We will park hop and try to hit anything we may have missed. We will spend the night again with my aunt and uncle and Bryan's parents will head back to Ocala. This is always the worst day of the trip. What really happened: Miraculously we all made it out of the condo by 8:15AM. Bryan and I went to check-out at the reception desk (which took all of one minute) while everyone else loaded their cars. Patty and Mike were only going to stay for breakfast and were going to head back to Ocala - they had company coming on Tuesday and needed time to do some housekeeping. We made it to Chef Mickey's in 20 minutes and were able to check-in early. Good thing, too, because by 9:15 the place was a mob-scene. We sat in the lounge and waited for 5 minutes or so after we checked in to be seated. What a view! We didn't have too much time to admire it, though, since we had been whisked away into the dining room. We were seated to the right of the buffet, kind of away from all of the action, which was okay because it was a little quieter there. The characters each came around 2-3 times, which was enough for seven adults who were really more interested in eating than autograph books. I am actually thinking of getting myself an autograph book for my next trip - I think it makes a cute souvenir! We ate and ate and ate and really enjoyed the different selections. Between all of us I think we tried 90% of what was offered (except for grits - blech!) and everyone liked everything. For once, no complaints! The fruit was nice and fresh, the egg dishes hot and the pastries were delicious! (Mmmmm.... Krispy Kremes.....) I think we all ate too much but we really enjoyed ourselves. We already made a PS for our trip in August so we'll be back! Mom, Dad and Grandma wanted to go to an RV/Camping supply store on 192 and go back to my uncle and aunt's house early, so they left after breakfast also. Before they left, we all went down to the Food-n-Fun Center and blew about $30 in quarters on skee ball and racing games. I think this was the most fun Grandma had all week - had I known a skee ball machine would have kept her amused I would have rented one for the condo for a week. We had about 500 tickets among the five of us (Patty and Mike left), so we made sure we cashed them in for a bunch of cheap prizes. Want to know what 500 tickets gets you? Here goes: one stuffed cat, one paddle ball, one "water bomb," two water guns, a puzzle, one maze game and 13 green army men. We had a great time and said good-bye to Mom, Dad and Grandma for the day until we returned back to my aunt and uncle's house that evening. I wanted to see some more of Fantasyland, since we really hadn't spent much time there the whole week. But, the Magic Kingdom was MOBBED and waits were ridiculously long. IaSW had a wait of 30 minutes! Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh had waits over an hour and Snow White had a 20 minute wait. We decided to get a FP for Pooh and wait for IaSW and Snow White until our time came. We got on IaSW in about 15 minutes (this is always a walk-on, so you know it had to be busy) and Snow White in about 20 minutes. I wanted to ride the Carousel, so Bryan reluctantly agreed and we rode while the Sword and the Stone Ceremony started next to it. We watched it and decided we were a little hungry, so we went in search of food. We walked back to Pecos Bill's and had our last cheeseburger of the trip and started back to Fantasyland for Winnie the Pooh. Wouldn't you know, the ride was down and wasn't expected to be back up for 2 hours!!! We were destined not to be able to ride this during this trip, so we gave our FP's away to a couple standing nearby. They were happy to have them, since all of the FP's had been distributed for the day and they couldn't get one. I wanted to spend a little time in Toontown before we left so we walked over that way. I have been dying to ride Goofy's Barnstormer since that is one ride I have never been on. Bryan thought he would look ridiculous since he is so big (6'4"), so I asked the CM at the front of the ride if he would fit. He said yes, and a lot of grown-ups ride this ride with no kids. That was all I needed to hear - I dragged Bryan on and he enjoyed the ride. The wait was about 10 minutes, and he may not have enjoyed the ride if we had waited longer - he thought the ride was too short. For a kiddie-coaster this ride packs a punch! The theming is so well done in this area and I almost wish I was a little kid so that I could enjoy it even more. We hopped the WDW railroad and rode back to Main Street. The 3PM parade was just finishing up, so we went to package pick-up to pick up our loot (I finally bought the Four Parks, One World video) and were on our way out. One our way out I was slammed into by a woman with a stroller (see the "Who Are These People" post under Mouseallaneous), but I managed to limp out to the car back at the Contemporary. We couldn't face driving home just yet, so we went over to the Wilderness Lodge to snoop around for a little while. We bought two large sodas at Roaring Forks and walked around for a bit. We were a little late for the afternoon tour, so we just toured around ourselves for about 20 minutes until it was time to go. This is always the saddest part of the trip - the drive home. Luckily, we still had a night at my aunt and uncle's house in Winter Springs left, so we weren't being shoved back into reality just yet. We tend to start our vacations the minute our work day is over and make them last until the last possible minute, so we almost always have the dreaded feeling of returning to work hanging over our heads the last day. We got back to my uncle's place in about an hour and they had a surprise - they just bought a puppy!! He is a miniature Schnauzer and is 9 weeks old and he is CUTE. They still don't have a name for him (and it is a week later), but he made coming back from Disney World a little easier. I am not a big fan of little dogs, but puppies are always cute. At least he was cute until he had an accident on the rug during dinner - PU! Bryan and I drove around Winter Springs for a while that night, filled up the gas tank in the pick-up, and talked about our week. Winter Springs is an area we are considering moving to this fall, so I am glad we got back during daylight. Later that night we went swimming in my uncle's pool, watched the Mets game and relaxed. We had to get up early for our flight the next day. Monday, June 11 We had a flight scheduled for 12:05PM, so we left Winter Springs at 9AM so we had plenty of time to check-in, return the cars and eat a decent breakfast at the airport. I love the Orlando airport, so I didn't mind leaving a little early. We had watched the McVeigh stuff on TV earlier that morning, which was enough news for one day. We got to the airport in about 30 minutes, returned the cars to Budget and checked-in with JetBlue. We were able to get an exit aisle seat for myself and Bryan, something that he loves since he has such a hard time fitting into a regular row. We had a nice, leisurely breakfast and poked around the airport for a little while until it was time to board. We actually boarded a little earlier than expected and took off 5 minutes early, The flight was very nice (a little turbulent over the Carolina's) and the staff at JetBlue was dynamite. One of the attendants had a whoopee cushion and was playing with the kids - he was really funny. Like I said, I would fly them anytime and wish they flew in and out of more cities. We landed in New York 20 minutes early, where my sister and her fiancé met us at the gate. Immediately I got depressed - NY is so dirty and disgusting compared to Florida and the landing only impressed in my mind that I am ready for a change. The traffic around JFK is enough to drive a sane person over the edge and more than once a bus emitted noxious fumes at us while we made our way over to the parking garage. So much for happy endings. Dining Review Note: We brought our own Brita water bottles and filled them up at water fountains throughout the day, which saved us a fortune. Water is $2.50 a bottle at the parks, which is a disgusting price to pay. Our Brita bottles were $6.99 each at Target (we missed the sale when you could get 2 for $10), and they more than earned their keep. We were afraid that the water wouldn't be as cold as the Zephyrhills bottles, but once you walk around with WDW water for a short time, it warms up pretty quickly. Where we ate and what we paid: Sunday, June 3
Monday, June 4
Tuesday, June 5
Wednesday, June 6
Thursday, June 7
Friday, June 8
Saturday, June 9
Sunday, June 10
That's it for my dining review. We ate a lot, but we also walked and swam a lot, and we each lost about 5 pounds last week. Now I can justify all of those heart-clogging burgers at Pecos Bill. No salads for me on vacation!!! Lessons learned and final thoughts One harsh lesson learned is that we think it is time to stop dragging my grandmother along on these long vacations. For weekend jaunts, she is fine, but for these long trips with a lot of stimulation, she is not faring well anymore. At one point in the trip she even mentioned to me how different this trip is without my grandfather, which probably added to her crankiness. It is too hot during the summer for her to be out and about all day, so if anyone takes her again it will have to be during the fall or winter. I guess no one ever wants to see their loved ones get old, but it is happening to her and my parents and I have now realized it. Another important lesson: I have a new appreciati |