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Robin Black -- October 2003 -- Walt Disney World (CR)Who
When Where How Why Pre-Trip Planning In March 2003, my family went on a grand vacation to WDW for 9 nights- it was myself, my husband, my two sons, my parents and my mother in law. If you would like to read about that trip, it is posted in Brian Bennett’s archives on Mouseplanet. My Mom, being a moderate Disney fan, fell in love with the “World.” We were home for literally two weeks when she got a notice about a nursing conference in Orlando in early October. She asked about making a trip out of it, just her and I, and I thought she was kidding. I told her there was no way, I was so broke after our huge trip, and I couldn’t leave Bob at home with the boys alone, especially since Sam was starting kindergarten this fall .I talked to Bob about it and he said “Why not? I can handle the boys for a few nights…go! You’ll have fun!” So, I called Mom back and told her I could go, and we hammered out the nights. After much talking, we went from 4 nights to 6 nights and had to cut ourselves off at six. My husband is in the Army Nat’l Guard, so as his dependant, I could book us a room with the Shades of Green, which right now is putting their guests up at the Contemporary for their cost- $66 a night! So I made our reservation and had to be put on a waiting list for the last night. We made a reservation for the Grand Floridian for that last night, using the military salute discount (still $237 for one night!!!). I was really excited about staying there, but then Shades of Green called a couple weeks later and said that last night opened up and I could book it. So, being the sensible gal that I am, I cancelled my reservation at GF and grabbed the night at the Contemporary. I was a little disappointed, but it made sense to pocket that extra $170. Our goal for this trip is to see our favorites at each park again, experience a few things we were unable to do last time because of lack of time or because we had young children in our party…we kind of plan on going commando, but not so much that we are exhausted. I think even without pushing ourselves it will seem more commando this trip, because it’s just the two of us, not a party of 7 like last time that included a toddler with stroller & temper tantrums/etc. This is the itinerary we came up with for our stay:
9/25 9/29 10/3 Magical Moments- Having such a pleasant seatmate on the airplane, driving through the Purple Arches, our dinner at the Kona Café. Saturday 10/4 Hola! We are in Mexico and we love going in the alternative wheelchair entrance. Anyone can go that way- before we had just walked up the steps and not noticed all of the great plants and flowers on the side- bee-you-tee-ful! We had a potty break and then went on Rio de Tiempo. Kind of a silly ride, but we liked it well enough. Basically we like to sit and be entertained. In Norway we saw a cute little band with some girls picked from the audience with Viking helmets on cutting a rug. So cute! I think I took a picture of them. We enjoyed our journey in Norway, but skipped the movie. Since I was in the wheelchair, and it was quite hot, we definitely picked our destinations carefully- I didn't want to wear Mom out pushing me around- I'm not exactly petite- 5'9" and not thin. So, we skipped China & Germany as we had looked around in those countries quite extensively a few months before, and went into Italy. We caught the Masquerades show and were under whelmedby it. Nice music, but basically 6 people dressed in elaborate costumes kind of do a pomp and circumstance type walk up and down their carpet, bow, and that's it....think of that episode of Amazing Race this summer if you saw it----those kind of costumes and masks. Then they had a photo op with the masked people, and we left. We didn't really look in Italy last time and it was what I remembered from my honeymoon in 1995- basically just a little corner with a couple of shops and restaurants- nothing really detailed like say Japan or Morocco or even the UK. Kinda blah. We skipped America for now, and went to lunch at the Yakitori House in Japan. I thought it was so-so. Decent enough, but I'm not dying to go back- the flavor was a bit "off" for me, and I eat quite a bit of teriyaki type food, so it's not as though I don't like that cuisine. We both got the shogun, which is chicken and steak with sticky rice and raw soybeans. I did LOVE Japan though...very serene and peaceful. We bought some rice candy in the shop and watched some people pick their pearls and went back to America to watch the American Adventure. This is my first time seeing this show and I enjoyed it. We got to go in first and sat for a good 5-7 minutes with NO ONE else in the theater except one other wheelchair couple. Peaceful and yet slightly eerie. The show was good & I brushed a tear or two away at the end when they showed the twin towers in the background. We browsed through the shop and bought an American type pin with the fab four and a US flag on it for DH. In France we saw a cool balancing act where I guy went up on like 6 chairs just balanced on each other. The UK is our fave pavilion and we watched the British Invasion and chuckled at more dancing kids- so much fun to watch! Mom bought us the wonderful Almond and Apricot lotion that we wanted last time and didn't get, plus some chocolate "digestibles" AKA biscuit type cookies. We took a rest outside Canada and decided to change plans. We were going to see Fantasmic that night, but since it was the only night Spectro was showing, we decided to head to the MK instead. We made our way thru Mouse Gears (a fave shop!), where I bought some stickers and Mom bought a notebook so she could take trip notes as well. We went on a spin on Spaceship Earth, which Mom hadn’t gone on in March, then back to the TTC and back to our hotel. We were given our new room (7272), which, unfortunately was almost as far as the first room, and with a cruddy view. It did have two queen beds, so I guess that was good. I asked the CM at the check in desk how full was the hotel and she said 90% for the next few days and 100% from the 8th on. Yikes. We unpacked and rested for an hour or so. We headed to the MK around 6:00- for some insane reason I wanted to walk and was dying by the time we got to the gate. What a stubborn dummy I can be. Got my wheelchair and we made our way down the middle of Main Street USA. We already were seeing people parked on the curb for Spectro so we decided to hoof it to Frontierland and get Pecos Bills for dinner and sit on the curb outside of Pecos Bills to stake our spot. We got two cheeseburger meals, one with carrots one with fries and noshed and people watched for 90 minutes. EY-YI-YI- what are some people thinking when they dress themselves for a day at Disney? Did they forget and think they were going to a fancy red carpet event in those strappy high heels? And what is up with those super flat- no support- flimsy flip-flops. My arches would be screaming after 5 minutes! Kudos to those that can wear them but I personally think you are nuts! We had to park my wheelchair across the way by Splash Mountain cause no strollers or WC's could be where we were. This is where people's stupid behavior really shines- about 20 minutes before the parade is to begin, squeezing into any nook or cranny they can, not caring about the people who have been sitting there for eons, not listening to the CM's directing traffic (So many people thought the crosswalk area the CM's rope off is the perfect place to stop and try and make it their spot to watch the parade, even with a CM yelling every 2 minutes NOT to block that space---), I just couldn't help but either make extremely snotty comments under my breath to mom or crack up at the insanity. My favorite parts were after the parade had started. First of all, the gal who had been sitting to my right, the way the parade was coming, decided to stand up, so I had a face full of her butt. If I looked straight ahead I could see the parade perfectly, but your natural inclination is to turn to where the music is coming from...she was from South America I would guess by her language and I don't think she understood she was being a tad rude...or maybe she did and didn’t give a care. I mean we were sitting on the curb so we could sit- everyone else was sitting and enjoying it- nothing was obstructing her view- I don't get it. And my second favorite part-----about halfway thru the parade a mom and her 2-3 kids were below us at the dining tables at Pecos Bills- the Mom boosted her 5-7 year olds up on the 4 inch ledge (there is about a 3 foot drop to the sidewalk) so they could hang on the fence and see the parade. That's dumb enough in and of itself. But my favorite, FAVORITE part was when the 5-year-old girl started SCREAMING in my ear- CINDERELLA!!!!!!! CINDERELLA!!!!!!!!! OVER HERE!!!!!!! SNOW WHITE!!!!!!!!!!! OH----PETER PANNN!! And she was Southern, so it was all the more powerful of an emphasis on some of the syllables--ey-yi-yi!!!!!! I finally had to turn around and say, "You know hon, you're screaming right in my ear." She clamped her hand over her mouth and was embarrassed, but I kid you not, she started SCREAMING 4 seconds later for another character---all I could do was crack up it was sooooooo insane. I have kids and I love kids in general- I worked with school agers for 8 years and loved every minute, but at that moment I was ready to tape her mouth shut- LOL- JK y’all! We sat for a few minutes after the show was over (there was a second show at 10, so the park was still open) and then mom got my wheelchair. We stopped in Liberty Square for some popcorn and water and watched the fireworks from there- good vantage point- hardly any people around! We went on Haunted Mansion, which we got to on the wheelchair entrance- fun to go in the back hallway- and had a good ride on that...I never noticed before that as you're going backwards in the graveyard you can see the corner of the mansion that you were just in- cool effect. We decided to go on Snow White, as we had skipped that one on our previous trip- better ride than DL's- more meat to the story. We were tired and decided we were done with the MK. We made our way down Main Street, got our Disney Dollar for turning in the wheelchair, and made our way to the hotel. I must say it is certainly different being in a crowded place while being in a wheelchair- a lot of people show very little courtesy and walk right in front of you, or stop- I'm surprised my Mom managed to stop the wheelchair in time so we didn't hurt anyone. Anyway, we had several tired giggle fits after we were tucked in bed- my mom and I find the strangest ways to make each other crack up. Magical Moments- getting such a deal on the passes, seeing what all the hoopla was about Mission Space, the dancing kiddoes, hanging out in Japan and the UK. Sunday, 10/5 We rested up at the hotel for a while, and headed over to MGM for the goal of seeing Fantasmic and maybe one ride. We drove and parked in the stage lot and weren't sure where the tram came, so we started walking. I wished out loud for a tram or a magical wheelchair, or God to beam me to the gate cause I was hurting, and strangely enough a lonely MGM wheelchair was sitting in an empty handicapped space! It was a small gift from God, that's for sure! We tried, fruitlessly to get FP's for ToT and as I suspected they were all gone, with a 60-minute standby line. So we went on the Great Movie Ride, which had been down for rehab in March. Call me a sexist, but I thought it a little odd to have a female "Gangster." She did a good job acting and nailed the accent, but it just didn't seem to flow with my vision of a 1930's gangster movie. Oh well, can't please everyone! We decided to grab a bite at Rosie's All American Cafe. Boring food, little variety, but we didn't want to backtrack to ABC commissary. My tomato on my salad was gross- pale pink, totally mealy and just plain yucky. I had chicken strips and said salad and mom had a burger. Nothing else to say about that, it was that boring. We went to Fantasmic and while we have seen it 10-15 times at DL it was our first time here. We got primo seats due to the wheelchair- right in the Mickey section behind the reserved seats. We got there at about 6:15, so we settled in for a wait. Great people watching- uber (this was my word of the week to describe anything completely over the top- it amused Mom to no end) annoying lady to my right going on and on and on about everything she knew about nothing. A very nice family was a few rows in front of us with the most darling baby, and he was fun to watch. We got a Popsicle to pass the time, and Fantasmic finally started. Well, I gotta say, I was disappointed. If you have seen the DL version you know why. First of all, let me say what I liked- I liked the stadium seating- beats carving out your section of pavement on the ground at DL. Secondly, I liked some of the music better- nice montage of all of the films. The pyrotechnic effects are better at WDW too. But, I felt gypped by not enough live action stuff- no Peter Pan scene, no Jungle Book monkeys or Kaa, no Pinocchio or Dumbo...I didn't care for the Pocahontas scene at all, and the Jafar scene was just okay. The villain part seemed quite drawn out and the steamboat at the end seemed like a cardboard cut out. Still cool to see all the characters but nothin like the genuine Mark Twain chugging around the bend. I'm still glad I saw it, but doubt I will make any huge effort to see it again. I think my kids would have been frightened or bothered by all the villains screaming and such. It was quite reasonable getting out of the park- not the mob scene I had feared. We made it back to the car and promptly took a wrong turn and exited the property! Whoops! I was cracking up, my mom was trying not to freak, but we easily maneuvered our way back on the property and back safe and sound to our hotel. On the way to the Contemporary, we passed thru the MK gates and were given candy by the CM at the gate- it was MNSSHP, so they had big tubs of candy for all guests. Bonus! We dragged ourselves into bed after showers and feel asleep soon afterwards. Magical Moments- Kali River Rapids was quite fun although WET, the little monkeys on the Garden Trail, the miracle parking lot wheelchair, the African musician in Tusker House, and Festival of the Lion King is always magical. Monday, 10/6 Anyhoo, time for lunch so we went to Columbia Harbour House right at opening. Everyone working there was super pleasant and nice- esp. the older gents who gave us our food. There was a new clock set up that only they could see and one says to the other "Hey, we got a new clock." And the other says, "Yeah, but we don't need it. I'm not one of those clock watcher types." They were so cute and funny! Probably in their mid 60's to mid 70's and just working away. I got a tuna sandwich, which was great- really yummy wheat bread and great tuna and Mom got the salad which she liked except for the feta cheese. I hobbled my way into Fantasyland, with the intention of getting a FP for Philharmagic while Mom had a potty break, and there was no need! No line at all! I was shocked. So, we walked in and what can I say except I thought it was awesome! We both just loved it- we loved all of those movies when they originally came out and I think my mom and I saw all of them together on opening weekend except Lion King and Peter Pan (of course). I won't spoil it, but if you like the big Disney music numbers, you will LOVE this movie! And some cool special effects as well! We thought about going on Pooh, but there was a 40-minute line so we skipped it and moved on toward Space Mountain. We asked if there was a wheelchair entrance & she gave us a chit that had a return time equivalent to the wait time in the line (30 minutes)- I thought that was very fair & we went and got a FP for Buzz and went on TTA. These loaders with the moving ramp made me nervous with my knee, but every time it was no big deal. We enjoyed our journey around Tomorrowland very much, and then it was about time for our Space return time. Tomorrowland was VERY crowded, congested and loud at this point, and in case I forgot to mention the weather, it was consistently about 88+ degrees and pretty humid each day. We went on Space and it was fun, but I had a small worry attack (not even close to panic) cause as we were going I thought about those poor souls on the Big Thunder accident at DL a few weeks ago and then thought about my kids at home. Why I thought about it, I do not know, as I am usually very comfortable and not scared at all on roller coasters. It was fun and had great legroom for my knee! We looked at the Buzz Lightyear merchandise and then it was time to go on our "Spin." I got 87,000- pitiful. We headed back towards Liberty Square and stopped and got an ice cream sandwich on the way- the two minutes it took to get the ice cream was enough to not make it by 1 minute to the Hall of President's show and the River Boat was just taking off too. We were hot, tired and a little dehydrated, so we decided to head back to the room and see George W and his cronies another day. We did look in the Christmas shop, go back up on an off-beaten path to the castle, peeked inside Tinker bell’s Treasures, through the castle to look at the mosaics, and down Main Street. We made notes of what we wanted to buy on our last day and left. We rested in the hotel from about 2:30-5:15, got some soda, watched TV, I took a bath to help the stiffness in my leg. I wanted to go in the hot tub or pool, but the thought of walking more didn't appeal to me at that moment. We headed out to the Beach Club for our 6:00 PS. I love the Beach Club- I would like to stay there or in the garden apartments at the Boardwalk someday, but after I get a Wilderness Lodge fix first. We have about a 5-minute wait time, and when we are led in I notice a slightly different set-up, with the desserts almost right behind the hostess desk, and a huge smattering of rolls where the desserts used to be. We started off on the salad side, where I had a young girl, maybe 12 or 13 who decided it would be fun to put a small dime size dollop of ranch dressing on every single vegetable on her plate. Sigh....Meanwhile, back at the ranch, about 7 people were behind us now. I whip together a salad in 10 seconds flat and move on to the seafood row and grab some corn and then 2 rolls & butter and park it. Mom got some salad and chowder and claimed the chowder was first rate. Next up- ribs, prime rib, salmon, rice with some tiny shrimp in it, steamed veggies, and another big, doughy yeast rolls- like the kind you used to get in school cafeterias. Yum! I ate most of my food except the rice, which was just not my thing- I usually eat the Japanese sticky rice, so the loose grainy buttery rice tasted weird to me- haven't had it in a long time. Nonetheless I did some damage. The woman in front of me in the landlubber food line asked the CM, who was putting new chicken out, "Do you have any white meat in there?" The CM took her fork to push a drumstick out of the way (underneath it was a HUGE breast which you would have had to been blind not to see) and the lady very rudely says, "THAT'S NOT A PIECE OF WHITE MEAT!!!" Meanwhile the CM had speared the breast and said, "Is this ok?" The lady said, "Yeah, I guess." The nerve! I walked past her table on the way back to mine and her hubby had TWO huge plates PILED HIGH of shellfish- I would have hated to have been behind him, cause I am sure he took every last one. I find that rude- take a normal amount and go back and get more instead of being a complete glutton. (Stepping off my soapbox). For dessert I helped myself to an Oreo bonbon, an oatmeal cookie, a piece of cheesecake which I only ate about 4 bites of, and a small dab of oatmeal apple cobbler. Yummy. My stomach hurt! Mom mostly had shellfish and a piece of prime rib, and then some flan and some apple cobbler and one Oreo bonbon. I took one cookie to go. I decided I was up for walking to the Boardwalk, so off like a shot (HAHA) we went. We stopped at the bridge and gazed towards Epcot. We debated going back in, if only to hang out in the UK and Canada. We didn't, mainly cause we didn't want to fight any Illumination crowds. Onto the Boardwalk- we got a crumb cake brick for the next morning, and got some candy for the kids when I got home at Seashore Sweets. We bought a nice polo shirt for my DH as our thanks for letting us go with all his military discounts and watching the kids while we were gallivanting around. We made it back to the Beach Club and rocked on some rockers for a while. Later we discovered I got eaten alive by mosquitoes. Magical moment- saw a tiny teeny bunny rabbit hop across the sidewalk- it was so cute! We caught a glimpse of the MK fireworks while we were getting into our car and then decided we weren't ready to go back to the room so we went up to the California Grill and had a glass of wine and watched the kiss goodnight of the castle. Very cool & of course, magical. Everything is magical at Disney. I limped back to the room and crashed. Magical Moments- Many on this day! Our dinner at Cape May, shopping on the Boardwalk, the bunny we saw while rocking, drinks at California Grill and watching the castle, Splash Mountain and definitely Philharmagic! Tuesday, 10/7 We woke up early this day (miracles never cease here at Disney) and we were tired! We had success with EE day at MGM in March and were hoping our luck would strike again. We were in MGM by 8:10 and miracle #2- I didn't get a wheelchair today, my knee was working pretty well and I felt pretty good. So, we head off to our favorite ride, Tower of Terror. Hello, it's already a 60 minute wait posted! Were my glasses fogging up cause of the humidity? We get closer- nope, it's really 60 minutes at 8:15 AM. We get a FP and wait in a 20 minute line for RnRC. I think ToT had such long lines cause only half the elevators were working, but it wasn't a good sign of things to come. We got on the second row of RnRC and mom was a little nervous cause she didn't ride it in March and isn't fond of upside down coasters. She did fine but was a teensy bit woozy afterwards. I thought it was awesome. Our picture was of me laughing/screaming and Mom's mouth was in the perfect O- like she was saying "Whoaaaa." We shoulda bought it. We went over by Millionaire and waited for the park to officially open and for our FP window to open up so we could get one for that. For kicks I tried our tickets 5 or so minutes before the time our ToT FP said we could get another FP and it worked! So then we walked around Walt Disney, One Man's Dream and that was really, really cool. Our FP for ToT opened up so we went back and bypassed a LOT of people and were able to walk pretty much up to the library entrance. Quite a wait in the boiler room area- maybe 8-10 minutes- not bad, but when we had gone in March we basically walked thru all that too. I have to say our ride ROCKED- up and down at least 5 times and WAY up and down- not just a little bit. We LOVED it and were cracking up! We made our way back to Millionaire and waited 10-12 minutes to be let in the show area. We were at the first show of the day and it was a female host and she was very good. Fastest finger question- out these academy award winning song in the order they premiered in the movies: Fame, Swinging on a Star, You'll be in my Heart & something I forget...I got it right and was #9 on the leader board! Woo-hoo! I rock! I had my little scheme of putting my finger on the button I knew was correct and furiously pushing it before all the lights lit up----then the person sitting to my left starting to catch on and not only mimicked my little pattern (which was fine cause lots of people do it that way) but then started being a TOTAL CHEATER and was looking at my answers too! What a total cheater! The first guy who got up there was a high school student from Alabama and he got to 32,000 and I think he won that and lost on the 64,000 or lost on the 32,000. So they flash the leader board again....I am number 4! Ta Da! I am so pleased with myself. But the new winner....also from Alabama and the previous winner's.....FATHER! Not fair! He lost early in the game and only got the $1,000 stuff and then it was over. I was off the leader board in the end cause I messed up on the last question. We walked around a bit and it was MOBBED back by Star Wars- an Indiana Jones show was going on, so it's not like a show had just let out. I have decided that when it's busy season, don't go to the EE park- it gets very, very busy and crowded. We had a PS for 50's Primetime Cafe at 11:30, which was when the restaurant opened and at about 11:35 we were seated. We had cousin Mesha and she was very pleasant and sweet. She recommended that Pot Roast, which mom ordered and I ordered the Turkey sandwich and I subbed crinkle cut fries for the chips it came with. She asked where we were from and I said Portland, OR and she asked if it got cold there and I said, "Yeah...not as bad as other parts of the country, but it's mostly gray and rainy the bulk of the winter." She said she couldn't imagine living anywhere but Florida and Mom and I were just discussing earlier that we thought we would melt if we permanently lived in Florida! It's funny how acclimatized one becomes to certain regions. Anyway, our food came out SO fast- they must have everything prepped and ready to go- it was literally out about 5-8 minutes after we ordered- why can't I have service like that when I have my 2 & 5 year old with me!? Everything was great, or as Mesha said "Yummeh." She asked us, "How is everything, yummeh?" Not yummy, or yummee, just a cute, casual "yummeh." That was a key word the rest of the trip- at every meal/snack/water break we would say "How is it...yummeh?" And promptly crack up. Then we ordered the s’mores for dessert- now these are seriously YUMMEH! We even took a picture to remember them by! We shopped and ran into some wonderfully funny streetmosphere inside Mickey's 5 & 10- Stanley and his wife were shopping and arguing about whether or not to buy a lovely shirt his wife liked for an aunt- Stanley looked at the price and proclaimed "Are they kidding me? I can buy just as nice of a shirt at Target and pay $5! Let's get outta here!" Think exaggerated stereotype of a Long Islander or New Jerseyite I guess- George Constanza's parents on uppers. It was hilarious and I'm glad we caught them. Well, the park was absolutely a madhouse, and we really had wanted to see Beauty and the Beast, but the line was snaked up and around Sunset Blvd and while I am sure we could have gotten a seat, this was 45 minutes before the show even began! We were so hot at this point we felt slightly ill so we made the executive decision to leave. We mustered enough energy to go to Downtown Disney. We shopped in the World of Disney, Once Upon a Toy, the Home Store, the Scrapbook store & the Pin Traders. I think I spent about $28 total- no joke! I still couldn’t find the Sulley I had my eye on the first day at the MK. Mom bought herself and Dad some ornaments and she bought me a castle one too, as well as an Alice in Wonderland pin at Pin Traders. I thought of the trivia contest I participated in there back in March and relived my moment of pride- I came in second place to a dude named Shane DISNEY- he was somehow related to Walt, and I thought if I had to come in second, it might as well be to someone with the last name of Disney! JK. We found room in our stomachs to buy a caramel apple, which we had boxed up so we could munch on it later. We headed back to our hotel and slept for an hour and a half and felt refreshed when we awoke. We had made a PS for one of our faves, Whispering Canyon Cafe, so we walked down to the Contemporary docks and caught the boat. We love, love, love the Wilderness Lodge. I stayed there on my honeymoon and my parents just thought it was phenomenal and would like to stay there someday too. Our server was Heada Lettuce and she was a kick without being over the top. Another gal fit the bill there and she was very fun to watch. Lots of hooting and hollering, giving a guy name Mark a hard time, saw some LARGE "glasses" of water and iced tea, cheered on the pony racers, and loved our skillet dinners, esp. the biscuits, ribs, pulled pork, salad & chicken. What is with Disney World restaurants and the word "cafe." So far we had eaten at the Kona CAFE, Cape May CAFE, 50's Primetime CAFE & now the Whispering Canyon CAFE- I guess we're cafe type of people, I dunno. We joked with our server about blowing our Weight Watcher Flex points, but oh well! We shopped in the mercantile and we both saw some things we pondered coming back to get. It was raining when we left and a pretty major electrical storm was going on as we boated back to the Contemporary. It was neat to watch & explained the extreme humidity we felt at MGM. I guess it’s good we changed our plans, because it was about 8:00 when this was going on and I’m sure we would have been disappointed if we were at Epcot- they probably cancelled Illuminations because there was a LOT of lightning and heavy rain. I looked some more at our resort shops for a Sulley doll I thought I had seen there, but no dice- I couldn't find it anywhere and I knew I had seen it somewhere in the beginning of our trip. I tried calling mail order, as the CM in the gift shop at the Contemporary suggested I do, and she said I could find Sulley at Once Upon a Toy- I said I was just there and they didn’t have him. Hmmm. For the second night in a row, loud booming (fireworks) were being shot off super late- like after 11:00. They were testing out the Wishes show, but unfortunately we could not see them from our room. We could hear the whole soundtrack too, which was a bit annoying that late at night. I must say a few things about the state of our room and wing at the Contemporary- I don't know if the CR is letting things go a bit while Shades of Green is occupying that wing, or what, but our original room had a broken sliding door lock- the knob was broken off so it was tough to open and close. In the hallway an Exit sign was just dangling from the ceiling the whole time we were there. In our 2nd room, the whole entire handle to our sliding door was broken- hanging upside down by one screw, plus the lock was broken so it just had a sliding bolt up top. Plus the cable on the TV was not that great. Now, for $70 a night, I thought it was still fit to live in. But if I were paying regular $300 a night rates I would have been irritated- Disney just holds higher standards than that. Magical Moments- Our Tower of Terror ride, being on the leader board at Millionaire, the streetmosphere in MGM, Smores, being at the Wilderness Lodge & our dinner there, watching the lightning. Wednesday, 10/6 We threw Seaworld in this trip because I was able to get in free and get Mom a discounted ticket because of their military salute. Why not, although we felt a little guilty leaving our beloved Disney behind. Right off the bat I start thinking SeaWorld is on the tacky side cause gee, for an extra $3, making it $10, you can park in "preferred parking" and park close to the entrance. I thought that was extra cheezy- any way to make a buck I guess. We chose not to give in, and paid our $7 to park and hoofed it to the gate. We got our passes and went in, got a show schedule. First stop was to pet the dolphins, which we did and it was cool- neat to interact up close. Then we saw the dolphin show- the intro act sings a song where you're supposed to cheer when he says your state or country. I was the only one who yelled for Oregon and about 200 yelled for the UK. He said "Thank God for the Brits or we couldn't operate this week!" And those cheery Brits cheered again! The dolphin show was good enough, and then we checked out the manatees, which were very interesting. We went on our Journey to Atlantis, which was a walk-on but so incredibly LAME. The ride itself it good, but the theming is basically this- oh a mermaid, oh screaming, more screaming, and another serving of screaming please, get wet, some spooky stuff but you can't tell exactly what, more women's scream, wooo another dip and it's done. Lame lame lame. Disney puts their "imagineers" to shame. No Kraken for Mom so we made a lllooonnnggg trip to Shamu stadium, getting some nachos on the way- the poor girl fixing our nachos was by herself in her kiosk and knocked over a whole bucket of chili while she was getting the olives for our nachos. I felt bad for her! We settle in our Shamu seats, NOT in the splash zone, and play along with the trivia, getting most but not all of the questions correct. The Shamu show was pretty awesome. At the end they had one of the female Orcas come up on that platform that is closest to the stadium and I guess too many people were around for her liking cause she kind of started freaking out and thrashing about, going back in the water, coming back up and thrashing and making her Orca noises- it was intimidating! Her trainers started yelling at the crowds to move back and stop taking pictures with the flash- I wanted to stop and watch her behavior (we were pretty far away- not part of the crowd around her) but Mom kept walking so I did too. I wonder if that is common or not. We went on Wild Arctic- not the simulator just the movie and walk through and it was so-so. One poor lady in her ECV was having a terrible time maneuvering it and no CM was in sight to help her- quite a difference from Disney where there always seems to be someone to lend a hand. Saw the Clydesdale horses (where one lady yelled out in her heavy NE accent- LOOK IT'S THOSE HORSES IN THE BEER COMMERCIALS!). For some reason I found that to be completely funny and I was laughing and laughing. I find the strangest things funny! We went to some pizza place for lunch which was yet another lame experience- one HUGE line you have to wait in, cafeteria style, even if you just want something at the end of the line- you know, like a $8 slice of veggie pizza. Geez! And, the pizza came with fries- not a salad or a breadstick, fries. It was cardboardy and yucky- Seaworld food, in a word, sucks. We then went and saw the sharks (all I could think of was that classic dumb movie Jaws 3-D which I believe was filmed at this Seaworld where the ultra fake Jaws breaks the glass viewing tunnel and the people are stuck in the tunnel forever...I was amused the whole time I was on the conveyor belt thinking of that.. ). Onto the last show of the day, the Clyde and Seamore show! I gotta say, the pirate mime was very funny and normally I'm not a fan of that kind of humor and the show itself was very funny cause the performers were very tongue in cheek and making fun of the lame jokes. It ended our somewhat disappointing day at Seaworld on a good note. I bought a couple of cheap souvenirs and film at the gift shop and we left. We decided to go back to the Wilderness Lodge to get the items we saw the night before and we had deemed we couldn't live without them...on the way in the lodge, right by the big arch was a real deer! It was magical in every way- at first it looked like an animatronic cause it was still, and then it darted off. Very cool and so perfect for the lodge setting! I bought a nightshirt and mom got a t-shirt and a drink and we sat in the lobby awhile and soaked up the atmosphere of that wonderful resort. A TON of people were checking in- a HUGE press event was going on due to Philharmagic, Mission Space, Wishes and the new Magical Gatherings...when we got back to the Contemporary we noticed it even more as the travel agents convention was there, plus press was just EVERYWHERE! We got some soda and some more chips at the food and fun center and rested at the room for a while. We decided we liked Kona Cafe so much the first night, we would go back on our last night. We had a very nice server yet again and I ordered the veggie spring rolls and mom ordered the chicken stir-fry. We talked about our 'Ohana visit on our last trip and how great it was and watched people going in and out of that restaurant. The bread was delish yet again and then our food came. Wow- the spring rolls are AWESOME- light and crispy and crunchy- I wish I had one right now! It comes with a slaw/salad that had a bit too much dressing for my taste, but still tasty. Mom loved her stir-fry as well and we were pleased with our dinner choice. Dinner was about $38 with tip and we got back on the monorail for the GF to shop. Shop we did although we didn't buy anything- a guy from the NY Times was on our monorail going to the press event- the big time baby! Ya know, even the Kleenex is nicer at the GF- my Mom pulled out some she had in her pocket from the CR and made me compare it to the tissue in the GF bathroom and sure enough, the GF tissue IS softer! You pay the big bucks and you get the soft tissue! We decided we didn't want to sit in our hotel room our last night so we caught the bus from GF to DtD and shopped at World of Disney and Once Upon a Toy. We bought a few more things, but I only spent $27.00. We got a free chocolate at Gharadellis (nice touch) and then made our way back to our bus stop. Our bus pulls up and this lady from the Wilderness Lodge area comes over and SCREAMS at our driver to get on the radio and call for a Fort Wilderness bus cause she has been waiting for 40 minutes and she has a show to get to- she was so rude it alarmed me. Her body language was just scary. I had JUST seen a Wilderness Lodge bus leave, so I don't get it cause I think the two resorts share a bus and there wasn't a HUGE mob waiting for the bus, like not everyone could get on the bus. Very weird. We got a soft serve at the food and fun center, packed and went to bed. Magical Moments- The deer outside the WL- absolutely perfect! Soaking up the energy at Downtown Disney our last night. Another delicious dinner at Kona Café. Final Day, 10/9 6:20- Rise and Shine! We actually rolled out of bed without too much delay- just when we are getting used to the time change, it’s time to go home. We had mostly packed out suitcases the afternoon before, so we got ready for the day, packed up our toiletries and walked our bags out to the car at 7:20 or so. The parking lot is still very, very full; I’m thinking a lot of the press and travel agents stayed at the Contemporary as the convention was there the night before. I always liked looking at all of the different license plates- rarely did we see any west of Texas. We did see one from California and one from Oregon- that’s one heck of a drive! We were at the MK gates by 7:30 or so and were second in line on the far left. The family that was picked from our side was a cute family of four, all wearing matching Mickey shirts and the 2 daughters had on Minnie headbands. Less than ten minutes before they were set to let us in, the poor younger daughter who looked about 5, threw up! The poor thing! I hope it was just nerves and wasn’t because she was truly ill. Mom rushed off to the sidelines with her and a CM helped her with paper towels. Dad and the older Sister threw the pixie dust & we were allowed in. I immediately went into the Emporium and spotted Sulley- I bought him and had him sent to package pick up. Note to readers- if you see something you like, don’t hesitate to buy it! We rambled on through the shops- weird to be the ONLY ones in the stores and headed through the castle to catch Mickey’s Philharmagic again. We missed the first show and had to wait 5 minutes or so to catch the next one. Still awesome- I just loved it! We then went on Small World, which is a childhood favorite of mine. We stopped for a potty break and then waited with the rest of the herd backed up by Haunted Mansion. It wasn’t quite official opening time yet so we cooled our heels for a few minutes. We were lectured by the CM’s to make sure we WALK and not run as to not trample anyone and to behave like adults. I thought it was good that they said that as some people in front of us were doing stretches and talking about running full force to Splash. A big, beefy security guy was standing about 15 feet behind the CM, so fortunately, everyone obeyed and walked…but we only walked as far as Hall of Presidents. Then we were stopped again. At this point I realized my perfect plan of going on Splash and then on Pirates wasn’t going to work because they still weren’t opening Adventureland until 10 (Which I thought was dumb- it was a BUSY day at the MK- press & radio booths were lined all up and down the bridge to Frontierland from the hub and a LOT of people were there for EE). I said something to Mom that we would have to switch gears and a guy in front of me said “I know, it’s ridiculous that they have this early entry but not everything is open. How stupid!” I said, “Well, I knew that they only opened certain rides for Early Entry, but this late opening Adventureland thing is new and is what threw me.” He seemed disappointed that I didn’t agree with his gripe, but it shocked me how many people don’t read the literature that is handed to them at their hotel, at the front gates, at any shop, probably in the package literature they received when they booked their trip, etc.” SOOO many people were genuinely ANGRY when they walked over to Big Thunder and saw it was closed. I know not everyone is on the obsessive compulsive side like myself and reads the Disney websites all the time, but I would at least think they would have read the official WDW website if they’re going to invest so much money in a vacation. Anyway, so we’re stopped by Hall of Presidents…then we shuffle towards Frontierland where another huge mob of people is coming from the hub…we stop again. This is getting a little silly. Finally we all get to WALK to Splash Mountain and although there was a very, very large amount of people all going to the same attraction, it was still basically a walk on. Maybe a 5 minute wait. Enjoyed Splash very much although it still was painful to keep my knee bent for so long. After Splash we went over to Hall of Presidents but it wasn’t open til 11:00! So, we switched gears again and moved on to Toontown Fair to peek around. It was packed out! We walked around the big shop, took a few pictures and hopped on the train. I like Toontown at DL a bit better, but Mom respectfully disagreed with me and likes the country fair aspect of this toontown- to each her own! I chuckled to myself on the train when the narrator says “If you listen closely you can hear Pocahontas singing”, and then Colors of the Wind comes BLASTING on the speakers. I said to mom, “I didn’t have to listen very closely.” The lady in front of my laughed and turned around and said, “I was thinking the same thing.” We got off at Toontown, where Snow White was with ALL seven dwarves (!), and went towards Tomorrowland and got an FP for Buzz. Guess what- my ticket was demagnetized AGAIN! It must be my sunglasses. But my credit card didn’t get demagnetized, nor my room key, so who knows. The CM gave me one and we walked through the big T-land shop. We were almost run over by the talking trashcan! It was cool! It said to my mom, “Pardon me ma’am.” Although we weren’t super hungry, we decided to get lunch now, since we would have to get an early bite at the airport. We went to Cosmic Rays and got burgers- we wanted chicken, but it was only 10:30 and the chicken counter opened at 11. The sandwich sounded like too much, as it was salami, pepperoni and ham. After lunch, it was time for Buzz. The ride stopped twice midway through and we were able to get awesome scores- me 327,000 and mom over 525,000! Wow! The line when we got off was huge- it was out the door for FP- at least 30 feet, and 60+ minutes for standby! I guess maybe when the ride stopped it backed up the line- we did have to wait a good 10-15 minutes in the FP line for our turn. I’m telling you, the crowds were BIG! From there we made it to the 11:00 Hall of President’s, which I enjoyed and got a picture of George W’s bust in the lobby. We went on the River Boat afterwards and that was enjoyable. At this point it was well after noon and we had really seen about all the attractions we wanted to see. I remembered I wanted a Dole Whip, so we each got a pineapple and vanilla swirl one…..yummeh! I loved it and it was so refreshing for such a hot and humid day. We slowly, slowly made our way down Main Street, pausing in most of the shops, savoring each final moment. Mom got my 5 year old a Buzz blaster and a few other things, I restrained, knowing I already blew my budget. We picked up the Sulley from package pickup and we left the MK. It was really hard, not knowing when we will come back. I promised my husband a break from Disney in 2004, and in 2005 we will likely go to Disneyland for the 50th anniversary of the park. I started a home based business a couple months ago; maybe after Christmas I will put half my profits in a special Disney World fund- I really want to stay at the Wilderness Lodge again. It would be entirely doable if we stayed half our stay at Shades of Green and half at the lodge. Maybe after Thanksgiving in 2005, who knows? We took the monorail back to the CR, trucked back out to the car, and took off to the airport. We went in the wrong terminal to return the car- no problems returning it, but we were on the opposite side of the terminal for Southwest Airlines. Whoops! No check in line at Southwest, thank God. HUGE lines on the British airlines! But oh my sweet Lord, the security line was hideous! It took a half hour to get through. There went our plans to grab a bite at somewhere other than McDonalds. Orlando truly is a “get there two hours early” kind of airport. We arrived about 80 minutes before departure time and had to bust butt to get some nuggets at McDonalds and some magazines at the newsstand- we split up to do this and my flight was almost boarding after we got the food. I was the last boarding group but luckily I still got an aisle seat and didn’t have to sit in the middle. The flight from MCO to Kansas City was packed, but from Kansas City to Portland I had a whole row of seats to myself and I stretched out, got a Miller Lite and was able to sleep the last hour or so. My whole family met me in the airport- husband, 2 boys, and my mother in law and the boys were so excited to see me I almost started crying. I had missed them while I was gone, and called them daily, but I would kind of shove missing them out of my head because I didn’t want to be sad on my trip. But once I saw them all of those motherly emotions welled up and I almost burst into tears—I have only been away from my two year old once and that was because I was in the hospital getting my gall bladder out! My 5 year old was dying to know where the pirate booty was and was bummed it was in my suitcase. Then I pull out the Buzz Blaster for him and the Sulley for Josh, my 2 year old. Guess who threw the hugest fit cause he didn’t get the gun, and THREW the precious Sulley on the ground in disgust! Yup, my adorable Joshua. Kids. (He does like Sulley now, and the blaster foam bullets are already lost, a mere 5 days later!). Final Thoughts- What an interesting trip! My knee definitely had me a bit bummed out the first few days- I hate not being 100% and I was supposed to be the cheerleader for mom regarding the headaches and worries about a tumor. Instead I was all gimped up and sad cause I couldn’t make my normal pace (I’m a fast walker usually). But, I learned after the first day or two, that I’m STILL at Disney and I was really able to slow down and soak in the details- some of those visuals I had while I was sitting in the wheelchair at Animal Kingdom will be etched in my brain for quite some time I am sure. And I was thankful that the only time Mom’s headache flared up was after Ellen’s stupid Adventure. Things I really enjoyed- Kona Café, for that matter ALL of our sit down restaurant choices, the cheerfulness of 98% of the CM’s we talked with, Mickey’s Philharmagic, being part of all the hub-bub of press and new rides, Festival of the Lion King and Kali River Rapids, our awesome Tower of Terror sequence, being on the leader board at Millionaire, laughing so much with Mom that my stomach actually hurt for some time, listening to British Invasion while taking in the Epcot scenery, my Dole whip, the boat ride back from the Wilderness Lodge and the deer we saw there- heck, EVERYTHING about the Wilderness Lodge! Things I was disappointed with- THE CROWDS!! The heat and humidity were tough to take too- I just don’t know how people deal with it in the summer. Seaworld as a whole- I doubt I will be back; well, I probably will go back when my kids are ages 5 & 8 because I think the animal shows are very good. But the rest of the park just didn’t wow me like Disney parks do. And the dining choices were really lacking. Our room at the Contemporary- I loved it in March, but things have gone downhill in the N.Garden Wing and I was disappointed I was placed SO far away from the main building even after calling 4 days before the trip and explaining my situation, and talking to two people after I got there and still no results. But all in all this was a once in a lifetime trip to go to WDW with just my awesome Mom! And we had a great time! Thanks for reading! Questions? Please emailed me. Robin Black disnychck@aol.com Mail a Comment to Robin Black |
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