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Robin Goble -- November 2003 -- Walt Disney World (CR, PR, BCR)

This is Robin Goble's ninth trip report for Mouseplanet. Click here to find her others.

CAST

• Robin/Me - 40; trip planner/recorder; 10th trip to WDW
• Dianne/Mother to Robin/Grandmother to Michael – 62; 6th trip to WDW
• Michael/nephew to Robin/Grandson to Dianne – 10; 6th trip to WDW

HISTORY

Ah, Epcot in the Fall: The Food & Wine Festival, lighter crowds, generally nice weather, and value season prices! This will be our fourth consecutive November to visit WDW, just Mother, Michael, and me (although last year my Dad came along too). We love this time of year and particularly love the Food & Wine Festival at Epcot, especially since Epcot is the favorite park of all three of us.

We usually try to go to WDW the first week or so in November because October is an exceedingly grueling month for our family (lots of birthdays, holidays, events at church, and school activities), and Mother and I are usually in need of a break by then. I don’t know how many more years we’ll be able to take Michael out of school for a whole week as his academic demands become more stringent, so we try to “make hay while the sun shines,” as the saying goes, and mentally prepare ourselves for the time when a week-long trip during school might not be possible. (Although that seems a pretty mixed-up set of ethics to me—to sacrifice a perfectly good low-crowd trip to WDW just so a child can get an education. What are people thinking?)

Also, the first weekend in November usually begins value season at WDW, so the resorts are cheaper. And, as you all know, “cheaper” in Disney terms means the “honey-if-we-go-in-value-season-we-may-not-have-to-take-out-that-second-mortgage-on-the-house” kind of cheaper. This year, value season began on Sunday, November 2nd. Since we like to travel Saturday to Saturday, we decided on November 8th – 15th as the dates of our trip.

Now, before I get too far into this report, I’ll let some of you off the hook. It is my understanding that some of you readers don’t relish reading about every minute detail of planning a WDW trip (cretins!). While I can’t say that I completely understand this character flaw, in an attempt to further relations between planners and slackers, I will turn a blind eye if you wish to skip the next few sections and get right to the heart of the report. Just don’t blame me if you get lost in the intricate sub-plots. Go ahead, we’ll catch up with you later.

Well, now that we’ve thinned out the riff raff, we can continue. Just let me say that I like you best.

Lodging

Back in 2001, we stumbled upon the perfect (for us) resort arrangement for our trip: the first half of the week at the Polynesian Resort (PR), where we do the Magic Kingdom (MK) and Animal Kingdom (AK), and the second half of the week at the Beach Club (BC) for Epcot and MGM. Creatures of habit that we are, we don’t deviate much from this pattern. We did get wild and stay at the Yacht Club (YC) instead of the Beach Club one year. See, I can be flexible.

In June, I made reservations for 3 nights at the Polynesian and 4 nights at the Beach Club (concierge) with a Disney Club discount (the only discount available at the time). Hopefully, Disney will release some annual passholder discount rates that I will be able to apply to our reservations

Around the end of June, the Fairytale Package (7 nights lodging and Unlimited Park Hoppers for the price of 4 nights) was extended to include our travel dates. My only gripe about the Fairytale Package is that you have to stay at one resort for the length of your trip. As I mentioned previously, we enjoy splitting our stay between a Magic Kingdom resort and an Epcot resort so this wasn’t the most desirable arrangement for us. However, the price was great so I went ahead and made a reservation for 7 nights at the Beach Club just in case no annual passholder rates were released for our time frame.

At the end of August, Disney finally released annual passholder rates valid for our November trip. I was not able to book November 8th (our first night) at the Polynesian, but I was able to get the next two nights for $169/night. Also, the Beach Club concierge was not available for the last 4 nights of our trip, but the Yacht Club was ($279/night). I kept trying to add the night of the 8th to the reservation at the Polynesian, but was unable to do so. I finally ended up canceling the last two nights of my original Disney Club discounted reservation at the PR so I had one night (the 8th) with a Disney Club discount and the next two nights with an AP discount.

I also kept trying to book the Beach Club concierge instead of the Yacht Club for our dates, but to no avail. Not that there’s anything wrong with the Yacht Club. We have stayed at both places and thoroughly enjoyed them both; we just like the Beach Club better. I did finally cancel our reservation at the Beach Club with the Fairytale Package. Even though it would have been slightly cheaper ($190), we decided that we would rather split our stay between the two different areas than stay at the same place for the entire week. Also, I would have an annual pass that would be good for a year instead of an Unlimited Park Hopper that was only good for the length of our stay. Finally, Michael and Mother would have the plus options on their Park Hoppers that wouldn’t expire like they would on the Unlimited Park Hoppers.

Driving home from work one day in October, about 3 weeks out from our trip, I decided to call Central Reservations on a whim to check on rooms at the Beach Club. Much to my surprise, they had a concierge room available. I booked the room then cancelled our reservation for the Yacht Club and had my deposit moved to the new reservation. It does pay to keep checking!

Around that same time, I began reading on some of the Disney website message boards that the Polynesian Resort was overbooked by about 150 rooms for November 8th. It seems that there had been some computer error and more rooms were reserved than they actually had. There were reports of Disney calling people with reservations at the PR and moving them to other resorts. Since WDW was holding its Super Soap weekend (a very popular event) at MGM on November 8-9, they were having to scramble to find rooms for everyone and pacify quite a few folks who were *not* happy campers at having their reservations messed up.

Sure enough, I got a call on October 27th from Sahar at WDW. She was very nice and apologetic and she explained that they were having an “inventory problem” with several bookings at the Polynesian and she would need to move us to another resort for our first night. We were offered our choice of a tower room at the Contemporary (CR) or a pool view room at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Since the room at the Animal Kingdom Lodge (AKL) was a cheaper rate than what we had at the PR, she said that the difference would be refunded to me (the tower room at the CR was more expensive, so we would get that room for the same rate that we had for the PR). I remarked that we hated to have to change resorts another time, since we were already changing once to move to the Beach Club. Sahar said she could move our entire time at the PR to one of the other resorts, but I knew Michael would be upset at the thought of no Volcano pool.

After much debating (don’t they know what they do to us obsessive/compulsive planners when they change us around like this?!), we decided to go with the Contemporary. If the room at the AKL had been savanna view, we would have taken it (My sister Paula and I stayed at the AKL in 2001 and loved the place.), especially since I figured Michael would like the themed pool at the AKL better than the plain one at the Contemporary. As it was, we decided that the Contemporary would be more convenient since we would be moving to the Polynesian the very next day. This way, we get to stay at a new resort that none of us have ever stayed at before. Michael was very excited about getting to stay at the resort that the monorail runs through.

So, our *final* room arrangements look like this: November 8th at the Contemporary; November 9th – 10th at the Polynesian; and November 11th – 15th at the Beach Club.

Transportation

I made our airline reservations the last of May, not because they were a great bargain but because the flight schedule was perfect. We usually fly on American Airlines, which means a change of planes at the Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) airport. My mother has had knee problems her whole life and finally had knee replacement surgery on both of her legs several years ago. Because of this, she is unable to quickly walk long distances. Since we usually have to traverse several terminals and many gates at DFW, we need extra time between our flights to ensure that we are able to get to our connecting flight without putting too much strain on Mom. The flight schedule I found had at least a two-hour layover between our flights at DFW.

When I made the reservations on the internet, I noticed that there was a box to check if a passenger needed wheelchair assistance between gates at the airport. On one trip to WDW several years ago, I had called the airline and had a request for wheelchair assistance noted on our reservations. This turned out to be a disaster because the airline consistently tried to get Mother to use a wheelchair to *board* the plane instead of supplying one to take her to the next gate (usually located in the next county) once she got off the plane. Mostly, Mother was just embarrassed by the extra attention called to her. Trying to be a dutiful daughter, I checked the box for Mother hoping that, since the box specifically stated “wheelchair assistance between gates,” it would work out better this trip.

In June, I reserved a full-size car with National for the length of our stay for $133 (including taxes and fees). I used my Disney Club discount and a coupon for $20 off in order to get such a good rate for the week. As time went on, however, I worried that we wouldn’t have enough room in a full-size car for all of our stuff so I made a second reservation with National for an intermediate car using the Emerald Aisle option.

If you are a member of National’s Emerald Club, you can reserve an intermediate car and, upon your arrival at the airport, pick any car that they have on their Emerald Aisle. You are always guaranteed at least an intermediate-sized car and they often have larger cars to choose from. In the past we have seen SUV’s, pickups, full-size cars, and even the occasional mini-van on the Emerald Aisle. The cheapest rate I could get using the Emerald Aisle was $160, but I figured the extra money would be worth it if there were an SUV or mini-van to choose from. If not, we could just use our cheaper reservation and get the full-size car.

I also reserved an Electronic Convenience Vehicle (ECV), or scooter, for Mother to use throughout the week. Because of her knee problems, the ECV really helps her out in the parks. We have always used Walker Medical in Orlando for our rentals. They deliver the ECV to our hotel on the day of our arrival so its waiting for us when we check in and they pick it back up from the hotel after we leave. This will be our fourth time to use Walker Medical and we have never had any trouble with them or the ECV. The price is $250 for the 8 days that we will be in WDW.

We have rented ECV’s at the parks for Mother in the past and that worked out okay, but there is just so much walking at WDW before you even get to the rental locations. For example, we usually walk from the Beach Club to Epcot via the International Gateway. When we rent from an outside company, we have the scooter available for any minor parks, Downtown Disney, etc. Also, there are a limited number of ECV’s at the parks to rent. This way, we are guaranteed to have an ECV, regardless.

When we found out that we would be spending our first night at the Contemporary instead of the Polynesian, we debated calling Walker Medical and having the ECV delivered to the CR instead of the PR. We decided to just let them take the scooter to the PR. We figured we wouldn’t need it for the first day anyway and, if we did, we could just take the monorail over to the PR and pick it up there.

Miscellaneous (Admission, Special Activities, etc.)

Michael said that he wanted to do the Grand Floridian’s (GF) Pirate Cruise and Grand Adventures in Cooking children’s programs again this year (he did both in 2001 but not last year). Since this would be the last year he was young enough to do them (10 years old is the age limit), I called at our 120 day mark and made reservations for both programs.

I also called at 90 days out to reserve an Illuminations Cruise. We have done this several times and enjoy it immensely. It has become kind of a tradition for us now. I was lucky enough to book one on the first morning I was eligible to call (my birthday, by the way), so I just kept that date and didn’t try for any others.

In October I ordered my annual pass and Michael’s 6-day Park Hopper Plus (he had a day left from last November on another pass). When Paula and I took our trip to WDW in September, I purchased a 7-day Park Hopper Plus which I used one day for admission to Epcot. I knew Mother would use the remaining days this trip (plus she had one day left on another pass also).

Meals

One of our favorite places to eat is at ‘Ohana at the Polynesian so I made a Priority Seating (PS) for one of the nights we were staying at the PR. When I found out we would be at the Contemporary for a night, I tried to book a dinner or breakfast at Chef Mickey’s. However, since we only found out about it a week and a half before we left, there were no Priority Seatings available.

Hopefully, we will be able to try out Trail’s End at Fort Wilderness this trip and I also made a PS for the Whispering Canyon Cafe at the Wilderness Lodge. I though Michael might enjoy all the activity plus, none of us have ever eaten there.

We will do a lot of our dinnertime eating at the Food & Wine Festival at Epcot once we move to the Beach Club. Also, we will have the concierge lounge to use for breakfasts and snacks/desserts. I would like to try Alfredo’s at Italy in the World Showcase for a dinner (none of us have ever tried it), and perhaps the Biergarten and Chefs de France or Le Cellier for lunches (I have eaten at both places, but would like for Mother and Michael to be able to try them).

The Plan

After much rearranging of resorts and activities, our tentative plan looks like this:

Saturday (11/8) – flight to Orlando, check in at CR, swim/settle in room, lunch at food court, dinner at Trail’s End, MK for fireworks and late Spectromagic

Sunday (11/9) – breakfast at the Concourse Steak House (Sticky Mickeys here I come!), Animal Kingdom, lunch at Tusker House or Flame Tree, check in at PR, dinner at ‘Ohana

Monday (11/10) – breakfast at Captain Cook’s, Michael’s Pirate Cruise at the GF, Magic Kingdom, late dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe

Tuesday (11/11) – breakfast at Kona’s, Michael’s Grand Adventures in Cooking at the GF, check in at the Beach Club, lunch at Beaches and Cream/Hurricane Hanna’s, swim/rest, Epcot, supper at Alfredo’s, Illuminations Cruise

Wednesday (11/12) – breakfast at concierge lounge, MGM, lunch at Sci Fi Diner/50’s Prime Time Cafe, dinner at counter service, Fantasmic

Thursday (11/13) – breakfast at lounge, Epcot (Future World), lunch at Biergarten, swim, Downtown Disney

Friday (11/14) – breakfast at Cape May, Typhoon Lagoon or Epcot, dinner at Epcot (Food & Wine Festival)

Saturday (11/15) – breakfast at lounge, Epcot (World Showcase), early lunch at Le Cellier/Chefs de France, flight home

THE TRIP

Saturday, November 8, 2003

“No more wheelchairs, ever!” or Night of the Fish Stalker

The Plan: flight to Orlando, check in at CR, swim/settle in room, lunch at food court, dinner at Trail’s End, MK for fireworks and late Spectromagic

After the longest week of my life (since the week before the last Disney trip I took), the first day of our vacation is finally here! Michael spent the night so his parents wouldn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn to get him to the airport on time. I got up at 3:30 to finish packing and get ready. We woke Michael up at 4:30 and were on our way to the airport by 4:45 (my dad drove us).

Check-in went fairly smoothly (we had to take our shoes off at the security checkpoint and Mother was wanded) and our plane left on time at 5:50. The flight to Dallas/Fort Worth was just about one-third full, so we had plenty of room to spread out, even though the plane was small.

Shortly before we landed at DFW, a flight attendant came down the aisle calling, “Mrs. Goble? Mrs. Dianne Goble?” When Mother raised her hand, the flight attendant told Mother to be sure to just wait in her seat until the other passengers had de-planed, then they would bring the wheelchair on board for her. Oh great, here we go again! Mother, while glaring daggers at me, explained that she only needed help getting from gate to gate. The flight attendant assured her that they would have a wheelchair for her when she de-planed.

As soon as we stepped off of the plane, an airport employee was waiting for us on the ramp with a wheelchair for Mother. Not wanting a scene on the airbridge, Mother told the young lady that she would walk up the ramp herself to work the stiffness out of her legs. So, here we go on our walk of shame, trudging up the airbridge with the little airline employee trotting along after us with the wheelchair.

I figured that they would just give us a wheelchair at our arrival gate and I would push Mom to our departure gate and turn the wheelchair in there, but nooooooo! When we got into the airport, the lady loaded Mother into the wheelchair, fastened her in, and headed towards our next gate. We had arrived at Terminal B, Gate 6, and were departing from Terminal C, Gate 6. The employee pushed Mother down a hall and then stopped and told us that a cart would come and pick us up here. She would not let Mother get up until the cart arrived because she told us that it was her responsibility to make sure Mother was placed safely on the cart! She was *very serious* about her job.

The cart arrived in a few minutes and we all climbed aboard. I tipped the wheelchair lady and we were on our way. We zipped down a short hallway and then the driver stopped and said this was as far as he could go, but a wheelchair was waiting for us! Sure enough, a man pushing a wheelchair appeared to take Mother on another leg of her journey through the airport!

We were all quite tickled by now but we got out of the cart, tipped the driver, and got Mother loaded into the wheelchair. The man pushing the wheelchair said he would take Mother down to the next floor in the elevator. Michael wanted to ride the escalator, so I went with him. The wheelchair man pushed Mother into the elevator, rode down in the elevator, and, I kid you not, pushed her two steps out of the elevator and then stopped and said this is where another cart would pick us up!

Sure enough, another cart pulled up almost immediately. We all got in the cart and, mercifully, this one took us all the way to our gate. My tip budget for the whole trip blown, I tipped the driver and we were finally on our own. I have to admit that I did not tip the guy that just took Mother down in the elevator. He barely walked five steps! Now I know why the airlines are in such financial trouble. It’s because they have to pay scads of people to push passengers around in wheelchairs.

We made a quick bathroom stop while I apologized profusely to Mother the entire time we were in the bathroom. I’m still not certain that she has entirely forgiven me for the whole fiasco.

Our gate was directly across from a food court. We were all hungry for some breakfast so we stopped at McDonalds for a sausage biscuit and diet coke for me and a sausage biscuit and hash browns for Michael ($4.82). We then stopped at Frulatti for a bagel and cream cheese for Mother and milk for Michael ($3.57). We ate at a table in the food court and then talked Michael into getting a good portion of his homework done. (We had brought his schoolwork for the next week with us on the trip.)

After breakfast we walked over to our gate. We had just sat down when the gate agent paged Mother to come to the desk. The agent asked Mother if she needed a wheelchair to board the plane. Déjà vu! For the nine-millionth time, Mother patiently explained about needing the wheelchair for long walks, not to board the plane. Meanwhile, I’m feeling like the worst daughter in the world for putting her through this extra hassle. I swore on my annual pass that I would *never* mention “wheelchair” again when making reservations for her!

Our plane boarded at 9:10 and the two and one-half hour flight went by fairly quickly. Once again, shortly before we landed in Orlando, the flight attendant showed up to talk to Mother about using a wheelchair to get off the plane. Once again, Mother explained “gate to gate.”

We landed in Orlando a little early at 1:00. When we stepped off the plane, they were waiting with a wheelchair for Mother. Mother quickly yelled, “There’s a feeble man coming behind me that needs help!” to divert their attention. Then she ducked her head and almost ran past the wheelchair! “No more wheelchairs, ever!” she declared as she kept checking back over her shoulder to make sure they weren’t chasing after her with a wheelchair and calling “Mrs. Goble! Mrs. Goble!” Note to self: Next time I want to be a model daughter, I will beat my head against a wall until the urge passes.

We claimed our luggage and had to wait a long time for an elevator to take us down to the next level so we could get our rental car. By the time we had gotten our luggage, ridden down in the elevator, crossed the street, ridden back *up* the elevator, and found the National car lot, Mother had almost changed her mind about no more wheelchairs!

On the Emerald Aisle we quickly found a red Chevy Blazer that we claimed as our own. There were a couple of SUV’s, a Jeep, several pickups, some Mitsubishi Outlanders (a smallish SUV), and several full-sized cars.

We took the tollway (417 South) to WDW and practically held our breath until we were on Disney property. We pulled up to the Contemporary at 2:30. I gave my name to the guard at the entrance and he said he had a note about me. “What now?” I thought, suspecting that there was probably some kind of mix-up about our one night at the CR! “They told me to watch out for you,” the guard said with a wink as he let us through. With a sigh of relief I drove up to the front of the resort. It’s nice to be back.

We turned our car over to valet and left our luggage in the Blazer. We had packed one overnight bag with clothes for all of us for the next day (so we didn’t have to drag all of our luggage in for just one night). We took our overnight bag with us then went inside. Mother remarked that she had never even been on the first floor of the CR. She had ridden the monorail through the hotel, of course, and had been on the 4th floor at Chef Mickey’s, but that was all. We checked in and found that our room was ready. We were in room 4522, which was on the 9th floor over-looking Bay Lake and the Wilderness Lodge.

We took the elevator up to the 9th floor where the voice of Goofy announced, “Gawrsh pal, we’re on the 9th floor!” The first thing we noticed about our room was how large it was (especially compared to the All Star Movies, where Paula and I had stayed in September). I’m not a big fan of the ultra-modern furniture or the color scheme, but the size of the room was great. The bathroom was also nice and large.

We checked out the view from our balcony where we over-looked the garden wing rooms and the pool area. We could see the Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness and could even see Spaceship Earth at Epcot if we looked to the south. As soon as Michael spotted the pool, he was on a mission. He quickly changed into his swimsuit and we took the elevator down to the first floor. Mickey Mouse announced the floor for us and we headed to the Food and Fun Center for some lunch.

We decided to go ahead and buy a refillable mug since Mother and I would be sitting by the pool for a while this afternoon. Mother and I both ordered the chicken strip sandwich and Michael had chicken strips and a strawberry milk ($36.59 including the refillable mug). I waited for our food while Mother took Michael out to the pool because he didn’t want to wait another second.

It was now about 3:30. Our food was soon ready and I took it out by the pool and found Mother at a table and Michael in the pool. Our chicken strip sandwiches were huge! They came with french fries and were on an onion bun that, I kid you not, was the size of my head. We quickly realized that we should have shared a sandwich between the two of us. Luckily, Michael tried my sandwich and ate about half of it for me. Michael quickly ate and then headed back to the pool while Mother and I sat and enjoyed the beautiful weather (and our refillable mug!). I had my cell phone with me so we called my dad to let him know that we had arrived safely and to gloat about the beautiful weather.

We people-watched and watched the squirrels playing around our table. Our table was close to the slide and we enjoyed watching people come down it. The slide was fairly long and slung people out with quite a bit of force. We were very impressed with the lifeguards around the pool. At one point, a young girl (probably about 4 years old) went down the slide and became disoriented when she came off of the slide. The lifeguard, fully clothed, was in the water and had the little girl in about two seconds. The lifeguard blew her whistle when she saw the little girl in trouble and she was actually in the water before the blast was out of the whistle. When the other lifeguards heard the whistle, several of them came running over and helped stop the traffic on the slide and keep people away from the little girl until she was safely out of the pool.

Luckily, the little girl was more scared than anything and her dad came over to claim her. Why her parents let her go on the slide in the first place was a mystery to me.

Michael swam until 5:40 when we all went back to our room. I went back downstairs to fill up our mug again. Okay, okay, I really went down just so I could hear the elevator some more! I could go up and down in these elevators all day long and just listen to the different announcements for each floor. Every time I got in an elevator, I wanted to push all the buttons so we could stop and hear the announcement for every floor. (As a side note, this does not make you very popular with the other people riding in the elevator with you.) This trip I got to hear Chip announce, “This is swell, Dale, we’re on the 8th floor.”

Michael changed clothes while Mother rested and I updated my trip report notes. We tried to call Michael’s mom and dad, but were unable to reach them. We went down to the 4th floor to look through the gift shops before we left for supper. We made a few small purchases and then walked out to the boat dock at 7:00 to catch a boat to Ft. Wilderness. The boat arrived in a few minutes and we enjoyed the quick trip to the campgrounds. Once off the boat we discovered the lawnmower tree. This is a tree that has grown around a lawnmower that was parked beside it. All you can see of the lawnmower is some metal sticking out near the bottom of the tree. It was pretty impressive and a tiny bit creepy. Makes you not want to lean up against a tree just in case it’s a particularly fast-growing one.

We checked in at Trails End at 7:30 and sat out on the porch until we were seated at 7:45. The buffet consisted of cream of chicken soup, chili, cornbread, biscuits, salad bar, peel-and-eat shrimp, jello, pudding, pan-fried potatoes, black-eyed peas and kielbasa, corn, sautéed squash and zucchini, macaroni and cheese, fried chicken, barbecued ribs, roast, pizza, Mahi Mahi with mushroom sauce, baked ziti, apple cobbler, and cinnamon crisps. The food was plentiful and fairly good, although I didn’t think the chicken was as good as the Hoop Dee Doo fried chicken. I know it’s supposed to be the same chicken, but it wasn’t as good to me. Maybe it just wasn’t as fresh. Regardless, I could have made a meal on the peel-and-eat shrimp alone (actually, I *did* make a meal out of the shrimp), so I didn’t suffer. The total price for two adults and one child, including drinks, was $41.51 before tip.

On the way out we passed a poor family whose little girl and just thrown up all over their table. I could have done without that, thank you. We were glad we passed by after we had already eaten instead of before. As we walked back to boat dock we admired the horses that pull the carriage rides around Ft. Wilderness. One of them was the biggest horse that I have ever seen. His shoulder was at least a foot taller than my head (and I’m 5’ 9”). We’re talking huge.

The plan was to go back to the CR and drop off Mother and Michael and then ride the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom so I could watch the new Wishes fireworks at 10:00. Michael said he wasn’t tired and wanted to go with me. The boat to the Magic Kingdom arrived at the dock first, so we all took that boat to the MK. From there, Mother took the monorail back to the CR while Michael and I went to the Magic Kingdom.

I had to stop at guest relations and trade my voucher in for my new annual pass and check that Michael still had an extra day on one of his old passes, but we were soon on Main Street. It was after 9:00 and the Spectromagic parade had already started making its way down the street. We entered Main Street during the “Under the Sea” segment of the parade and found ourselves face to face with a giant fish covered in lights. We started up Main Street, cutting through the shops in order to avoid the crowds watching the parade. At every doorway that we passed, we saw the same huge fish rolling his giant eye in our direction. I told Michael that we were being stalked by a large fish and we amused ourselves (not hard to do) by trying to lose the fish as we made our way down the street.

We would speed up through a shop trying to shake off the fish and then peer around the door facing to see if we had lost him. Or, we’d slow waaaaaaay down to give the fish time to get ahead of us, but to no avail. Okay, maybe it wasn’t international espionage, but it did keep us entertained all the way down Main Street until we branched off towards Tomorrowland. In Tomorrowland we checked the wait times for Buzz Lightyear (25 minutes) and Space Mountain (40 minutes) before hopping on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority (TTA) to take a spin. It’s been a favorite of mine since way back when it was still the People Mover.

After the TTA it was 9:50 so we made our way back to the hub of Main Street to watch the new Wishes fireworks show at 10:00. We saw quite a few people wearing the light-up neon necklaces or bracelets so, of course, Michael decided that he wanted one. None of the carts near us had the neon necklaces so we asked a woman standing near us where she had gotten hers. She said that she had bought a bunch of them at Wal-Mart before they came to WDW. She said that they were much cheaper there.

After a short wait, it was time for the fireworks. The show was incredible. The only problem we had was that the speakers in our area didn’t seem to be working very well so the narration was difficult to hear, but the fireworks more than made up for that. The fireworks were perfectly timed with the music and there were even fireworks that went off in the shape of stars and hearts. Very impressive and moving.

After the fireworks, Michael and I took a quick walk through Fantasyland in order to check the wait time for the new Philharmagic show. We didn’t find the show, however, because on top of it being very dark at night (something you might have noticed, too) we turned east when we entered Fantasyland, and Philharmagic is to the west of the castle by Peter Pan. We did finally find a neon necklace for Michael at a cart in front of the fire station on Main Street ($3).

It had been a long day so we left the Magic Kingdom and took the monorail back to the Contemporary. We went upstairs to our room where I grabbed our refillable mug and went downstairs to get some diet coke. Back in the room Michael watched Toon Disney and I updated my trip notes. We tried to find the Disney channel that shows classic Disney cartoons (channel 96), but the channels on the TV did not go that high. I’m not sure why you can get that channel at the All Stars resorts (my sister Paula and I watched it every night during our September trip) but not at some of the others.

Mother said she had just rested and tried to find something to watch on TV while we were gone. She said that she did hear the Electric Water Pageant outside of our window a little before 10:00 and she stepped out on the balcony to watch it for a moment. We were all in bed by 11:30.

Sunday, November 9, 2003

“I want to go to Dragonland!” or Do the Hookie Lau.

The Plan: breakfast at the Concourse Steak House (Sticky Mickeys here I come!), Animal Kingdom, lunch at Tusker House or Flame Tree, check in at PR, dinner at ‘Ohana

I woke up at 6:50 this morning after a good night’s sleep. We decided that the beds at the CR were softer (and lower) than the ones at the Polynesian or Beach Club. I showered and got dressed. Michael and Mother got up at 7:45. I went downstairs to fill up our mug while Mother got her shower. We went downstairs to the Concourse Steakhouse for breakfast at 8:30.

Our Priority Seating was for 8:30 and we were seated immediately. Michael ordered the Chef’s Madness which comes with your choice of Eggs Benedict or the Magic Kingdom Express (two eggs any style, bacon or sausage, and a biscuit), juice and coffee, and mini sticky Mickeys. Michael chose his two eggs over-easy with sausage and apple juice. He also ordered a side of toast. (Have a mentioned that breakfast is a big deal to Michael?) Mother and I split a bagel and cream cheese and a Sticky Mickey (Now that I type that, it sounds kind of dirty, doesn’t it—we shared a Sticky Mickey. Some penicillin should cure that right up). We also ordered a Tropical Passion smoothie (coconut, bananas, pineapple, orange juice, and yogurt) which was delicious. The total before tip was $25.83.

This was our first time to ever eat at the Concourse Steakhouse and the Sticky Mickeys (okay, now I can’t type that without giggling) did not disappoint. Michael’s mini sticky Mickeys were two small sticky buns arranged on a plate like Mickey Mouse ears with a small dish of butter for the head. Our regular order was three large sticky buns in the shape of Mickey’s head. Both orders came with a sauce made out of butter, sugar and a hint or orange, to pour over the buns. Yum!

Michael finished up his breakfast and went out to look through the gift shops while Mother and I finished up and paid the check. I ran downstairs to fill up our mug one last time (got to get our money’s worth of soda!). I told Mother and Michael that I would check out and bring the car to the Polynesian if they wanted to ride the monorail there, and they agreed. They headed off to the monorail (Mother said they had to wait for a second monorail because of the crowds going to the Magic Kingdom) and I went downstairs to check out.

Since we were only staying at the CR for one night and I had already paid for the room, I had not left a credit card number with the desk to charge any incidentals to. I knew that I would need to pay for our day of valet parking and the phone calls that we had made during our stay before I checked out. The CM at the front desk said that there were no charges for that since they had inconvenienced us by moving us to the CR for one night. What a nice little bit of Disney magic.

I went upstairs to get our overnight bags (savoring the voices in the elevator one last time) and then down to valet to pick up our car. It was a quick trip to the Polynesian and I was soon pulling up out front. Aloha!

A really nice bell service CM (Laird) took our luggage and asked if I wanted him to park the car for me. I explained that I was checking in but that we were going to pick up my mom’s EVC and go to the Animal Kingdom as soon as we checked in. Laird said he would just pull the car off to the side and he would help me load the ECV when we were ready. We are consistently impressed with how genuinely nice the Cast Members are at the Polynesian.

I met Mother and Michael inside the Great Ceremonial House (GCH) and proceeded to check in. I was surprised to find out that our room was already ready since it was only 10:30. We got Mom’s ECV and went back outside to valet.

Laird saw us come out and hurried over to help us with the ECV. He said that he thought he could load the scooter in the back of the Blazer without having to take it apart. He told us to tell the CM at the entrance of the AK that we had an ECV and that the CM would radio for someone to meet us in medical parking and help us with the ECV. How nice. Laird told us to wait just a minute while he went to get his “big Samoan brother” to help him lift the ECV.

Sure enough, Laird showed back up in a few seconds with a large, Samoan CM. Together (with the Samoan CM picking up the heavy end with the motor), they loaded that heavy ECV into the back of the Blazer for us! Now the first time we rented an ECV in 2000, I loaded and unloaded the ECV many times myself (because we were staying at the All Star Movies and had to drive to all the parks). But, we always took the ECV apart and I just had to load the pieces one at a time. Even at that, the heaviest piece weighs about 50 pounds so it can be quite a chore. I can’t even imagine picking the entire scooter up. Had I only been thinking, we could have at least taken the batteries off of the scooter to make it lighter for them (the batteries weigh about 30 pounds each).

I gave a big tip to both of the men and we were soon on our way to the Animal Kingdom. When we pulled up to the entrance gate, I told the CM that we had an ECV and would need some help to unload it. The CM was not very helpful or knowledgeable. He said that there would be no one to help us unload it and suggested that we ask another guest to help us. Whatever. We parked in medical parking and, after taking the batteries off, Mother and I managed to wrangle the ECV out of the Blazer.

We went through the turnstiles quickly and headed through the Oasis towards Africa. On the way, I showed Michael the path with the suspension bridge that Paula and I had discovered on our trip in September. It’s always good for some impromptu bouncing. The weather today was overcast with a nice breeze blowing. Mother remarked that this was the coolest she had ever been at the Animal Kingdom.

In Africa, I went to get Fast Passes for the Kilimanjaro Safari (KS) (return time of 11:50-12:30) while Michael played on the drums on the path between Africa and Asia. After I got the Fast Passes, Michael asked if he could have some ice cream. Since we were planning to eat lunch in the AK anyway, I ran over to Tusker House and purchased three adult meal deals ($38.31). With the AK meal deal you get an entrée and drink from the Tusker House, Flame Tree Barbecue, Restaurantosaurus, or Pizzafari, plus a coupon for a soft drink or water and a coupon for an ice cream or popcorn, for $11.99. They have a child’s meal deal also, but you have to get the child’s entrée from the children’s menu. Since Michael rarely orders a kid’s meal (not being a fan of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich or macaroni and cheese), I got an adult deal for him.

Michael used his ice cream coupon to get a frozen banana and he ate it while we walked over to see the 11:45 showing of the Festival of the Lion King (FotLK). Mother had never seen the FotLK and we all enjoyed it very much. We were seated on the floor in order to accommodate Mom’s ECV. The CM’s were very helpful in getting us settled in. One CM showed us how to put the ECV into manual mode so you could push it by hand. We had lots of interaction with the performers. At one point, much to Michael’s and my amusement, the fire twirler came over and put his face down right next to Mother’s while she wasn’t paying attention to him. When she glanced over and saw this painted face with bits of fur and bones hanging around it about an inch from hers, she let out a blood-curdling scream.

On the way out of the theater we noticed a husband and wife pushing their three kids in strollers. They had rented strollers for the kids (2 in a double stroller and one in a single) and were commenting on how nice it was to have the strollers. The wife turned to the husband and remarked, “This is *so* much better than draggin’ them!” and the husband agreed.

The kids heard the words “This is so much better than draggin’ them” and their little brains processed the statement as “This is *so* much better than dragon land!” The kids began to whine, “We want to go to Dragon Land! We want to go to Dragon Land!” The tired mom looked at the kids and laughed. “We’re *in* Draggin’ Land!” she said.

It was now time for our Fast Pass for KS, so we went back to Africa. Since the weather was so cloudy and cool, we saw tons of animals. We saw a ton of hippos, a black rhino, while rhinos, okapi, giraffes, lots of elephants (and a tiny baby elephant!), cheetahs, tommies, eland, bongos, ostriches, kudu, etc. Even the male lion was up. We were seated on the back row of the jeep and Michael and I particularly enjoyed the bumpy ride. Mother, not so much.

After the safari we were all hungry (it was 1:30) so we decided to stop for lunch. Michael really wanted to eat at McDonald’s (Restaurantosaurus), but said that anything would be okay. As a side note, I have to say that Michael was a very good sport on this trip. Not that he’s usually demanding or unwilling to compromise, but he just seemed to have a more mature attitude this time. He was willing to try whatever we suggested and said he was just happy being at WDW. He also held my hand more than usual this trip, which was sweet. Maybe he’s just growing up.

Anyway, since we were already in Africa, we decided to give Tusker House a try. Michael ordered the fried chicken sandwich with fries and a bottle of water. Mother and I couldn’t decide on what we wanted so we watched other people get their food while we waited in line. Neither of us are big fans of the vegetable sandwich, but this one looked so good that we decided to try one (marinated vegetables on focaccia bread with hummus spread—sounds nasty, I know, but it *looked* good). We also got a turkey wrap with corn chowder just to be safe and two diet cokes. We paid, of course, with our meal deal certificates.

As it turns out, we both loved the vegetable sandwich and didn’t care for the turkey wrap at all, although the corn chowder that came with it was good. The turkey wrap had too much balsamic vinegar on it for me. I’m not a fan of the balsamic vinegar. I know its all trendy and popular right now but I think it’s a pox on all humanity. Luckily, the vegetable sandwich was plenty big for the two of us.

After lunch, Michael was dying to do Kali River Rapids (KRR). He thought, since the day was so cool, that I wouldn’t want to ride it, but since he was such a good sport about lunch I figured I could be a good sport about getting drenched! With the cloudy weather, the ride was a walk-on. We were on a raft with all good sports (I never understand how people can read all of the warning signs that say “You will get wet, you might get soaked.” and then get upset when they get wet!), and had a great ride. Surprisingly, neither Michael nor I got too wet, as I am generally a water magnet on this ride.

It was 3:00 by now so we headed out of the park. We stopped along the way to get our drinks and two popcorns with our meal deal coupons. As we went through the exit, Mother and Michael had their hands stamped, but I declined. The CM faked a hurt look and pleaded, “Don’t you want a stamp? It’s free.” I started to try to explain that we weren’t going to another park today, but he insisted that I come back and get my hand stamped. Defeated (but laughing) I went back and offered my arm to him so he could stamp my hand. The CM proceeded to stamp not only the back of my hand, but also my wrist and my arm. “Don’t you feel better now?” he asked as we walked away.

Back at the car, we took the seat and the batteries off of the ECV to load it (we were wishing for our big Samoan brother right about then), and then drove back to the PR to settle into our room.

We had Valet park the car at the Polynesian and we went through the Great Ceremonial House to pick up some leis on the way to our room. The leis were quite lovely today—pink flowers with a yellow center. While I was waiting to get our leis, Mother accidentally dropped one of the boxes of popcorn. I went back to help her pick it up but there was a CM there in about 20 seconds with a broom and dustpan. Mother apologized but he was very nice about the spill. “I was bored anyway,” he said.

Our room was in the Samoa longhouse and was on the first floor as I had requested. We were the second room on the left from the south end of the longhouse and our patio faced the Volcano pool. All things considered, it was a great location. The building had been recently rehabbed and the room looked fresh and new.

I called bell services to bring our luggage to our room and then Mother called my sister, Lisa (Michael’s mom). Michael played with some Lego’s and I updated my trip report notes until 5:00. We all rested until 6:00 when we freshened up for our 6:30 Priority Seating at ‘Ohana.

It was chilly outside so we walked through the Niue longhouse to get to the GCH. We checked in at ‘Ohana at 6:20 and began to look around in the gift shops. I found some cute Christmas antenna toppers for my sister, Paula, but didn’t have time to purchase them before our pager went off.

We were seated at a table by the windows overlooking the marina. The coconut races were just starting when we got there (the kids sweep coconuts around the restaurant towards a finish line using brooms). Michael was hungry and wanted to eat in lieu of participating in the race. The CM running the race made the older kids turn their brooms upside down and use the stick end instead of the bristle end so the younger kids wouldn’t be at a disadvantage.

It wasn’t long before the food started coming and it was as good as always. Mother and I got seconds on the salad, while Michael had a second bowl of the fried wontons. Mother said the pork was particularly good tonight, but I stuck to my guns and only ate the shrimp (my favorite). Okay, I did try *one* bite of the pork and it was delicious. I am proud to say that I beat my previous record of 17 shrimp by 1 for a total of 18 shrimp. Our server said the most she had ever seen anyone eat was 80! Holy cow! I hope that I’m never able to break that record.

At 7:00, they dimmed the lights and piped in the new music and narration to the Wishes fireworks. We were able to see most of them from our table except for poor Mother who was seated with her back to the Magic Kingdom. Every time Michael and I would “Oooh” or “Aahhh,” she would turn around in her chair only to discover that she had missed the firework burst.

Since Michael had foregone the coconut races, he did participate in the hula-hoop contest. Mother and I got so tickled at him because he would put the hula hoop around his waist and spin it. Period. He didn’t move his hips at all, so the hula hoop would fall to the floor as soon as it stopped spinning. Michael would then pick it up off the floor and give it another spin. I’m sure it was exhausting with all the spinning of the hula-hoop and the bending to pick it up. When he made it back to the table he was tired. “That didn’t go so well,” he lamented.

The total for dinner was $61.74 before tip and we were thoroughly stuffed. Note to self: Next time stop *before* you get to 18 shrimp! After we paid, we went back to the gift shop to pick up the antenna toppers and a few other trinkets, then headed back to our room.

On our way back through Niue, we were all complaining about how full we were. Mother stopped for a moment while her poor stomach rumbled and then she moaned, “Hookie Lau!” (This from the woman who, after we ate at Boma at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, burped loudly and said, “Must have been the Tuna Matata!”) This statement struck me as so funny that I almost laid down in the hall from laughing. We decided that maybe we should change the title of the Hawaiian song from “Hookie Lau” to “Pukie Lau.”

Back in the room, turn down service had been by and had left some extra towels for us. When Mother sat down on the edge of her bed, her bottle of Maalox (an antacid) on the nightstand fell over towards her. “It calls to me!” she said, starting my laughing fit all over again.

The people in the room above us started taking turns jumping off the top of their armoire onto the floor. Well, we’re not sure that’s what they were doing, but it sounded like it. Michael watched “The Weekenders” on Toon Disney until 8:30 when we left to go to Downtown Disney.

As we waited for our car at valet, a CM struck up a conversation with Michael about what animals he had seen on the Kilimanjaro Safari today. We drove to Downtown Disney and parked at the end by the Lego store (which was Michael’s destination tonight). Michael made a beeline for the Lego store, Mother sat on a bench outside, and I went into the World of Disney to try to find something to take back to the children in Michael’s class at school. There are 20 kids in his class, so I needed something relatively inexpensive. I found some Mickey Mouse suckers that were 5 for $3, so I picked up 20 of those as well as some charms for my mom and sister (and me!). I used my Disney Club card for a 10% discount on the purchases.

When I went back to the Lego store, Michael was outside putting on a full set of Lego armor made out of a Nerf-like substance. He had a helmet, breastplate, shield, and bionicle fire sword. Can you say “nerd?” Well, at least *he* thought that he looked fierce in his foam armor. I asked where Mother was and he said she was in the store buying more Lego’s.

I went in to find Mother and spotted her at the register. She was all excited because they now have huge bins of Lego’s where you can get as many as you can fit into a container for $12.95 (kind of like the Mr. Potatohead where you can buy all the pieces that you can fit into a box for $16.00). They also had a smaller container that you could fill for only $6.95. The nice thing about the Lego’s was that they were all unusual colors and shapes that you don’t usually see in the Lego sets. They had lime green, butter yellow, magenta, and all different colors of clear Lego’s. Her tip was to keep shaking your Lego container to settle your Lego’s and make room for more. She said many people were copying her technique.

We went back to our car around 10:00 and drove to the PR. We dropped the car off with valet and Mother and Michael went back to the room while I took our refillable mugs to Captain Cooks to fill them up. I updated my notes until we all went to bed at 11:00, still very full from supper.

Monday, November 10, 2003

“We’re not galactic heroes, we’re *cosmic* heroes!” or Smoke on the Water

The Plan: breakfast at Captain Cook’s, Michael’s Pirate Cruise at the GF, Magic Kingdom, late dinner at Whispering Canyon Café

I woke up at 7:00 this morning, but let Mother and Michael sleep until 8:00 before I woke them up. They quickly got dressed and we went to Captain Cook’s for breakfast.

Mother and I split a bagel while Michael had cereal, eggs, toast and two milks ($11.23). The weather was overcast and cool again today and it was also raining off and on. While Michael finished up his breakfast, I went to Guest Relations in the GCH to see if Michael’s Pirate Cruise at the Grand Floridian was still on for today. The last time we did the Pirate Cruise it was cancelled because of bad weather, but they rescheduled us for another day.

The CM at Guest Relations made a phone call for me and said that the Pirate Cruise was still “a go.” I went back to Captain Cook’s to pick up Mother and Michael. Michael only drank one of his cartons of milk this morning but they let him return the extra milk since it was unopened. We went upstairs at the GCH and waited for the monorail to the Grand Floridian. While we waited in line we were entertained by a little girl who was singing “Every day’s a great day at Disney World.” We had to agree with her.

At the Grand Floridian we noticed that they had moved all of the furniture out of the center of the lobby and had roped off an area towards the back where workmen were beginning to set up the gingerbread house for Christmas. Mother waited in the foyer of the Grand Floridian Café while I walked Michael to the marina to check in.

At the marina, we waited in line to check in and Michael was dubbed the Official Keeper of the Secrets by Captain Bobbie, since he had been on the cruise before. Actually, I had already given him the lecture about not giving away any surprises to the kids who had never done this before, but this was a fun way to reinforce that talk.

Michael got his life jacket and his bandanna them came back to stand in line with me. A mother behind me was getting her two daughters in their life jackets. The girls were asking why they had to put life jackets on when Michael volunteered the information, “Because you’re going on a pirate cruise!” to them. This was unfortunate because the cruise was a surprise to the girls. Their uncle had booked it for them and their mom had not told them about it yet. That alone wouldn’t have been so bad, but the girls had been on another pirate cruise in Tampa that had scared the living daylights out of them, so they immediately began to say that they didn’t want to go!

As I apologized for ruining the surprise, the mother explained to me that the other pirate cruise they went on was on a big wooden ship. She said that pirates took over the ship and pretended to make the kids walk the plank, which terrified her girls. She also said that the pirates told the children that there were alligators in the water under the plank. Nice.

We assured the girls that *they* got to be the pirates on this trip and that Michael had liked the cruise so much that this was his second time to participate. Also, the thought of hunting for treasure helped to make them feel better.

The pontoon boat was bigger than the last time we did the cruise and it was decorated with netting and a pirate flag. Captain Bobbie loaded the children (there were about 24 of them) and sailed off with all of the little pirates saying, “Aaaarrrrrgh!” All of the parents waved until the ship was out of sight and then went on their way, rejoicing in their new childless freedom. Several couples headed straight for the bar, even at this early hour.

I met up with Mother in the lobby and we sat in the foyer and people-watched for a while. We watched one family that had a little boy who was just fascinated by the automatic door. He kept pushing the button to make the door open up while his mother kept telling him to stop. Mother leaned over to me and said, “Please tell me that his mother didn’t just call her son ‘Gellatto!’” Mercifully, it turned out that Gellatto was not his name, Mother had just misunderstood. I was all ready to turn the mother in to Child Protective Services for such an unfortunate name. We eventually got up to look through the shops. I found a mechanical Mickey Mouse pencil to take back to work with me and we bought several other small gifts.

When it was almost time for the Pirate Cruise to be over, we went back to the foyer of the Grand Floridian Café. I stopped off to use the restroom and overheard a conversation between a mother and her little girl. The mother was changing her daughter into play clothes from her princess dress (it appeared that they had been to a character breakfast) and the daughter was not wanting to take off her princess shoes.

“Why do I have to take the shoes off?” the little girl asked.

“Because we’re going to the Magic Kingdom,” her mother answered.

“I don’t want to take them off,” the girl stated.

“I know, dear, but we’ll do lots of walking at the Magic Kingdom”

“But I *love* them mommy!”

Laughing to myself, I went outside and met up with Mother. When Mother went to the restroom a few minutes later, she reported that the little girl had her street shoes on, but that there were big tears in her eyes. Wicked stepmother.

It was sprinkling as I went to pick up Michael. All of the other parents had also gathered at the marina. We were soon greeted by the sight of the boat with all the children singing, “Yo Ho! Yo Ho! A pirate’s life for me!” All the children got a bag of loot with a tiny treasure chest filled with beads, a pirate eye patch, a gooey eyeball, some jewelry, and various other trinkets. Michael said he had a good time.

Back in the lobby, we saw two wedding parties. One bride was posing for pictures on top of the grand piano with her groom. We went upstairs to the monorail and Michael asked if I would check to see if we could ride in the front. The CM said she had room for two people so Mother volunteered to sit in the regular cars.

Michael and I got in the front of the monorail and met a woman and her son who were also riding up front. The CM driving the monorail was in training so there was a supervisor also riding in the car with us. The supervisor was very chatty and explained about keeping a certain distance between monorails at all time (which is why a monorail will sometimes slow down or stop on the tracks if there is another monorail ahead of it at the station), etc.

The other passenger and her son got off the monorail at the Magic Kingdom. At the Contemporary, a couple of kids (brother and sister) got in the front with us. They were both very well mannered and polite and we had a pleasant conversation about favorite rides and parks until Michael and I (and Mother) got off at the Polynesian.

We stopped off at Captain Cook’s to fill our mugs and then went to our room. Michael began playing with his new Lego’s and Mother played her Game Boy (yes, she is 62 and plays Game Boy, Playstation, Game Cube, Nintendo 64, etc. Michael brought his Game Boy and Mother brought hers!), while I went to get Mom’s ECV out of the back of our car so we could go to the Magic Kingdom by taking the path to the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC) and then the ferry boat to the MK. Mother does not like to take the ECV on the monorail because it is somewhat tricky to maneuver it on the tiny ramps that they use. She had a rough time getting the ECV off the monorail a few trips back (it almost turned over with her), so we avoid the monorail now when we have the ECV.

I got our keys from Valet and unloaded the ECV. It began to pour down rain as I drove the ECV to our room. I got back to the room at 12:45 and took a few minutes to update my trip notes. I think some of Paula’s commando attitude from our September trip has rubbed off on me because I was impatient to go, go, go!

After a little while the rain let up and we decided to go over to the Magic Kingdom. We were all getting hungry for lunch and Michael said he was craving a baked potato. I knew they had baked potatoes at the Toluca Turkey Legs stand at MGM, but was unaware of any places at the MK that sold them. Not to worry, I pulled out my handy Passporter and looked under Magic Kingdom eateries. Ah ha! We found that Liberty Tree Produce in Liberty Square sold not only fruit but also baked potatoes.

We took the walking path, which was very pleasant, from the Polynesian to the TTC and then rode the ferryboat to the Magic Kingdom as planned. Once inside the MK we headed straight to Liberty Square and Michael’s baked potato. We found the produce stand but the CM said that they no longer sold baked potatoes. She was unaware of any other place in the MK that sold them anymore. Bummer.

It was 2:15 and Michael was fading fast from lack of food by this time so we ducked into the Columbia Harbour House for lunch. Michael ordered the chicken strips with fries and milk and Mother and I ordered the fish with fries, a garden galley salad (mixed greens, grilled chicken, pineapple chunks, pecans, and feta cheese), and a diet coke to share ($24.77). The food perked Michael up considerably and by the time he had eaten his chicken and some of the fish, he was feeling much better.

After we were finished eating, it was almost time for the parade so we decided to quickly go to Fantasyland (to get Fast Passes for Philharmagic) so we weren’t trapped in Liberty Square when the parade came by. As we walked through Liberty Square, I pointed out to Michael and Mom the brown path that runs down the middle of the streets. I explained that, since back in colonial times there was no indoor plumbing, the waste generally just ran through a trench in the streets and that the brown path was Disney’s representation of the waste. This greatly amused Michael and he snickered all the way to Fantasyland every time Mother or I stepped in the “refuse.”

In Fantasyland we stopped at Philharmagic and got Fast Passes with a return time of 4:05 – 5:05. As we started towards Tomorrowland, it began to rain. I had two ponchos in my purse (a yellow Mickey poncho from a previous trip, and an $.88 Wal-Mart poncho) so we stopped and got one of the new clear Mickey ponchos ($6.00) so we would all have one. Mother put the new clear poncho on over herself and her scooter. She looked like some kind of specter with the translucent poncho trailing behind her.

In Tomorrowland, Buzz Lightyear had a 40 minute wait and Space Mountain had a 35 minute wait posted. Knowing that Space Mountain is one of Michael’s favorite rides; we got in line for it. We had just stepped in line when a CM came out and announced that the ride was having technical difficulties and they didn’t know how long it would be until it was back up and running.

Michael and I quickly decided to ride the TTA to see if they had the lights on inside Space Mountain. On a previous trip to WDW we had been at the MK on an e-ride night. We were riding the TTA and, when it passed through Space Mountain, discovered that the ride had gone down and they had the lights on to work on the problem. It was really neat to see the track and Michael thought it was so cool that made us stay on the TTA for another trip so he could see it again.

Michael and I rode the TTA, but the lights were not on in Space Mountain. When we finished with our ride around Tomorrowland, the wait time for Buzz Lightyear said 10 minutes but the line was longer than it had been when the 40 minute wait time was posted. Over at Space Mountain, they also had a 10 minute wait posted. We figured they must have had some kind of power surge that reset the wait times because there was no way that 10 minutes was accurate.

We got back in line for Space Mountain and, sure enough, had about a 30 minute wait for our ride. After Space Mountain, we got Fast Passes for Buzz Lightyear (5:15 – 6:15) and then headed back to Philharmagic since our Fast Pass window for it was now open.

We got right in to the show and we all thought it was great. It is now my new favorite 3D show at the parks. I thought that the animation looked incredible and the apple pie smell made us all hungry. Plus, how can you not love Donald Duck (yes, I’m a Donald fan from way back)?

After we exited Philharmagic it began to pour down rain, but what’s a little rain when it’s time for your Buzz Lightyear Fast Passes? With our Fast Passes, Michael and I were quickly on the ride. However, the ride stopped as we got to the middle of the first room with targets in it. We concentrated on shooting at the giant orange robot for a while, but were only getting about 1,000 points per shot. I noticed a large claw that had a Z-target on it suspended from the ceiling. When I hit the target it gave me a whopping 100,000 points! Ten shots later, my score was maxed out at 999,999! Woo hoo! My best score ever (I never break 100,000 points unless the ride breaks down!). Michael quickly maxed out his score also and then we had nothing to do but spin our car until we were both quite ill.

We did get a laugh out of seeing the stamps on our hands. Under the black lights of Buzz, we could see where we had our hands stamped at the Animal Kingdom the day before. I had “Ant…Ant…Ant…” stamped all the way up my arm.

After a few minutes, the lights came on and a guardrail automatically came up along the tracks. I was pretty excited thinking that we were going to get to walk out of the ride. Soon, a mechanic came walking by and then we heard an announcement to stay seated and that the ride would start up soon.

Sure enough, in just a few moments the lights dimmed and…OUR SCORES WERE RESET! Denied! Our beautiful 999,999’s were wiped out and reset to zero. Luckily, it was a few moments before the ride started moving again and both Michael and I were able to max out our scores again. Yes, bow to me now mere mortals! We scored 999,999 not once, but twice, on the same ride. I pointed out to Michael that, technically, our score was a staggering 2 million. “We’re not Galactic Heroes, we’re *Cosmic* Heroes!” he exclaimed.

We finished the ride in grand style by mostly patting ourselves on the back for getting such awesome scores. We both thought it was pretty neat that they take your picture now (they didn’t have this feature as late as September of this year when Paula and I were here).

After our triumph on Buzz, Michael was ready to go back to the Polynesian. We made our way down Main Street and stopped in a few stores for some quick shopping. Michael was tired and didn’t want to take the path from the TTC. He wanted to ride the monorail instead. I hated for Mom to have to go back to the Transportation and Ticket Center by herself (even though I think she could outrun the javelinas on her ECV). Mother agreed to take the monorail if I would push the ECV onto the monorail for her (thanks to the CM at Animal Kingdom who showed us how to put it in manual) so she wouldn’t have to drive it on. That plan worked splendidly and we were back at the PR by 6:45.

I wanted to watch the fireworks from the beach at 7:00 and Michael wanted to swim, so we quickly got him changed into his swimming suit and headed for the Volcano pool. I pulled two chairs up next to the beach so Mother and I could watch the fireworks in comfort and we settled in for the show.

In just a few minutes the narration and music started and the fireworks began. We saw the first few bursts and then the smoke became so thick over the castle, that we couldn’t see anything else. We’ve watched the fireworks from the beach before and could always see them just fine. I don’t know if the wind was blowing the wrong direction or if the overcast skies had something to do with it, but we could only see the really low ones. We got so tickled as we sat there and watched the smoke change colors (it looked kind of like a sunset with lots of clouds) as the fireworks went off behind it. I kept saying, “Oh, this part was really pretty.” or “This was one of my favorites.” as Mother glared at me. Poor Mom, I guess she just wasn’t destined to see the fireworks this trip.

After the smoke, er, I mean, firework show was over, we decided that it was time for supper. I had a priority seating for the Whispering Canyon Café, but barbecue didn’t sound very good to any of us so we just decided to grab something at Captain Cooks. Michael was through swimming so he went back to the room to change clothes while Mother and I went to Captain Cooks to get supper.

Michael and I both got a cheeseburger while Mother got the Kahlua pork sandwich. We also got a cup of pineapple and a slice of cheesecake for dessert ($27.00). We took the food back to our room to eat. The burgers and the pork sandwich all came with french fries that were completely awesome. The fries were just normal crinkle-cut frozen french fries, but they had cooked them until they were crisp on the outside and almost hollow on the inside. We’re talking McDonald’s level of french fry goodness! Someone on a Disney discussion board had once mentioned how good the french fries at Captain Cook’s were, but I guess I had never paid attention to them until this trip, or maybe they were just super-good tonight.

After supper, I updated my trip report, Michael watched cartoons, and Mom played Game Boy. We heard the Electric Water Pageant at 9:00 and I stepped out on our patio to watch part of it (particularly the “Tribute to all Nations, but mostly America” finale). We found the classic Disney cartoon channel on the TV here and Mother and Michael were finally treated to “Lambert, the Sheepish Lion,” which they had never seen. Actually, Michael and I found all of the classic cartoons highly amusing tonight. I think Disney just wears you down with pixie dust by the third or fourth day.

Our loud jumping family in the room above us began making noise around 9:30. We finally decided that they must either be a family of gymnasts doing practice runs or perhaps a family of divers. We were leaning toward the “family of divers” explanation since the noise never lasted for an extended period of time. We figured that each member took one dive off the armoire and were knocked unconscious when they hit their heads on the floor. Once they came to, they could start their practice all over again.

We tried to call Paula to update her on our adventures, but she was not home. We all went to bed around 10:30.

Tuesday, November 11, 2003

“How about broccoli with mustard sauce?” or The Attack of the 50-foot ECV

The Plan: breakfast at Kona’s, Michael’s Grand Adventures in Cooking at the GF, check in at the Beach Club, lunch at Beaches and Cream/Hurricane Hanna’s, swim/rest, Epcot, supper at Alfredo’s, Illuminations Cruise

I woke up at 6:00 this morning and ventured a peek out of our patio window. The sun was out and the sky was clear, a welcome change from yesterday’s rather soggy day at the Magic Kingdom. Mother and Michael got up around 7:30 and we walked over to the GCH at 8:15.

We looked at the pin cart in the lobby and made a few purchases at the gift shop before going upstairs for our 8:30 priority seating at Kona’s. Michael had a biscuit with sausage gravy, a scrambled egg, and milk, while Mother and I split an order of Tonga Toast (see, that’s not nearly as funny as “Sticky Mickeys”) and a pineapple juice ($19.41 before tip).

After breakfast, we boarded the monorail to the Grand Floridian for Michael’s Grand Adventure in Cooking. We stopped at the Grand Floridian at 9:25 and, since we were a bit early, decided to stay on the monorail for another go around. When the monorail stopped at the Polynesian this time, a family with an ECV was loaded into the car where we were sitting. The lady whom the ECV belonged to was having her adult son drive the ECV onto the monorail so she didn’t have to maneuver it (see, Mom’s not the only one who has trouble with the narrow ramps). The son was successful in driving the scooter onto the monorail, but was so close to us (we were all seated), that Mother could not even get up when we stopped at the Grand Floridian.

Since the ECV family wasn’t getting off until the Magic Kingdom, Michael and I climbed over the ECV to get out and poor Mother had to stay on for yet another lap around the resorts. The son offered to unload the ECV at the Grand Floridian so Mother could get out, but she hated to have to make him do that so she said she would just stay on.

When Michael and I walked into the Grand Floridian we both stopped dead in our tracks. Wow! The Christmas elves had been busy since yesterday! The main Christmas tree was up in the lobby (now I see why all the furniture had been moved out of the center of the lobby yesterday) and it was gorgeous. There were two workers up in a cherry-picker who were putting the finishing touches on the tree.

There were four normal-sized Christmas trees at the corners of the lobby on both the first and second floors and then the huge tree in the middle of the lobby. The main tree was full of lights and had actual Victorian bird cages in pastel colors for ornaments, as well as organza ribbons and huge bouquets of hydrangeas and other flowers. Garlands full of lights and ornaments were hung from every conceivable balcony and archway, wreaths were hung on the walls, and even the flower arrangements had Christmas ornaments in them.

Michael and I gawked for a moment and then headed out to the Mouseketeer Club to check in. As we stepped outside, we noticed workers putting white wicker reindeer covered in white lights in the flowerbeds.

I signed Michael in at the Mouseketeer Club and picked up the pager that they supply, while CM Bobbie welcomed him back. She asked Michael if he had participated in this event before and when he said “yes,” she asked what recipe they had cooked. Michael replied that they had made pizzas the time before. Bobbie said, “Good. We’re making something different this time….liver and onions.”

The look on Michael’s face was priceless. You could tell he was having to debate whether or not to voice his real opinion or to be polite and remain silent. It took Bobbie saying, “Or, how about broccoli with mustard sauce?” before he realized that she was teasing him.

I left Michael and went back to the monorail platform to meet Mother who was just now getting off the monorail after her extra trip around the loop. Mom came inside and looked at the decorations for a few minutes before we got back on the monorail and rode around to the Polynesian to finish packing for our move to the Beach Club today.

We finished packing our suitcases and then called bell services to come pick up our luggage and transfer it to the Beach Club for us. Mother then drove her ECV around to valet so we could pick up our car and get her scooter loaded. CM Laird helped us again today and was grateful that we had remembered to take the batteries and the seat off of the scooter before he loaded it. He asked Mother what her favorite part of the trip had been so far and she replied, “Watching you load my ECV!”

We made the quick drive to the Grand Floridian and left our car with valet parking there while we went to the foyer of the Grand Floridian Café to wait for Michael. CM Bobbie came out at 11:40 to pick up the pagers from all of the parents and the children soon followed. They were all wearing the chef hats and aprons that they had made and they were pushing a cart filled with “worms and dirt” (chocolate pudding with chocolate cookie crumbs and gummi worms on top).

The children spent the next several minutes passing out their creations to proud parents and anyone else in the lobby that would take them. The workers building the gingerbread house were more than happy to relieve the children of quite a few of the desserts. “Are you doing this tomorrow, too?” they kept asking the children.

After all the desserts had been distributed, Mother and I sat in the lobby with Michael so he could eat some of the pudding. When he was finished we picked our car up from valet and made the short drive to the Beach Club. Once there, valet unloaded Mother’s ECV for us. I got a key to use in the elevator to get us up to the 5th floor (the concierge floor) from bell services.

On the 5th floor, CM Hyacinth began the process of getting us checked in. While we were checking in, CM Vilma showed up and gave me a hug. She remembers us every year. She hadn’t seen Michael since we stayed at the BC in June of 2002, so I made him stand up so she could see how much he had grown in the meantime. She was amazed that he was now taller than she was.

Mom and Michael went into the lounge to get some snacks and something to drink while I finished up with Hyacinth. Hyacinth couldn’t get our room keys to print so she took me down to our room (5666) to let me in and then she went downstairs to have our keys made at the front desk.

I dumped our stuff in our room (which was close to the elevators as I had requested) and then went back to the lounge to meet up with Mother and Michael. Michael was sucked into Toon Disney on the TV and Mother was having a piece of carrot cake. I got some carrot sticks and goldfish crackers (got to get my daily recommended dosage of the “orange” food group) and we sat in the lounge for a few minutes until Hyacinth brought our keys in to us.

We went to our room and Michael immediately changed into his swimming suit so he could go to Stormalong Bay. We had put his suit in Mother’s purse, so we would have it handy. I took Michael down to the pool while Mother freshened up a bit. Michael was in the water in about 2 seconds and I had just found a table for us when Mother came down to meet me.

We sat and enjoyed the sunshine for a while until we decided we were hungry (about 2:15). We had a priority seating at Alfredo’s in Italy (at Epcot) at 6:00, so we just wanted to get something light so as to not spoil our appetites. We decided that we would go over to the Boardwalk for a corn dog, so Mother went upstairs to get her ECV and a shirt and shoes for Michael while I stayed with him.

After a few minutes, I got Michael out of the pool so he could dry off and we could meet Mother at the back doors of the BC lobby. Mother showed up with her ECV, but without Michael’s clothes. She said she had forgotten about getting his clothes due to her trauma with the ECV. Apparently, while she was alone in our room with the scooter, it turned on her and attacked her! Mother said that while she was trying to maneuver the ECV out of the room, it turned on her like some bad Siegfried and Roy performance. The ECV bit her leg and pushed her through the closet door and into the closet where it kept her pinned for several minutes. Mother was fairly certain that the closet door was broken beyond repair and her shin was bruised and bloody!

Mother said that when she went up to the room to get her ECV, she quickly discovered that she couldn’t hold the door to the room open and back the ECV out of the room at the same time. She decided to just push the ECV out of the room while she held the door open. (Wildlife fact #1: ECV’s don’t like to be pushed!) Instead of putting the ECV in manual, she just held down the throttle while she tried to guide the scooter out of the room. She was having trouble getting the ECV around a corner (Wildlife fact #2: ECV’s don’t like to be cornered!), when she accidentally held the throttle down in “drive” instead of “reverse.” The ECV lunged forward, hitting her shin and driving her through the closet door and into the closet. Mother laughed that she never had the sense to just release the throttle, but kept it held down the entire time. She finally released the throttle, turned the speed down from “rabbit” to “turtle” (Wildlife fact #3: Speed Kills! Um, maybe that’s really more of a public service announcement than a wildlife fact.), and was able to get the ECV out of the room.

Of course, I felt horrible for not going up with her to help. It never crossed my mind that it would be almost impossible for one person to get the ECV out of the room. I guess the moral of this story is: Never leave your loved ones alone with an ECV. They’re just to unpredictable. Silly me, and I had been worried about the javelinas at the Transportation and Ticket Center.

Since we were still in need of Michael’s clothes, I volunteered to go upstairs and get them. When I got to the 5th floor, Hyacinth asked if I had met up with Mother. I explained that I had seen her but we forgot some items from our room. I grabbed Michael’s shirt and shoes, examined the damage done to the closet door by the ECV attack (I was later able to fix the door—it had just been knocked off the track), cleaned up the massive amounts of blood from the carnage, and headed back downstairs.

When I emerged from the Beach Club Mother was there, but there was no Michael. Mother asked, “Didn’t you see him on the way down? He decided to go upstairs and change out of his swimming suit in the room.” There was only one problem: I had Michael’s shirt and shoes and we hadn’t had our luggage delivered from the Polynesian yet, so Michael only had a pair of shorts in the room. I went back upstairs (much to the amusement of Hyacinth) only to find that Michael wasn’t in the room. Apparently we were just missing each other on the trips up and down in the elevator. I felt like we were enjoying our own private version of the Tower of Terror, but without all the screaming.

I went back downstairs and, joy of joys, there was Michael. He had changed into his shorts so, as soon as he was reunited with his shirt and shoes, we were finally ready to go. As we headed towards the Boardwalk, the call of Epcot was too strong to be ignored and we decided to go there instead and sample some of the Food & Wine Festival offerings. Mother had the presence of mind after her brutal ECV mauling to stop by the concierge lounge and get diet cokes for us and a coke and some cookies for Michael and we enjoyed our lovely beverages as we walked.

We were quickly through the International Gateway and decided to head left towards the UK so that we could maybe wind up in Italy in time for our priority seating. Our first tasting was at the booth of Cognac, Port & Brandy where we tried a piece of the Flourless Chocolate Cake ($1.50) which was very rich and good. In Russia and Eastern Europe we sampled the Beef Stroganoff with Buttered Noodles ($3.50) and the Potato Pancake with Sauerkraut and Sour Cream ($2.25). The buttered noodles were very good. The stroganoff and the potato pancake were okay.

Michael went to Canada to procure a cup of their always delicious Cheddar Cheese Soup ($2.50) and a piece of their equally delicious (but too sweet for most mortals) Maple Walnut Fudge ($1.25). I went to Southeast Asia where I got the Pulled Chicken with Chili and Lime ($2.75). Mother did not care for the pulled chicken, but Michael and I both liked it. Our final stop on that side of the World Showcase was at the Colorful Eating booth where we tried the Citrus and Mango Salad ($2.00 Yuck! Not to our liking at all. The “citrus” was grapefruit, which was very tart, and the salad was covered with balsamic vinegar (and you all know how I feel about balsamic vinegar!)) We did, however, also get a piece of the Grapefruit Cake ($2.00) which was very light and tasty.

I overheard a young man, who was looking at all the food booths, ask his mom, “Is this *all* the countries, or did they just put the extra ones here?”

Trying to pace ourselves and not get too full, we skipped quite a few “extra” booths along the way. We next stopped at Mexico where Michael got his usual Quesadilla ($3.00) and Watermelon Water ($1.50). He eats quite a few of these every year.

In Norway (Velcome to Norvay!), Michael and I rode Maelstrom where I pointed out the Viking wearing the Mickey Mouse ears in the mural at their loading dock. We continued on, passing many food booths, through China. We stopped at the Outpost long enough for Michael to listen to Orisi Risi. The kid loves anything to do with drums, particularly when he gets to help pound on them.

In Germany we stopped at the Teddybear shop so I could look at their Steiff animals. I found plenty that I wanted, but was very brave and decided to wait before I made any purchases. Michael was itching to go to Japan so he could spend some of his birthday money on Dragonball Z and Gundam toys. We walked past Italy and America so he could do some shopping in Japan, and then backtracked to Italy and went to L’Originale Alfredo di Roma. We checked in early at 5:35 and were seated almost immediately.

I had never been inside Alfredo’s before and was surprised by how big it is. Michael ordered the Le Originali Fettuccine All’Alfredo (fettuccine Alfredo) and milk from the kid’s menu. Mother and I shared a Mozzarella alla Caprese salad (a stack of red and yellow tomato slices layered with bufala mozzarella cheese and drizzled with olive oil and fresh basil) and then split an order of the Trittico di Pasta (a sampler platter with lasagna, fettuccine Alfredo, and gnocchi pomodoro). Our food was served in record time. It was on our table mere minutes after we ordered.

The food was all delicious and Mother and I particularly like the lasagna. Michael was not too crazy about his fettuccine, though. I think the fresh parmesan was a little stronger than he was used to. He mostly ate “fettuccine sandwiches” that he made out of his fettuccine and the rolls. Keep checking your local restaurants, I’m sure they’ll be sweeping the nation any day now.

We laughed that this was probably a world record for the quickest meal ever. Honestly, we were out of there by 6:00! We weren’t rushed or hurried by the servers, but the food was ready so fast that the meal took very little time. We decided that, perhaps in Italy, they linger over coffee and dessert, both of which we were way too full for!

Quite full from dinner, we took our time strolling through the World Showcase towards the International Gateway. We were saddened to have to pass up White Chocolate Mousse and Crème Brulee at some of the food booths on the way out, but knew we’d be back later when we were far hungrier than now. We got to listen to Chic and Nile Rodgers sing “Good Times” (as part of the Eat to the Beat concert series) as we walked past America.

We were back to our room by 7:00. I called my sister, Paula and talked with her for a long time while Mother and Michael changed into warmer clothes in preparation for our Illuminations Cruise tonight. I finished talking to Paula, quickly changed clothes, and we went down to the Yacht Club marina at 8:10.

We met our captain (one that we had never had before, which is quite a feat for us) and I have already forgotten his name (sorry!), but he was very nice. We settled the bill for the cruise and were quickly on our way. Our captain was relatively new so he didn’t have a schtick that he tried out on us. Some captains that we’ve had in the past asked Disney trivia questions, or acted as a tour guide by pointing out various sights along the way (maybe he could have a Schticky Mickey). While we have always enjoyed our cruises in the past, it was kind of nice to just talk informally with the captain this trip. About the only piece of Disney trivia that he supplied us with was the fact that Disney sells enough turkey legs at the Magic Kingdom in *one day* to pay for the Illuminations fireworks! That’s a lot of turkey legs.

We took a leisurely cruise to MGM and back and then went into Epcot and parked under the bridge between France and the UK to enjoy Illuminations. The show was great as usual and afterward we sailed past the throngs of people fighting their way out and back to the marina.

We were back at the Beach Club by 9:30. On our way to our room, we stopped in the concierge lounge for some desserts to take with us. Mother and I were delighted to see that they still had the fruit tarts that we were so fond of on a previous trip.

Back in our room Michael watched TV, I updated my trip report notes, and Mother played Game Boy until we all went to bed at 11:00.

Wednesday, November 12, 2003

“I guess they don’t know about letters.” or The Great Potato Quest

The Plan: breakfast at concierge lounge, MGM, lunch at Sci Fi Diner/50’s Prime Time Cafe, dinner at counter service, Fantasmic

I woke up at 6:30 this morning and tried to go back to sleep. The alarm clock had been set for 7:00 by the previous occupants of the room and was never turned off, so when it went off at 7:00 I gave up and got out of bed. Mother and Michael followed at 7:45.

While I was brushing my teeth at our sinks, Michael picked up the little welcome card that is left by mousekeeping each day. The front of the card says “Welcome,” in several different languages and the inside of the card is usually signed by the housekeeper and has a little note about having a pleasant stay. Michael was reading the “welcome” out loud in each language (wilkommen, bienvenido, bienvenue, etc.) until he got down to the last line which was written in Japanese. He studied the markings for a moment and then said, “And some kind of Japanese scratches. I guess they don’t know about letters.” After I finished laughing I explained to him that those *were* letters, they just looked different than the ones we were used to.

We all got dressed and then went down to the lounge for breakfast. The lounge had the usual offerings of coffee, juices, milk, cereal, whole fruit, bagels, English muffins, bread/toast, donuts, donut holes, coffee cake, banana bread, watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, pineapple, etc.

After breakfast we walked down to the boat dock in order for Michael and I to take the boat to MGM. Mother was going to ride her ECV along the walking path and meet us at the entrance. I offered to walk with her, but Michael wanted to conserve his energy, so we waited for the boat instead. We must have just missed the boat because we had to wait almost 15 minutes for another one to arrive. We made it to MGM by 10:00 and met up with Mother who said it took her exactly 17 minutes to drive over the walking path.

We went through the entrance quickly and immediately headed down Sunset Boulevard towards the Tower of Terror (ToT). The Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster (RnRC) was down this morning so Michael and I got Fast Passes for later and then headed directly to the ToT. We rode three times in a row with no wait in between rides.

After our third ride, we went to meet up with Mother. It was now 11:00 and Michael decided that he was ready for his baked potato that he had been craving since Monday. I went to the Toluca Turkey Leg stand and was dismayed to find out that they don’t have baked potatoes anymore. I guess they had to get rid of the baked potatoes to make room for all of those turkey legs that they’re selling. The CM said she didn’t know of any counter service place at MGM that would have one, but one of the restaurants might. Thus began our great baked potato quest (although we should have named it “Mission: Impossible”). We first went to Hollywood & Vine only to discover that they didn’t open until dinnertime. We checked the menu for the ‘50’s Prime Time Café, but they didn’t serve baked potatoes, only mashed.

Next, we headed past the Back Lot Express which didn’t have baked potatoes, but did have a grilled turkey and cheese that sounded good to Michael. Mother went to order while Michael and I grabbed a quick trip on Star Tours.

We met Mother at the Back Lot Express at 11:45. She had ordered Michael a grilled turkey and cheese sandwich with fries and a Sprite and we split a Sesame Chicken Salad (with greens, chicken, mandarin oranges, and Chinese noodles) and a diet coke ($18.61). Both the sandwich and the salad were very good.

After lunch, we went back to the RnRC to see if it was up and running yet. It was not, so we had to obey the call of the Tower of Terror. Mother looked in the shops along Sunset Boulevard while Michael and I rode the ToT four more times! Michael and I amused ourselves by listening to the little safety speech (that you hear before you board your elevator) in Spanish. I swear that at one point the announcer says something about “insane tacos!” After our 4th trip (7th total for today) up and down the elevator, my throat was raw and bleeding from screaming, so we stopped and got a bottle of water ($2.50).

Mother was trying to find a souvenir for everyone in the family that we left behind and she needed my opinion on some items in the Villain shop. Michael didn’t want to shop so he asked if he could do the Tower of Terror by himself. When I replied that he could, he marched proudly down the street by himself with Mother and I watching after him for as long as we could see him. What a bittersweet moment: to proudly know that he is old enough for a little independence, but to realize that this is the beginning of the end of his dependence on us. Soon he’d be going off more and more on his own or with his friends. I think both of us got tears in our eyes as we watched him disappear into the distance. Okay, okay, I know it wasn’t like he was going off to college or getting married or going to war or anything like that, but it was a milestone nevertheless.

Mother and I finished our shopping and had the package sent to our room and then sat on a bench and waited for Michael who showed up shortly. When I asked him if he had a good ride he replied that he got to ride with a nice family who had never been on the Tower of Terror before. He said that he explained the whole ride to them. So, if you were that poor family who had to ride ToT with the running commentary from Michael, please accept my apologies!

We all decided that it was time to head back to the Beach Club so we made our way out of the park. There was a boat at the dock about to leave so I hurried to make it before they left. Michael had said that he was going to walk with Mother on the walking path, but when he saw that I was going to make the boat he got his Game Boy from Mother and ran to the dock to come with me. We both made it to the boat in time and, this time, Mother didn’t beat us back to the Beach Club by too much. In fact, we watched her drive alongside the boat until we had to dock at the Swan/Dolphin.

Back at the Beach Club, Michael went straight to our room while Mother and I stopped in the lounge for a diet coke and some snacks. Today they had cheesecake, cupcakes with Mickey Mouse sprinkles, sugar cookies, oatmeal cookies, chocolate chip cookies, chips & salsa, celery & carrots and ranch dressing, pretzels, goldfish crackers, gummi worms, pudding, and Uncrustables.

When we got back to the room, Michael was watching TV. I updated my notes while Mother rested. The day was hot and sunny and Michael and I decided to go swimming while Mother took a nap. We quickly changed into our swimming suits and went down to Stormalong Bay. There was a CM checking resort ID and issuing wristbands to the hotel guests. Michael and I got our wristbands, picked up some towels and hit the pool.

The water was perfect. Michael and I got in the whirlpool for a while and then he met a boy and they went off to build something with the sand. I stayed in until 4:00. There had been no tables available when we first arrived but one became available when I got out, so I took it.

Michael swam until about 4:30 at which time he came to our table and declared that he was starving. I left him to keep our table while I went to Hurricane Hannah’s for an order of chicken fingers and a refillable mug full of diet coke ($19.00).

By the time I got back with Michael’s chicken, Mother had joined us. We watched a very friendly squirrel run around under our feet looking for scraps while Michael ate. At 5:00 we went back upstairs.

Mother stopped in at the lounge while Michael and I went back to the room to change into our clothes. After we got out of our swimming suits, we went down to the lounge to meet Mother. Tonight they had a vegetable platter, pecan dip, bacon bit dip, marinated vegetables, several types of hummus and breads, several fruit and cheese platters with crackers, macaroni and cheese, and chicken ala king. Michael ate enough bread with butter (supplied by the concierge staff) to sink a battleship.

We went back to our room at 5:50 because Michael couldn’t hear the TV in the lounge (which was fairly full and quite lively tonight) and he kept turning the volume up too loud. Mother and I were ready to go to the Boardwalk, but Michael just had to watch the Weekenders (Michael’s new favorite show) at 6:00, so we didn’t get to leave until 6:30 when it was over. Actually, The Weekenders is a pretty cute show and we didn’t mind watching it with him. He’s been begging Mother to get the Disney channel at home now so he can watch it all the time.

We walked over to the Boardwalk, taking Michael’s Game Boy with us so he wouldn’t be bored with the shopping. He would stay outside with Mom’s ECV and play his Game Boy while Mother and I looked through the stores. I found Paula a pilgrim Mickey antenna topper for Thanksgiving that was too cute.

After a while, we ordered a corn dog each for Mother and me (Michael was still full from his bread and butter feast), a diet coke, and a Sprite for Michael ($11). I think the fact that they cook the corn dogs to order is what makes them so good. While we were waiting for our corn dogs, I went into Seashore Sweets to look for some more candy for Michael’s class at school. I found a bag of Mickey Mouse butter mints and some chocolate coins to put in the children’s goodie bags.

After we ate our corn dogs we looked in the bakery (just window shopping, we were too full to eat anything) and watched two of the chefs assembling some kind of huge gingerbread village. We then checked the pin cart (I was still looking for a Contemporary Resort pin because I have a pin from each of the resorts that I have stayed at), but didn’t find anything that we needed.

As we headed back to the Beach Club, Michael ran ahead of us so he could get to the room faster, while Mother and I came behind. We stopped in the lounge for desserts and found cheesecake, muffins, Rice Krispie treats, miniature sponge cakes filled with cream, miniature tiramisu, chocolate mousse tulips, cookies, Uncrustables, and gummi worms. Back in the room, I updated my trip report notes, Michael watched TV, and Mother played Game Boy until we all went to bed at 10:00.

Thursday, November 13, 2003

“What country is that Mission to Mars in?” or Trouble in Paradise

The Plan: breakfast at lounge, Epcot (Future World), lunch at Biergarten, swim, Downtown Disney

I was up and in the shower by 6:30 this morning, while Mother and Michael followed at 7:30. We went to the lounge for breakfast at 8:15. The lounge seemed more crowded today than yesterday. Maybe because we were there earlier.

We ate breakfast and then walked to the International Gateway at Epcot, arriving at 8:50. They didn’t open the gates until 8:55. We went through the turnstiles and headed straight for Mission: Space. Michael had been excited about riding Mission: Space since Paula and I came back from WDW in September and told him how neat the ride was. Mother stopped to get Michael and me Fast Passes for Test Track (TT) with a return time of 9:50-10:50, while Michael and I went ahead to Mission: Space.

There was no wait to speak of and Michael and I were quickly put into our briefing room. On this trip, Michael was the Commander and I was the Engineer. After the ride, Michael immediately wanted to go again. We stopped long enough to tell Mom that she could drive her ECV through the gift shop and into the Advanced Training Center where she could at least wait for us where there was air conditioning.

Michael and I looped back around to the entrance and were quickly assigned the rolls of Pilot (Michael) and Navigator (Me). After this ride, Michael and I stopped in the Advanced Training Center to meet up with Mom and to send video emails to his teacher and his mom and dad. I also sent an email to Paula. After we sent our postcards, Michael went to play Expedition: Mars (a joystick controlled video game in which you, as an astronaut, have to find and rescue other astronauts on the surface of Mars), and I went to play Space Race (a race between two teams of 30 from Mars to the Earth). Michael came and joined me right before the race started, so he and I shared a Mission Control terminal. Our team won, by the way, and the game was very fun. We also stopped in the gift shop because Michael decided he had to have the model of the X-2 Spacecraft. He bought the X-2 with almost the last of his birthday money and we had it sent to our room.

After we finished up in the Advanced Training Lab (at 10:30), we grabbed a Fast Pass for Mission: Space (11:12-12:12) and then went to Test Track to use our Fast Passes there. We breezed through with our Fast Passes and then headed to Ice Station Cool for our annual gag, I mean, *taste* of Beverly.

When Paula and I were at WDW in September, they had removed several flavors of soft drink and had not yet replaced them. This trip, the old flavors had been replaced by Fanta from Costa Rico and Lychee Yello from Thailand. They were both okay and Beverly was just as bad as we had remembered.

After Ice Station Cool, I took Mother to the Fountainview Café (my new favorite bakery from our September trip) so she could look at their pastry selection. We got a piece of coconut flan, a fruit croissant, and a diet coke ($9.45). Mother and I got one taste each of the coconut flan and then it was inhaled by Michael. Luckily, he had no interest in the fruit croissant, so we got to share that.

Michael did remind us, however, that he was still needing a baked potato. I had looked at my Passporter last night and found that there was supposedly a counter at the Sunshine Food Fair in The Land that sold baked potatoes. Ever hopeful that there was still a bastion of baked potatoes left in Walt Disney World, Mother and I walked over to The Land while Michael waited with Mom’s ECV and played his Game Boy behind the Fountainview Café. Mother wanted to walk for a little bit to stretch out her legs.

We arrived at The Land pavilion at 11:15. Mother waited outside while I went in to continue the potato quest. This was one of the first pavilions that we had ever visited on our first trip to Epcot. We had seen Food Rocks, ridden Living with the Land, and eaten at the Sunshine Food Fair. Michael had been almost four then and when we rode Living with the Land, he sang a song he had learned about vegetables that repeated the phrase “Brown Potatoes, Brown Potatoes, Brown Potatoes,” over and over again. Before the ride was over, he had the tour guide and the whole boat singing “Brown Potatoes, Brown Potatoes, Brown Potatoes!” Maybe that explains his affinity for baked potatoes to this day.

Surprisingly, I had not been back to The Land since that first trip. Nothing had changed, and I felt an almost uncontrollable urge to ride Living with the Land. I resisted, however, and continued my quest.

Eureka! A bacon and cheese baked potato for a mere $3.79! Feeling like I had just discovered America, I ordered one for Michael with no cheese ($4.04 with tax), picked up some butter, salt and pepper, and a fork, and went outside to share my victory with Mother. We triumphantly took the potato back to Michael, carrying it over our heads like a spoil of war

By the time he finished eating, the window for our Mission: Space Fast Pass was open (12:10) so we hurried back for another ride. Afterwards, Michael played the Expedition: Mars game in the Advanced Training Lab several times and we both played the Space Race again.

Mother and I were ready to make our way to the World Showcase so we headed towards Mexico. We stopped at the Greece food booth for a Baklava ($2.00) for Michael and a Spanakopita ($2.75) for Mother and I to share. The Spanakopita was a puff pastry triangle filled with spinach and feta cheese. I thought it was very good. Mother liked it but said it had too much spinach in it for her tastes.

We moved on to Mexico where Michael got his usual Quesadilla ($3.00) and Watermelon Water ($1.50) and Mother and I had the Taco al Carbon ($2.50). In Norway, we stopped for a rice cream ($1.00) while Michael played on the Viking ship for a while.

When we got to China we sampled the Dan Dan Noodles ($2.00), the Beijing Scallion Pancake ($3.00) and the Mango Mousse ($2.00). None of us really cared for the Dan Dan Noodles (except that I just like saying “Dan Dan,”), as they were served cold. Michael loved the mango mousse so much that he went back for another, and the Beijing Pancake was one of my favorites.

After Michael played with the puppets at the outdoor gift stand in China, we continued around the lagoon. Michael soon announced that he was tired and wanted to go back to the Beach Club. I stopped at the food booth in Italy for a Cannoli ($1.75), hoping that would perk him up, but it didn’t. I was wanting to see the American Adventure, but he balked at that idea. I was upset that we had done what Michael wanted to do all morning (okay, so it wasn’t like anyone had to twist my arm to ride Mission: Space three times), but he wouldn’t do the one thing that I wanted to do. Mother said that they would stay and watch it with me, but I was in somewhat of a snit by then and said that I didn’t even want to watch it with Mr. Whiny Baby (mature, I know) so we would just go back to the room.

Back at the Beach Club, Michael went straight to the room while Mother and I stopped in the lounge for diet cokes. Mother was delighted to find that the dessert for today was Flan (she ate so much flan last year that we accused her of being Flan-Happy!). I was still in a bad mood and wound up snapping at Mom for no reason. I apologized and we got back to the room at 3:00.

Our purchases from MGM the previous day had been placed in our room. Mother and Michael decided to take a nap (Michael must have really been tired because he never takes naps anymore). Before Mother went to sleep she said that, if I still wanted to go to Epcot, why didn't I go ahead while they rested. I updated my trip notes until 3:50 and then decided to strike out on my own. I left a note telling Mother and Michael where I had gone, and slipped out of the room.

I stopped in the gift shop at the Beach Club to check for a Contemporary Resort pin, but with no luck. I walked to the International Gateway to Epcot and crossed the bridge to France. In France I noticed that Impressions de France was starting at 4:30. I considered watching their movie, but when I picked up an entertainment guide, I discovered that American Vybe was scheduled to perform at 4:25, with the American Adventure starting at 4:40 so I decided to go there instead.

I made it to the American rotunda with a few minutes to spare. I watched the performance of American Vybe and then had a good cry at the American Adventure. I emerged feeling much better and in a good mood once again. I just love Epcot.

I continued my trek around the World Showcase and I stopped at the food booth in Italy to try a plate of the Baked Ziti Carbonara ($3.50), which I enjoyed very much. There’s just nothing like strolling around the World Showcase on a beautiful day. And, if you add some good food to eat on the way, then bonus.

I stopped at the Outpost (for a diet coke) where I overheard a grown man ask his party, “What country is that Mission to Mars in?” *Sigh* I didn’t even have the heart to try to explain it to him.

I made it to Canada in time for the 5:45 show by Off-Kilter, which was very enjoyable. I stopped to look in the gift stores in the UK where I found a book that I was wanting for one of my brother-in-laws. I figured that I had probably been gone too long by now, so I exited Epcot and walked back to the Beach Club.

I made it back by 6:20 and stopped in the lounge to see what offerings they had this evening. The first thing I saw was a huge pan of Mussels (not a favorite of mine), so I beat a hasty retreat to the room. Mother and Michael were both up and Michael was much perkier. He asked if I was feeling better now and I said that I certainly was. Mother and Michael had gone down to the lounge for a few snacks and were now ready to go again.

We debated what to do for the evening and finally decided on going *back* to Epcot for some fish and chips at the Yorkshire County Fish Shop in the UK. Mother was worried that I had already overdosed on Epcot today, but I assured her that that was impossible to do.

We walked to Epcot and entered through the International Gateway again. In the UK we got two orders of fish and chips (one for Michael and one for Mother and I to share) and a bottle of water ($15.90). We found a bench to sit on back by the shops. At 7:30, the British Invasion began their set and we got to enjoy their music while we ate (Well, except for Mother who has never been a big fan of the Beatles music. I believe she muttered something about the “ruination of rock and roll!”). If I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together, do you think they would mind giving us separate checks?

After we ate, Michael wanted to ride (shocker!) Mission: Space, so we headed there next. The stand-by line showed a 10 minute wait so we joined the queue. We quickly made it into the building, but the line stopped there and the CM’s made an announcement that the ride was having technical difficulties.

I quickly discovered that I can make myself amazingly ill if I watch the gravity wheel for any length of time. Bleeh! I am also amazed at the number of older folks that I see waiting to ride Mission: Space. Maybe since it’s a thrill ride that doesn’t go upside down or jerk you around, more seniors are open to riding it?

After about a 10 minute wait, we were loaded into the Gold Team briefing room. We watched the film with Gary Sinese (and my new favorite part: “You’re probably feeling a little nervous right now, but don’t worry. Every astronaut has felt that way at one time or another. Even the heroes that went to the moon.” It gives me chills every time I hear it). And then…nothing. Apparently, the ride went down again. We waited for several minutes in the briefing room until a CM opened the loading door to give us some air. All signs were indicating that our launch was going to be scrubbed.

Michael and I stuck around until 8:35 and then decided to bale out. Michael was wanting another Quesadilla from Mexico and we were afraid that we wouldn’t have time to get one for him before the park closed at 9:00. I’m not sure if they ever got the ride back up that evening or not.

We took the path by the Odyssey Center and entered the World Showcase right between the food booths for Greece and Mexico. This worked perfectly for Michael who was wanting another Baklava and Quesadilla. As we were getting his food, we heard the 15 minute announcement for Illuminations. Mother didn’t want to try to navigate her ECV around the World Showcase after they dimmed the lights for Illuminations, so Michael quickly ate and we hurriedly continued around the lagoon to the International Gateway.

We made it out of Epcot and had almost reached the Beach Club before Illuminations started. We turned around to watch a few of the high fireworks and then continued back to our room.

We stopped by the lounge for diet cokes and some dessert. New this evening were the flan, of course, plus German chocolate cake, and some fresh fruit and custard tarts, plus the other usual assortment.

We went back to the room and watched TV while we ate our dessert and I updated my trip report notes. The weather forecast said it would be colder tomorrow. We all went to bed around 11:00.

Friday, November 14, 2003

“Be careful boys, someone’s Grandma is in here now” or Everybody loves to Sha Cha Cha

The Plan: breakfast at Cape May, Typhoon Lagoon or Epcot, dinner at Epcot (Food & Wine Festival)

We were all up at 7:00 this morning. We were dressed and at the lounge for breakfast by 8:15, and were at Epcot promptly at 9:00. As was our habit now, we made a beeline for Mission: Space, stopping along the way for Fast Passes for Test Track (10:03-11:03).

There were no technical difficulties this morning and we were quickly on the ride. As usual, we stopped in the Advanced Training Center to meet up with Mom. Michael headed straight for the Expedition: Mars, while I lined up to be an astronaut for the Space Race. Being an astronaut is a lot more nerve racking than being in Mission Control. Michael saw me being an astronaut, so he wanted his turn as one next. He was an astronaut for the next race and I stepped back down to Mission Control.

At 10:30 we went over to Test Track to use our Fast Passes. Does anyone else think that that “Bill”(?) guy in the pre-show is a tad too smug for his own good, or have I just ridden this too many times this trip? Maybe he just pales in comparison to Gary Sinese.

After our ride, the World Showcase was about to open so we headed around by the Odyssey Center again, stopping for a bathroom break, and then continued on to the World Showcase. At the Odyssey Center, Mother wanted to walk for a while to un-stiffen her legs, so I drove her ECV.

We stopped at Mexico for Michael’s one-millionth Quesadilla and Watermelon Water for this trip. I swear that kid is half Mexican! (Okay, now I’m cracking *myself* up! Just to let you in on the joke, my brother-in-law Lemuel (Michael’s dad) really is from Mexico. So, when I say Michael is half Mexican, he is. Isn’t that the funniest thing ever? No? Well, maybe you had to be there.)

At the food booth, we noticed several groups of high school kids who were out of school for the day to come to Epcot. They had lists of the food booths and each group had to try something new at each of the booths. What a fun (although not inexpensive) school project!

As we made our way through Norway, Mother spotted someone eating a Kringle (a sweet pretzel covered in icing and almonds). I told her that I had tried one on a previous trip and that they were very good. She decided to step into the Kringla Bakeri og Café and pick one up while Michael waited on a bench for us and I went on to China to get another Beijing Scallion Pancake for me and a mango mousse for Michael.

At the food booth, the CM talked me into trying the Chicken Sha Cha ($3.50) also. I went back to Norway and we all tried our food. The Chicken Sha Cha was really good. In fact, we liked it so much that Michael went back for more. He told the CM how much he like the chicken and the CM gave him two skewers of meat instead of one. Mother was also impressed with the Kringle.

We continued on our way, stopping at the Outpost so Michael could play on the drums for a while. We were all thirsty, but the drink counter was not open yet. We continued on to Germany where we got a large diet coke for me and Mother and a small Sprite for Michael ($4.36) at the Sommerfest. I also stopped at the Teddy Bear shop and bought a small Steiff animal that I had been wanting.

We were too full to get any Baked Ziti Carbonara in Italy, so we continued on to America where Mother and Michael were determined to see the American Adventure with me. I told them that they really didn’t have to if they didn’t want to since I had seen it yesterday, but Mother assured me that she really did want to see it.

It was 12:10 and the next show was scheduled to start at 12:30, so we looked around the rotunda for a few minutes before a CM came over and asked us if we were going to watch the show. The CM took us upstairs in the elevator (for Mom’s ECV) and then I took Mother and Michael over to show them the hall of flags. They agreed that the flags were lovely and very impressive.

It was now time for the show and a CM got us (and several other guests in ECV’s and wheelchairs) settled with Mom’s ECV. Mother liked the show but I think Michael thought it was too much like studying history in school. I got another good therapeutic cry. (See, just look at the money these trips to WDW are saving me in therapy bills alone! I knew these trips were cost effective.)

After the American Adventure, we stopped at the Champagne and Sparkling Wine food booth for a sample of white chocolate mousse ($1.25). By the time we made it around to Japan, Michael was ready to go back to the Beach Club. We sent him on ahead with his room key and instructions to go to either the room or the lounge, and then watched him disappear without us for the second time this trip (I hate to say “I told you so,” but I did just mention that Michael would be going off by himself more often now.). It’s nice to know that we’ve been here so often that he’s okay with getting around on his own.

When Mother and I got to France I decided to see when the next showing of Impressions de France would be (since Mother had never seen it). As it turns out, the next show was in less than five minutes, so we went inside and watched the film. Mother enjoyed the show except for some of the aerial shots. Afterwards, Mother said that’s why she can’t ride Mission: Space, she gets woozy just watching a film of France!

We stopped at the food booth in France to sample the Goat Cheese and Tomato Tart ($3.50) and Crème Brulee ($1.75) (both were quite tasty), then we leisurely made our way back to the Beach Club. We stopped in the lounge to pick up some diet cokes and were back in our room by 2:30.

Michael’s X-2 Spacecraft had arrived from package delivery. It took us a long time just to get it out of the box so Michael could play with it. I don’t know about the toy, but I’m pretty sure that at least the packaging is made out of the same material as the space shuttle. We did discover that, if you push the button for lift-off, the X-2 can double as a fairly decent back massager.

I updated my trip notes until about 3:30. The day had started off cooler, but had warmed up into a gorgeous afternoon, so I decided I wanted to go swimming. Michael was up for a swim and even Mother said she would put her swimming suit on and go also. We grabbed our refillable mug, stopped at the lounge to fill up some cups with goldfish crackers, pretzels, and chips & salsa, and picked up some cookies. Michael had some pudding while he waited for us.

When we got to Stormalong Bay we picked out a table and then headed for the water. Yikes! I guess the cooler temperatures overnight had really cooled the water down also. At the risk of causing our hearts to immediately stop, we plunged into the icy deep anyway. Okay, so it wasn’t like there were glaciers floating in the water, but it was considerably cooler than when we swam on Wednesday!

This was Mom’s first time to swim at Stormalong Bay, so we headed through the Rising Sands section and made our way over to show her the whirlpool. Now I think the whirlpool is great fun, but it can be rather intimidating when there are lots of kids swirling around in it. I’m always afraid that I’ll accidentally smack into a small child and cause them to drown. Somehow though, no one ever seems to run into anyone else.

Mother and I were the only adults in the whirlpool area except for another lady whom we struck up a conversation with. “Be careful boys,” she warned the kids when she saw Mother, “There’s someone’s Grandma in here now!” She remarked that she had only been in the whirlpool for a few minutes and she had already had so many stray arms and feet hit her stomach and rear end that she felt like she had been to see her gynecologist! She also said that she worried about what her thighs and read end looked like underwater with all the strong whirlpool jets hitting them. Great. Now I have *that* mental picture to haunt me. We decided it must look like when you dry your hands under the “Feel the Power” air dryers in the bathrooms at the Animal Kingdom. Ewwww!

After a while, Mom and I got out and made our way to our table. I took our mug to Beaches and Cream for some diet coke and we snacked on the food we had brought down from the lounge. We decided to go see Fantasmic tonight so we made Michael get out at 4:45 and then went back to our room to change into our clothes. I stopped by the concierge desk and made a Priority Seating for us at the Cape May Café for 8:30, figuring that would give us plenty of time to make it back to the Beach Club (since Fantasmic was at 7:00).

Michael was the first one dressed so he went to the lounge for some bread and butter (odd, I know) while Mom and I finished dressing. Mother got her ECV and we met Michael in the lounge. They had barbecue tonight, so I got some in a disposable bowl for us to try on our way. We left for MGM at 5:30.

The boat was just pulling up to the dock as we walked up, so Michael and I took the boat and Mom t