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Suzanne Reardon-Mulhall -- February 2003 -- Walt Disney World (ASMuR)This is Suzanne's second trip report for MousePlanet, here is her first: Cast:
Special Guest Star
Saturday, February 8th Well, we didn’t get started too early. I had to pack and go pick up the rental vehicle from the airport. One of my cast members was kind enough to let me leave my car at her place and drive me down to Dulles for the car. My kids adore Miss Barb and so we ended up spending about an hour at her house before picking up the car. I also had to stop by my store to pick up my refrigerated cooler for the trip, as I’d forgotten to bring it home the previous night. My cell phone rang just as I parked in the mall parking lot. I gave Ed an update on the situation, and he set about packing up his stuff, adding to the stuff I’d prepared for him. I got home around 4 pm and the packing frenzy went into full swing. We wasted an hour looking for our second FRS! Ed and I got them as Christmas gifts (we had a completely WDW Christmas) and the kids took great delight in carrying them around the house. As a result, we could find one, but not the other. The unsuccessful search for the walkie-talkie did find our cordless phone. We lost it when we last went to FL (It was off the base for the 10 days we were gone, and thus, we couldn’t use the locator feature!). So, if our luck holds, we’ll lose something before our next trip and in the effort to find it, we will find the FRS! We left at 7pm, two hours later than originally planned. We drive the planned seven hours and get to South Carolina exit 135 and stay at Knights Inn for 38.50. Already it’s much warmer than back in Maryland! The beds are way too soft for our liking, but we’re tired, so they will have to do. Sunday, February 9th We always start our trip to Florida with a trip to my mom and stepdads. They retired to Florida four years ago, and they moved away from a beach to (surprise) another beach. Neil woke at 6am (he slept through dinner the night before). We hit the road by 9:30am and get breakfast at McDonald’s. We encounter sporadic rain throughout the day and have to make two roadside breaks for sick kids (don’t know what happened there). We stopped just north of the Florida border for restroom breaks and saw some NASCAR Busch haulers on their way to Daytona. Bummer-the battery for the digital camera is dead; other cameras are in the trunk, so we don’t get pictures. We cross the Florida border at 1:30 pm, the first time we’ve ever done this when it is raining! We cross I-10 and down Highway 301 and the trip is uneventful. Then onto I75 with the requisite stop at the Ocala Visitor’s center. This time, we remember to use the coupon in the back of the Birnbaum book and receive the free gift. We go through the gift shop for our first Disney purchases-postcards for the boys to send to school, pins, and a toy for each of the boys. Back on the road, through some more rain squalls. As usual, we see quite a few wrecks and wonder if it’s because Florida residents aren’t so comfortable driving in the rain. I plead sleep deprivation when I got off two exits early for Mom’s (I’m a walking OnStar, no joke). We get to Mom’s at 6:15. She made one of my favorite meals, we give Mom and Bill their presents and head out for the hotel around 10:00. We’d stayed at the Bayview on our last trip and we’re very happy with the efficiency we got, and this time was even better. The owners remembered us, and we got an efficiency that was bigger than many of my friend’s New York apartments! We unload for the night and sleep soundly in the very comfortable (firm) beds. Monday, February 10th We slowly get up, Ed around 7, Neil soon after. We get ready to go, then get Kevin up at 9. We check out, but not before telling the proprietor how much we loved the room and tell them the place looks great. They’d just bought the Bayview last year and were busy renovating when we were here last June. We head down to St. Pete Beach for breakfast at the Hurricane. The kids remember the last trip here and ask if we’re going to see the Lion cub. On Father’s day last year, the local animal rescue was here with a jaguar, leopard and a lioness and her cub. We enjoy another delicious meal here, then head to Mom’s for a few hours, and get on the road at 12:30. We arrive at our exit at 1:45 and decide to go to the Super Wal Mart first to get some commestables. The place is packed like the mall at Christmas. A migraine strikes and I find that the new medication my doctor prescribed works in a few minutes. We see the wonderful purple signs at 3:30 and I immediately call Donna’s cell phone to check where she is. She’s a few seconds behind us at the light at McDonald’s and we have a reunion in the Music parking lot. Smart travel agent that she is, she booked her reservation as “traveling with Reardon-Mulhall”, so we check in together and then receive rooms next to each other in Jazz (2463 and 2464). We’re facing the fountain. I walk the boys to the room while Ed and Donna move the cars around. Kevin asks me “Is this Disney World?” pointing to the Calypso building. “It’s ALL Disney World” is my reply, which makes him very happy and people nearby laugh. Once we are in the rooms, we decide that dinner at the Boardwalk sounds good. We drive over. It is a georgeous night and we enjoy the rocking chairs and courting chairs on the balcony before finding dinner. We decide to try Big River and head that way. Inside seating is our choice, and find the seating is not designed for kids who refuse to sit on their tushes. Kevin takes a spill off of the high stool. Fortunately, he’s not injured-just his pride. Because I’d mentioned Beaches and Cream as a dinner option, I had burgers on the brain. We start by getting a beer each-I tried Tilt, I can’t recall what Donna had and Ed had Sweet Magnolia. We all shared around. Dinner was Meatloaf for Donna and Ed, a burger for me, Neil had Macs and Cheese and Kevin had a Hot Dog. The meals were fantastic. We skip dessert because our friend Joyce recommened Seashore Sweets for ice cream. We’re full from the great dinner and walk some if it off. We browse in Threads and come outside to find Randy the famous juggler (due to all those mentions in Sherry’s trip reports!). I can see why he’s a hit, although my spirited boys get an admonition of “no more sugar for them” before they even got any sugar! We walk down to ESPN, then head back to the center of the Boardwalk. Potty breaks for some of us and I take the opportunity to look at Boardwalk’s very cool pool. It is now ice cream time, although Kevin opts for a gummy gator (note: he was still eating that thing weeks later). By this time, Randy is setting up for another performance. Neil really gets involved in this and probably was driving Randy crazy- until the fire was introduced. Neil walked off and sat on a bench away from the action. After the show, we again check out the rocking chairs for a while. It is definitely worth stopping for a relaxing stroll at the boardwalk if you make sure you see Randy’s performance. We head back to the ASMu. Donna realizes she needs toothpaste and she and I head over to the gift shop. I run into my favorite guests from my store while shopping. I knew that Chuck and Helen would be at WDW at the same time, but we never talked about where we’d be staying. I try calling Ed on the FRS but no luck (they don’t work inside Melody Hall, apparently). We pack it in soon after returning to the rooms, as we’ve got an early date with Chef Mickey. Tuesday, February 11th Oy, 6:00 am is too early to get up! We drive over to the Contemporary, where we are checked against a list to park. Once checked at the restaurant, Kevin is a little shy with Goofy, but is more his usual self when we take him during a potty break. We have our picture taken, which we buy and debate whether the “Universal Studios” on Donna’s sweatshirt was digitally altered! It wasn’t, it was just hidden by Kevin’s head. Ed and I have breakfasted here before, but this is normally a dinner destination. We didn’t know that “Celebrate” happens during breakfast, too. The food is plentiful: Cheesy hash browns, sausage roulade, biscuits and gravy, salmon and a couple of egg frittata type dishes. We get our fill and head out just past 9am and make our way to the Animal Kingdom At the entrance, we meet with Terk and Baloo and give the boys their disposable cameras. We head over to the Safari first, and the perfect weather results in seeing more animals than we have ever seen-we’re convinced we saw them all. We also see Little Red at the end. It’s potty breaks and then a trip to Rafiki’s planet watch. Donna has an encounter with the talking trash can that was quite humorous. She said she was lonely during her conversation and the can tried to get her some new friends out of the large crowd that had gathered. Our shutterbugs made sure that they recorded the can for posterity. I half expected the can to spit out the items we had put inside. The Conservation Station was great. We met Rafiki and spent a decent amount of time exploring the building. Once outside, we enter the Affection Section where Kevin really enjoys his camera. When the rolls were developed we discovered that he is preparing for a career-Kevin Mulhall, pet proctologist. He took pictures of not one, but two goats butts. After getting and giving some affection to our four legged friends, we find Pocahontas and Jane Porter. The autograph book is getting a lot of autographs from characters we’d never seen before. It once again is great to get face characters, because Neil gets to talk to them. Once back to Harambe (didn’t the train go back and forth on the track at one time instead of a circle?), we decide to head over the FotLK. We are lured to the DVC booth across from Pizzafari and meet Bob. Bob talks with us a bit about the DVC and we end up making an appointment to tour the models the next morning. At this point, Neil is adamant that he wants to go to Dinoland and the Boneyard, so we scrub FotLK and head over, stopping for lunch at Flame Tree first. Once in Dinoland, we first do the Triceratops Spin then let the boys run loose in the Boneyard. The beauty of the Boneyard is that there is only one exit, so Ed and Donna plant themselves on a bench at the exit while I walk around. It’s a lost cause trying to keep an eye on the boys. It is amazing the difference eight months makes, as Kevin is now fearless and climbs the rope ladders to the top of the structure, and goes down all the slides. After giving the boys almost an hour of playtime, we decide to go explore elsewhere in the park. Neil has a meltdown because he’d rather stay there all day. We leave the park and back to the hotel. Kevin falls asleep on the drive back and we insist that Neil lay down and close his eyes, too. We all end up napping. Two hours later, the phone rings. I’d left a message on Chuck’s phone about a cast member litho I had picked up. I bring it by their room while Ed and the boys continue to sleep. After visiting with Chuck and Helen for a bit, I head back to the room. Ed’s not feeling too good and the boys are still sleeping (probably for the night), so Donna and I decide to go pick up some things at Wal Mart and head to the Fridays on 192 for a late dinner. The people at the table next to us hear us talking about Long Island and we find out they are from Long Island, as well as our server! Donna and I spend a few hours catching up. Once back in our rooms, I find that Ed is awake. We are up for about two hours with Neil, while I catch up on writing the trip report (no laptop yet.) 2/12/03 Wednesday We are up at 7 to meet Donna for breakfast at the Food Court. We meet with Don, our DVC escort and head over to the Boardwalk. Edwin gives us a DVC presentation, while the boys play in the playroom. We are all drooling at the idea and Donna offers to stay with us when we buy in, but we can’t afford it right now. If we’d had the money, we would be DVC members. We even would join if we were Florida residents. After our presentation, we head back to ASMu to see Donna off. We go to Epcot in the car, only the second time I’ve been there by car. We park extremely close (7 or 8 rows back) and walk in, rather than wait for the tram. We hurry through the bag check, gate and stroller acquisition, then walk onto Spaceship Earth, where Neil and I notice another hidden Mickey (just before the painter with the fruit). Afterwards we play in the Global Village for a bit. This is not something that we do every trip, but once in a while it can be fun. Next, the gravitational pull of the Art of Disney draws us in and we browse for a while. We spend some time in Innoventions and try out a few exhibits. Fortunately, we didn’t go into the home entertainment show, otherwise, I think some more money we don’t have would be earmarked for what is displayed. An hour later, three of us want some snacks, so we head to the Electric Umbrella for a burger, chicken strips and a hot dog. Neil sits out the meal. A peek at Mission Space is next, and we take a few pictures (I’m finally writing this after riding it two days ago—most awesome, and the hype is justified!). Test Track time. Neil and I go first (64.8mph), using the GAC, then Ed solos (66.2mph). Refreshment is in order, and we make our way to Ice Station Cool. I suckered Neil into trying Beverly (what a horrible Mom I am!) and we all ingest large quantities of the Smart Watermelon. I only wish that were available here in the states. Figment is calling; so we head over to JIYI-we have the entire ride vehicle to ourselves. We walk over to the Living Seas and watch the Manatees have their meal. Next, we view the various tanks. A tour is diving and one of the divers sneaks up on Neil and is face to face. It was fun to see the reaction! They play patty cake. Kevin enjoys the fishies. It was cool to watch the dive session. Onto the Land, where we ride “Living with the Land” and dine at the Garden Grill. The meal is great, as usual and we get quite a bit of character interaction. We are puzzled by the activity at the next table. The gentleman made a big fuss with the server about the food and price. Ultimately, they were given what they’d eaten for free and left. I think the signs outside the restaurant are pretty clear about what is served and the cost for the meal. Even without the character interaction, the prices are very reasonable for WDW. Chip noticed my Cast ID on the table when I was away and apparently ‘asked’ Ed where I worked. When I came back, he and Mickey were trying to talk to me about that. I told them I wanted to work at WDW and got laughs at what I department I want to work in. It was a fun interaction. After our meal, the goal was to go see Tapestry of Dreams, but it probably was half over by that time. Instead, we decide to park ourselves for IllumiNations. We use the GAC to be in the handicapped area-Neil and crowds can be very bad. The boys get to let off a little steam in the roped off area and charm the CM’s. They each end up getting bead bracelets from the CM’s. The digital camera was out of commission tonight, but we got some great shots with the regular camera. IllumiNations is our favorite show at WDW, and tonights show was fantastic, as usual. We head back to the car and are in our room in less than 15 minutes. 2/13/03 Thursday This is a no alarm morning and we get up at 8am. We’re out by 9:30 and make some stops at Central Casting, Team Disney and the Disney University. We then park at the TTC and go into MK, the first time I’ve done this since ’84. Trust me, unless you’re there in extremely low volume times, it is far better to take those buses to MK. We get a decent parking place and enter the gates at 11:30. We head into Expo Hall and take some pictures (no characters about except Cruella). We are all hungry, so we head over to Liberty Tree Tavern. It’s nuveau cuisine. We have a Louisiana Purchase (stew) and Vermont Boys (pork chops). The food is delicious, but it’s the first sit down meal on WDW property that I have eaten everything in front of me and walked out hungry! This was even with an appetizer. We head over to Splash, and true to its name, we get SPLASHED! We then head over to Pirates, to ensure we don’t miss it this time (see last trip report—we’re still amazed that we missed a favorite). We line up for the parade, which we have not seen in three trips during the “100 Years” celebration. The boys use up the second set of disposable cameras on the parade…and got some impressive pictures. It is a nice, enjoyable parade and was time well spent. Afterwards, we head over to the Tiki Room (I wish I’d seen the original) and Magic Carpets of Aladdin, where we encounder a second problem with the GAC. After getting off the Carpet, we have a Dole Whip break, then head over to City Hall (but it’s Tony’s TOWN square?) and get an important line added to the GAC, which eliminates the issues we had previously. Once completed, we go into the Art of Disney and I pick up two Davy Crockett Treasures Boxes for co-workers. Ironically, one I bought in my store is numbered less than 40 away from one that was picked up in Orlando. We have these sent to our room, then walk back up Main Street and into Tomorrowland. We were about to head onto the TTA, but notice that the Carousel of Progress is OPEN! We hurry over and get in. The CM psyches me. She said COP had been down for a while there may be some technical problems and please look under your seats for the 3D glasses. I looked. As usual, the ride breaks during one of the transfers, but it is still very enjoyable. Now, back to our originally scheduled tour on the TTA. Buzz is closed for a rehab, so we figured we could get a peek by taking a ride on the TTA, but no such luck. The windows are draped. Upon exiting we meet up with Jim Hawkins and Ben from Treasure Planet (‘look mom, it’s the stupid Ben’ from one of the boys.) We then go for a spin on the Astro Orbiters and Kevin gets the controls from me. The next stop is the Speedway, where we’re successful in pleasing both boys and get two blue cars. Kevin lets me drive and proceeds to become a backseat driver (go faster, Mommy, turn that way!). He then yells back at Ed and Neil behind us (Ha ha, we’re going faster than you! We’re winning!) The next stop is Space Mountain, which only Neil and I ride this time. Fortunately, he’s satisfied with one ride. At this point, my notes run out, so I am now relying on the copious pictures taken with the digital camera to help me recall our adventures. We head over to Toontown to meet up with the characters, but decide the wait in the mayor’s tent is just too long for us to stand with two jumpy kids. We take a spin on the Barnstormer, and spy Max and Goofy below when we ride, but they have left by the time we exit the ride. We get some snacks to tide us over until dinnertime and camp out in the Rose Garden, right underneath Tinkerbell’s path for the fireworks. The fireworks were enjoyed by all, and I got the hang of the fireworks setting three pictures from the end! Now, we join the departing masses, and take a ferry ride back over to the TTC. We drive back to the All Star and eat dinner in the food court and return to our room for swimsuits. There is something totally satisfying about a swim at night in a pool in February! Back to the room for some sleep. 2/14/03 Friday We have another no alarm morning. We get up and snack in the room and have difficulty getting a move on. We head over to the Studios in the car, and arrive around 10:30. The boys are a little dissapointed that Stitch isn’t there to greet them this time. There was a huge inflatible Stitch there for the movie opening when we visited last June. We head into the park and stop at the camera shop for a new compact flash card. I’d inadvertently put the camera setting onto ‘fine’, so I wasn’t getting as many pictures as we’d like. Now that I’ve loaded the pictures onto the computer (and laptop we now have), it’s really hard to tell the difference between the pictures that were taken at the regular setting and the ‘fine’ pictures. Oh well, live and learn. After purchasing the card (not cheap, I got a 32mb card for the same price as the 64mb card purchased at WalMart), we head to the hat for some pin purchases. I’d asked my coworkers for merchandise requests and had a long pin list. I got myself a LE “Jungle Book 2 pin”-we have a habit of being at the park when a movie opens. Once our purchase is completed, we decide that lunch is in order. We go to one of our favorite character meals at Hollywood and Vine. They’re about to switch from breakfast to lunch, so we’re able to get a little bit of both. Both boys get waffles, Neil some eggs and Ed a bagel with lox off the breakfast menu. The character interaction is fantastic. It usually is, and I was very disheartened to hear that H&V no longer has a character meal. We love the food, so we’ll go back, but seeing Chip, Dale, Minnie, Goofy and Pluto here will be missed. And now, for something completely different, we decide to go to Indy. The boys are now old enough, in our opinion, to sit through all the pre show stuff. We didn’t think the show itself would be a problem, but when audience members are selected to go onstage, it can take a while. Fortunately, we gauged things right. Well-fed children sit still (okay, reasonably still) for the preshow and really get into the show itself. Ed and I spotted the ringer before he was revealed to the audience. After the show, we head past Star Tours, not even going to attempt it with Neil. He freaks out about it, and we don’t have any idea why-he has yet to ride it. He has no problem with Tower of Terror for some reason. We are on our way to Al’s Toy Barn and find Jessie as well as Buzz and Woody. We get our pictures after a pleasant wait in the 75-degree sunshine. We go down New York Avenue and get pictures of the Army Guys and Mulan at Washington Square. We cut through the playground and go to the Backstage Tour. We get into line and a CM notices the GAC peeking out of my lanyard. She asks about it and we explain why we have it. She then takes us through a door and out to the water set and has us join the audience already watching. I’m thinking many kids with those cards have trouble with waiting, since she was on the lookout for it and did this without even looking at the GAC. The last time I saw this, Ed and I were on our honeymoon, and I was a volunteer. I got doused then. The show has changed a bit, but someone did get doused! We ride into Catastrophe Canyon and notice that some of the vehicles have been moved around. I’m on the left side of the tram and get slightly wet from the canyon. We head down to the Animator’s tour and Playhouse Disney. We were going to do the tour first, but see that they are letting people in for Playhouse, so we hurry across to that instead. We get the back left, with noone behind us. This is good, because the boys can stand up. We do the animator’s tour and were surprised that they didn’t animate someone from “Jungle Book 2”, as it has opened today. Instead, our animator does Mickey. We get a peek at storyboards and info about “Brother Bear”, but the boards had a different title. Apparently, they’d changed the title that week. After the tour, we head into Art of Disney. I ask to see a former coworker of mine who now works there and find she is off Friday and Saturday. I’d emailed her before leaving for Florida, but she sent an email back the day after I left. We go through “One Man’ Dream” and enjoy viewing all the exhibits. The first time we viewed it, no one was allowed to take pictures, so this time is pleasant, I get a few pictures. We leave the park and get ready for dinner at ‘Ohana. We went to ‘Ohana spur of the moment on our last trip and enjoyed it so much that we think it will now be a stop on every trip. Even the boys like it. Ed and I get some lovely beverages while we wait for our table. We’re seated in the back of the room this time, not near the windows, but that’s okay, as the fireworks aren’t set to go while we’re there. We begin having troubles with Neil, and he’s saying he’s not hungry, doesn’t want to eat, etc. Both boys participate in the games and get gummy worms. We drive over to Downtown Disney and learn a valuable lesson the hard way. We park over by World of Disney, then walk over to the other side to Virgin Megastore. We spent an hour browsing, and Kevin decided to ‘read’ a book to a boy sitting at a table with him. Very cute and the older boy was very obliging. We take the path around PI and head into the Lego store. Each boy is allowed to pick out a toy. They get the Lego magazine and Kevin kept talking about “Pepperoni” the previous few months, we had no idea what he was talking about. We found out he was a Lego character. Kevin’s toy had Pepperoni in it. Neil got another Harry Potter set. We go into World of Disney, and the visit is cut short by Neil’s behavior. I think we were in there less than 10 minutes. Outside, I notice a new store (Basin), but don’t get the chance to see what items they have. Then we head over to Once Upon a Toy and endure a force 10 meltdown from Neil. We take him outside and head back to the hotel. The lesson learned is don’t shop with the kids, at the very least, don’t drag them through a store they find boring (Virgin) for an hour and not expect them to freak. If they go with us, we’ll divy up short trips to Downtown as opposed to a long visit towards the end of our stay. Saturday, February 15 I’d like to get a chance to do this day over. We drove over to the TTC and took the Monorail to MK, all the while Neil freaking out (I think over transportation, but I truly have blocked it out). We get to the security checkpoint and he continues to yell, scream and carry on. We decide that there is no way he’s going into the park. We go to leave, and he decides he’s not budging. He is dragged up the monorail ramp where I take him to a corner to calm him down…not happening. He is perserverating on what he wants and can’t get out of it. I notice plainclothes security coming up the ramp and they stay to observe us while I spend about 20 minutes talking to Neil. He hasn’t calmed down, so back to the hotel we go. He spends the day in the room with Ed. Kevin and I go do the laundry and spend quite a bit of time in the pool while doing the wash. Neil sleeps at some point. At about 5:30, Ed sends me out to Epcot with Kevin. . I’d wanted to see Tapestry, because it’s going away in a few weeks. Neil still hasn’t gotten a grip on his behavior, and we don’t want to reward him by going to the park. Kevin and I get through the gates at about 6:45. It’s President’ day weekend and the crowds are out, so it takes a while to get through the bag check. ToD is going on across the showcase and we try to get up there quickly, but no luck. We walk around for a bit and then camp out just outside the parade starting point. The parade starts and Kevin is entranced. The combination of the drums and the colorful puppets keeps him fascinated. I’m enjoying, too and taking lots of pictures, all while singing along (the cd is in constant play at home). The performers are enjoying all the positive audience response, and it is a sight to enjoy. I am glad we got the chance to see it, and enjoyed the time alone with my little guy. We did some shopping in Mousegears and he found a new favorite candy, sour gummy worms. Back to the room, where Neil is asleep. Ed and I talk about the events of the day. He’s disappointed that he didn’t get to experience the parade and that we ‘wasted’ a day, but I think it taught Neil a lesson that he’s not going to get away with meltdowns just because we’re on vacation. We decide that future trip are going to include one on one time with each child, which will cut down on the drama. Sunday, February 16 Today is check out day. I have to close at my store Monday night, so its back to the land of reality. Wrong! In looking at the Weather Channel, we find that there’s a major blizzard going on. I call my boss and am ordered to stay in Florida. She doubts the mall will be open today or tomorrow, and tells me to enjoy the Florida sun. I’m doubtful, this is the same mall that didn’t plow 6” of snow in December and still expected the stores to open at 8am! I am scheduled off for Tuesday, so this puts us in the pleasant position of not having to get home until Tuesday night. After assuring me that my shift would be covered, we go over to Cinema Hall to see about getting a room over there (we did express checkout, so we didn’t think we could get another room at Music). No luck, but they continued our reservation at Music and kept us in the same room. That was nice-I was expecting to pay peak rates, but a continuation kept us at Value rates. We bring the bags we need back into the room, along with the fridge and decide to try going to the Magic Kingdom. Like yesterday, its picture perfect with temperatures in the 80’s. We drive over and park pretty far back. Okay, it is a holiday weekend. We walk up Main Street and stop for pictures at the Partners statue. Then we walk through the Castle, which I don’t ever recall doing before. The mosaics are beautiful. On to the carousel, and Neil is quite content today and enjoying the day. We then do Peter Pan’s Flight and It’s a Small World in rapid succession. We go over to the wishing well where we’d met Snow White last trip and find Dopey. We get several great shots (Mema’s favorite is Dopey, so we had a 5x7 made of one of them for her) of both boys. It’s great fun to show those pictures off and say, “yeah, while 30” of snow was dumped in our front yard, we were here”. Back through Fantasyland we go, and we ride Dumbo and Pooh. We head over to the teacups, where there is no success in getting rid of my vertigo. Indy speedway is the next stop and Kevin keeps the comments to himself this time! It starts to rain while we’re on it, but we’re still enjoying our ride. Space Mountain and two trips for Neil, one with each parent. We also ride the Astro Orbiters and TTA. Buzz is opened from Rehab, so we help protect the Gamma quadrant from the evil emperor Zurg. I don’t remember all the scores, but I think this is the trip where I got over 300,000 points. It’s at this point that we decide to head over to Epcot. Neil first decides he wants Test Track, then changes his mind once over there. We head over to JIYI, and that’s a no go as well. The kids get to experience the talking water fountain. We decide to ride Spaceship Earth, and are successful in finally getting on something. We then decide it is time to eat, and head around the world showcase. Dinner is at another favorite, the Biergarten. Both kids get up to dance this time, and we all enjoy the food. This time I was smart and got a lot of the pork loin before it ran out. It is now after 8 and we figure it is a good idea to camp out for IllumiNations. We stay right there in Germany and have a great spot. Thanks to the practice during Fantasy in the Sky I realized that the fireworks setting leaves the shutter on the camera open for 2 or 3 seconds. As I know the music to IllumiNations so well, I’m able to time my shots and get some great pictures. We take our time heading out of the park, Ed and I singing along with the after show music while pushing the strollers. We hop onto the monorail and get back to our car and drive back to the room. 2/17/03 Monday Now we have to make a decision, do we stay in Florida one more day, or do we make our way for home? We decide to check out, and not go into the parks today. If we didn’t come down as often as we do, I think we would have opted to stay. We drive over to a community I’d heard about and would probably move to if we relocate. We drove around several developments and got some flyers of houses for sale to get an idea of what the market’s like. Then we headed up the turnpike and I75. We lunched in Starke once again, but this time we tried Sonny’s BBQ…it was pretty good. Decent BBQ and cheap. We continued on to I 95 and stopped for the night in South Carolina at a Microtel. The goal was to get into a hotel by 8, so that we could watch the finale of “Joe Millionaire”. Had we known that the first hour was going to be a rehash of the whole series, we’d have driven for another hour! Yes, it’s a guilty pleasure, but the only ‘reality’ series that we’ve been sucked into. 2/18/03 Tuesday We headed home, but made stops at some favorite kitchen places in Yemmassee, SC. The drive was straight through, with a stop at a Ruby Tuesday in NC for an early dinner. We didn’t see any snow until we got north of Richmond. It didn’t get ugly until we got just north of Dale City, Virginia. The DC Beltway was a horror show, and Montgomery County hadn’t even plowed most of the ramps to I270 yet, even though the last snow had fallen more than 24 hours earlier. Then we hit our county line and it was business as usual. We had clean road until we turned onto our street and tried to park in front of our house. According to the yardstick we placed in it, there was 30 inches of snow. Digging out my car at my friend’s house the next day was quite an experience! Conclusion: I’m finally finishing this in the heat of the summer, after a very wet winter and spring! I’ve actually been down for two trips by myself since the family trip, and we’ve got a family trip scheduled for late September. Thanks for making your way through my mini novel! See you next time, and hopefully that trip report will get done on the laptop while travelling! Mickey, we’ll see you again in October! Suzanne Reardon-Mulhall IamaPoohnatic@netscape.net Mail a Comment to Suzanne Reardon-Mulhall |
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