Trip Reports

Time of Year: Fall
Travel Method: Plane, Shuttle Service
Resort: WL, ASSR
Accommodations
Ages Represented in Group: Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Rookie
Comments: This is a great play-by-play report by a now-confirmed Disney addict. Lynette and Rob spent a great eight days completely enjoying the resorts and parks.


Summary:

Time of Year: Fall
Travel Method: Plane, Shuttle Service
Resort: AS Sports and WL (Woods View)
Ages in Group: 27 and 32
WDW Experience: First time EVER! Last visit to Disneyland 1989
Players:

Me - master planner and newly-turned Disney hobbyist; also my
Rob - my fiancee and the biggest kid at heart
Plans:

We had one more vacation week for this year, originally scheduled for Oct. 11, but we weren't sure of our destination yet until one day, I stumbled upon a Southwest Airlines promotion that offered $99 one-way fares anywhere in the U.S., including Orlando. So, we immediately bought airline tickets to Orlando. We're going to WDW. Disney hasn't been one of our top choices because we have no kids, but my sister's family went last summer and they had a blast so we were naturally envious.

I started looking into the many websites for WDW, including Brian Bennett's (one of my favs). I then learned so much "insider" tips such as the MKC, EE, E-tix, PS-see I'm talking like a veteran here.

First things first, I checked with my company and they did offer the MKC. YES! I had to wait 4 days for it and was antsy the whole time because I wanted to complete my ressies ASAP. When I finally got it, I called CRO only to find that the week of Oct. 11 was SOLD OUT! due to conventions and golf tournaments. My heart sank. After all, I've invested quite some time researching all about WDW. At first, I gave up. Hey, it was the easiest thing to do. Luckily, my understanding fiancée encouraged me and we both explored our solutions.

We had to ask his employer if he could switch his vacation dates 2 weeks early. This is not an easy thing because they all had to turn in their vacation requests back in January and changes are usually frowned upon. To make matters worse, this also happened to be the last date of the Southwest Airlines $99 sale. He ended up having to call his main boss at his home but the bottom line was he was able to get the week of Sept. 26. YES! We drove home like crazy and I called Southwest right away. I was on hold for about 20 minutes (last night
of the sale) then finally I got through. I was able to change our travel dates with no $$ penalties. When I got the confirmation fax
from Southwest, their time stated 11:47 p.m. I was able to make the change with 13 minutes to spare!!! YES! We both did lots of jumping for joy.

Obviously, I was happy once again and hit the websites non-stop. Next morning, I called CRO for our room ressies. They only had 4 nights
discounted at the WL so I got our first 3 nights at AS Sports (also discounted). We've yet to buy our 6-day hoppers from the Disney Store. Total cost for air, rooms, passes, airport shuttle: $1,882.31. Other expenses to budget for are food and souvenirs.

Our itinerary looks like this:

Sat: Arrival. Check-in. Get maps, transportation guide. DD & PI.
Sun: EE MGM. Lunch at Primetime. Dinner at Brown Derby.
Mon: AK. Lunch at Rainforest Cafe.
Tue: Chef Mickeys breakfast. MK (finally). Lunch at WCCafe. Check-in WL.
Wed: Epcot. Afternoon Tea at GF. Late dinner at San Angel Inn.
Thu: EE MK. Royal Table breakfast. Lunch at Liberty Tree. Dinner at Ohana's.
Fri: Epcot/Boardwalk. Lunch at GF Cafe. Dinner at Artist Point.
Sat: WL. Fantasia Gardens.
Also in our plans are Beaches and Cream and Spoodles and of course, E-tix nights. Naps will become mandatory (unless we bring "Powerbar Energy Bars" LOL).

I am very grateful for all the information obtained from trip reports and message boards. Any more tips are gladly welcome--my ears are
wide open.

Day One - Travel Day; Boardwalk

After much anticipation, THE day finally arrived. We woke up early Saturday morning and had an uneventful flight with a brief stop in Kansas City. We arrived at MCO and were able to retrieve our bags right away. We took the Mears bus and were third in line to be dropped off at the All Star Sports about half an hour later. Thanks for the warning that WDW is HUGE!!! I was so excited as we pulled into the driveway and kept saying, "We’re here, we’re here" but then, our bus had to yield to an ambulance and fire truck-go figure. There was no line at check in but the whole process took awhile as we had to buy our passes and E-night tickets. We haven’t been there longer than an hour and already we had charged $566.74-yup, we were officially at Disney. At first, the CM said there were no E-tickets that week but I insisted that there should be one and when I finally mentioned the date of Sept. 29, her light bulb went on and she said, "Oh, I was thinking it was already October." And I’m the one who was up before 5 a.m. ;-) As we turned the corner from the lobby (Stadium Hall) to head to our room, we looked out and it was raining. We took out our ponchos and umbrellas and forged ahead to our room located on the 1st floor of the Touchdown building as we had requested. (Rob’s a major football fanatic so the choice was clear). We found our room adequate for our needs. We didn’t bother unpacking since we were transferring to the WL mid-stay so we literally lived out of our suitcases that were hoisted onto the luggage rack and one of the chairs.

Off to our PS at Spoodles. I asked a CM for the best way to get there. He said to take the bus to DD then another bus to the Boardwalk. I thought that would take longer so we ended up taking the bus to MGM and then caught a crowded boat over to the Swan (I learned this route from these boards). We walked the rest of the way to the Boardwalk since it was faster than the boat who made 2 more stops. By this time, it stopped raining. We were 10 minutes late but we were seated shortly. We were still full from all the snacking earlier during the flight so we ended up getting the fried calamari and the olive oil sampler with focaccia bread. Both were delicious and quite filling. At the end of the meal, I wondered why our server wasn’t offering us any dessert. It turns out that Rob arranged for them to surprise me with one of their chocolate creations, complete with the birthday candle. It was yummy!!! I should point out now that Rob and I both have major "sweet tooths" so this is always our favorite part of any meal. After dinner, we walked over to the ESPN Club and looked over the sports memorabilia and of course, checked out the TVs in the bathroom. Too cool! Next on the agenda was Fantasia Gardens mini-golf by way of the Swan Hotel. Unfortunately, it was closed due to the inclement weather. No big deal! I wasn’t going to let the itinerary rule this vacation. We walked back to the Boardwalk Bakery and bought our goodies for tomorrow’s breakfast-chocolate bear claw and a huge cinnamon roll. We paused to watch some of the fireworks from Illuminations. We decided to get more sugar in our system so we searched for Beaches and Cream. We got lost along the way but this enabled us to check out lobbies of both the Yacht Club and the Beach Club and Storm-along Bay. We were in the middle of our Banana Split when the lights went out briefly so they could present a birthday cake to the girl over at the next table. The CMs sang "Happy Birthday" and when they got to the "to you" part, we all joined in to say "Hi Megan!" She was thoroughly embarrassed. The lights went out again shortly after that since another group ordered the infamous Kitchen Sink. Wow! Can you huge? We really should have walked back to our resort after that banana split but we took the bus to DD then caught the bus with hardly any wait back to Sports. We were the first stop before ASM both at drop off and pick-up. This whole transportation system was not hard to figure out. We were able to buy our refillable mugs right before the food court closed. Final deed before bed, set Mickey to wake us up. All in all, a great first day.

Day Two: EE @ MGM; Blizzard Beach; Fantasia Gardens

Mickey called at 6:45 am. (being from CA, this meant 3:45 am PST-Ouch!) I gave Rob the privilege of being first to hear Mickey’s message. We both got ready but I finished first so I went to get drinks from the food court and we had breakfast in the room. We caught the bus to MGM and made it there at 7:40 am.

Our first ride was TZTOT (walk-on). We loved it so we did it 2x in a row. We’re AWAKE now. Other attractions we did were GMR (gangster), Star Tours, Honey I Shrunk playground, Backlot Tour, Muppets 3D. We had lunch at Primetime Cafe but our ‘sister’ wasn’t into it. We had the fried chicken, chocolate malt and PB&J shake while we enjoyed watching the others go through the different antics there. By the way, we encountered Minnie, Tigger, Piglet, Goofy, Buzz, Woody and a Green Army Man at different times as we walked around from the attractions.

Afterwards, we did Voyage of Mermaid (not too enjoyable so we snuck in a power nap), Beauty & the Beast (including the pre-show with the accapella group that performed the "Supercalifragilistic... rap") and Hunchback (also saw Matt the Juggler). Finally, we had curbside seats for the Mulan parade (again caught the pre-show with the gossip columnist and 2 movie stars). Now we have to see "Mulan" to know who those in the parade were.

It’s nap time so we headed back to AS for a much needed rest. After, we spent 1-1/2 hours at Blizzard Beach until closing. We were able to do Toboggan Racers 2x, Snowstormers 2x, Run-off Rapids 2x, Castaway Creek and Meltaway Bay, all of which were a lot of FUN. We originally planned to have dinner at Brown Derby but decided to try the Cape May Buffet. We took the bus to Epcot and walked to the Beach Club. We pigged out on the seafood salad, clams and shrimp, baked fish, and chicken fillets and popcorn shrimp from the kids section. Of course, we sampled most of the desserts like the mini key lime pies and peanut butter cups. After dinner, we enjoyed the rocking chairs out by the porch and the swing by the beach.

Our next stop was Fantasia Gardens mini-golf. We got stuck behind a large group for the first 5 holes but were able to skip ahead and have a more enjoyable time. We both got hole-in-one at different times but in the end, I beat Rob by one point.

We did enough damage for today so we took the bus from the Boardwalk to DD then to AS. Our bodies were still on Calif. time so we didn’t sleep until 1:45 am.

Day Three: Animal Kingdom; Pleasure Island

Mickey woke us up at 7 a.m. We got ready and had breakfast in the room. We made it to AK just as they played the opening announcement. We power-walked to the Safari and were able to see wildebeest, zebra, elephant, hippo (mostly under water), giraffe (running toward our jeep), lioness, etc. Next we walked through Pangani Trail and lucked out on seeing (mostly the backside) an adult male and 2 baby gorillas who were having breakfast at the time. We walked back to do the Bug movie (eeeooow, I’m itching) and took our time gazing at the the Tree of Life. Next, we headed to Dinoland for CTX. Look out!!! We had plenty of time to spare before our PS @ the Rainforest Cafe so we browsed through the gift shop. Lunch consisted of the coconut chicken, Brave New World pizza and Gorillas in the Mist Cheesecake, which is only appropriate since we were seated in the Gorilla room ;-). Next came the Festival of the Lion King. We agree that this show is wonderful but we didn’t enjoy it as much because we had to wait in line under the hot, hot, hot sun and then waited until a convention group was seated before we were allowed in the theater and under some shade. We finished off AK with CTX again.

We headed back to AS for a swim and a nap, plus we also had to pack for our move to WL. We finished off the leftover pizza from lunch earlier then we checked out the Tennis, Hoops and Baseball buildings. Next destination was DD. We strolled around the Marketplace then caught the first show at Comedy Warehouse. They even used "sauna" which I suggested for an unusual indoor environment and turned out a very funny skit. Our next stop was the Adventurers Club which is our favorite and we ended up staying for over 3 hours. We caught a show in all the rooms and 2 of the radio broadcasts in the library. Too bad we didn’t get picked on though. We ordered the Yakooze drinks (strawberry daiquiri) but next time, KUNGALOOSH!

We got back to AS around midnight and crashed for the night.

Day Four: Magic Kingdom; transfer to WL

Another early start for our breakfast at Chef Mickey’s. Hey, aren’t we supposed to be on vacation? We arranged for our luggage transfer before we took the bus to Epcot—why? It was the first one that showed up. We were the first ones up the ramp for the monorail (our first one this trip) so we asked to ride up front. No problem. But when we got up front, the driver asked us what we wanted so we asked if we can sit there. He didn’t refuse but he was not happy and he ignored us the whole time. Hello? Can we get a friendlier driver in here please? Then we were late for our PS. I thought the monorails were supposed to be a faster mode of transport? It can be if you don’t count the wait time. On with breakfast. They were in the middle of "Celebrate..." as we were led to our table. We got our miscellaneous food right away since we spotted Minnie nearby. In between trying to eat, we got pictures and video footage with Minnie, Mickey, Chip and Dale. After we spent quite a bit of time hamming it up with Goofy who managed to tickle us both. Our destination for today was MK. Yay! We even made it just as it opened. We took the train around the whole park first, although we were tempted to get off at Frontierland. We hit the attractions in this order: Splash 2x, Big Thunder, Tom Sawyer Island (get us out of here), Treehouse (me with Chocolate Dole Whip and Rob with Mickey bar in tow), Tiki Room, Hall of Pres., Mansion, and Riverboat. Around 1:30 pm, we took off for WL. We saw the geyser erupt on our way to the lobby. We were famished at this point so we had lunch at Whispering Canyon. It was late so the restaurant was fairly subdued but our server, Jim, played his role to a T. He was great and kept calling Rob "Bubba" and referred to me as "my dove". At one point, he looked into our video camera and said, "What a nice living room you got there." Rob had the chicken sandwich and I had the chicken salad but I ended up eating most of Rob’s meal. The seasoned fries were yummy. For dessert, we first ordered the Key lime pie but changed it to the cobbler ala mode. Good move. There was a dad at the next table who wasn’t aware that this was a themed restaurant and kept looking at Jim funny. After our fun lunch, we took the long walk (all 20 steps) across to the lobby to check in. Our call to the room controller paid off because we got a complimentary upgrade to a court view. Yay! We settled in, unpacked this time, and took a long nap. By 6 pm, we headed back to MK for E-ticket night. We did Pirates (but didn’t care for it as the one in DL had 2 drops), then we made the mistake of doing Bear Jamboree since this took up 35 minutes of our precious 3 hours. TIP: DO NOT include Bear Jamboree in your e-night plans. The CM there even tried to convince us to do Splash & Thunder Mtn. instead. He said to do Splash and before the drop, look at the Castle or turn around so you don’t know when the drop will be. That was his hint for us to skip the Bears but we didn’t catch on. We proceeded with Splash 2x, then AE, Timekeeper (fun but dizzying), Astro Orbiter, and finally, Space Mtn 3x both sides. On the way out of Main Street, we picked up cookies, cheesecake and brownies.

We went back to WL and ate the leftover sandwich and cheesecake for dinner. Then we had to do laundry. We’re not used to this heat/humidity and were changing clothes at least 3x a day so we ran out of clothes pretty fast. Not too bad though because we used the pool and jacuzzi while waiting. But, I got a defective dryer and ended up waiting until 1:30 am for my clothes and they still didn’t dry fully so I had to hang them up individually before bed. Bummer! Day Five: Epcot - our favorite park, sponsored by ;-) We slept in until 8 am then it was off to Epcot. We walked onto Spaceship Earth followed by a brief visit to the AT&T Neighborhood. We had a chocolate croissant and some other pastry from the Fountainview Cafe and ran across a talking fountain and the Jammitors. Then we did HISTA (the effects got both of us good while a few people walked out after the mice surprise), Figment, Land boat ride (interesting since we both love good food, veggies, gardening), Food Rocks (cool tunes), Living Seas where we saw the giant manatees (hey, that rhymes) feasting on the floating lettuce, Innoventions (where we shot off a bunch of Internet postcards c/o IBM), Body Wars, Making of Me (Rob left halfway), Cranium Command (neat).

Time for tea. We took the monorail to TTC then transfer to resort monorail. (Convenient - NOT!) We enjoyed the afternoon tea at the GF Garden View lounge. Rob was one of the only 3 guys there. He’s used to it though. We did 2 formal afternoon teas before-one at the Empress in Victoria and the other at the Fairmont Hotel and he doesn’t mind it. It’s those pastries you see. We first had sandwiches, then the scone, and our choice of 2 pastries, I chose the swan filled with passion fruit cream and the eclair. It started to rain and rain hard and guess where our ponchos were, back at the hotel. So we took our time in the lobby listening to the piano player. I really liked the pink birds called Rose bourke in that huge cage.

Eventually, we headed back to Epcot and got soaked on the way to Ellen’s Energy Adv. This was fun but long. Oh look the rain let up. Next was Horizons (we liked it) but we skipped the play area upstairs. We’re done with Future World so we cross over to WS. We headed to the UK first and caught the WS Players. Rubbish! They didn’t finish the skit as it started to sprinkle again. We went to France and of course, stopped by the boulangerie (we have our priorities straight) and had the chocolate eclair with chocolate cream (yummy). We saw the living status inside the gift shop and when I posed for a picture, she placed her hand on my shoulder so I had to squat down to get away. Another man was held captive until he kissed her hand. How does she manage to do that? It’s pretty unique if you ask me. Next country was Morocco and we were able to catch the acrobats - OUCH my back.

We were late for our PS at Mexico so we had a bit of a wait but we got a table by the water. We ordered the Mole Poblano and Plato National (I can’t remember what this included) after we filled up on the chips and salsa. Afterwards, we took the El Rio Del Tiempo boat ride. The song reminded me of It’s a Small World and I cracked up at the one scene with the tourists in the jacuzzi by the bar.

It was almost time for Illuminations so we parked ourselves by Norway and got an ok view. I thought I read somewhere that Illuminations was 30 minutes long so I told Rob we can skip the rest for tonight and head back before the crowds. As soon as we turned to leave, the show ended so we became part of the cattle drive - MOOO!! We got back to WL and I made my notes while Rob filled out tons of postcards. I also sent him down for drinks and for a new toothbrush for me so I can have some time to myself. Off to bed.

Day Six: EE @ Magic Kingdom; Epcot; PI

Back to 6:30 am wake up for EE at MK. We headed straight to Fantasyland and did Snow White, Peter Pan, Small World. Next was our breakfast at Cindy’s castle. We got a table by the window and there was Mickey ears confetti and streamers on the table. Our server, Aaron, got our beverages and our unhealthy breakfast of bacon, eggs, cream cheese french toast, potatoes. One plate is enough thanks. On his next round, Aaron made me stand up and announced that it was my birthday and gave me a muffin with candle and a card. This came in handy as Cinderella, Snow White, Pocahontas, and Peter Pan all signed it. We got a bonus picture with both Cinderella and Snow White. Peter Pan made sure I wasn’t a day over twelve and that we should ride his ride. Rob took notice of Pocahontas—must be the outfit ;-) There was a little girl there all decked out in a Snow White outfit which I thought was really cute. We headed downstairs and I got a picture with Fairy Godmother and she also signed my card. Why couldn’t breakfast be like this everyday? How appropriate that our next ride was Cinderella’s Carousel. I picked a nice horse with my favorite colors and enjoyed the music. Next, we waited 20 mins. for Dumbo-wheee! More spinning at the Mad Tea Party. We saw Queen of Hearts and the Madhatter! We peeked inside Cosmic Starlight to see Sonny Eclipse and also to escape the heat for a few. Off to Toontown. We rode Barnstormer (pretty fun for 52 seconds) then visited Mickey and Minnie’s houses (too cute. I asked Rob if we can have our house painted pink and purple with lots of hearts too but for some reason, he said No!).

Onto Tomorrowland, we ran across the talking trash can. We had another 20 min. wait for Speedway. I almost left my camera behind as it fell out of my shorts pocket but the CM called me back for it. Whew! Next was Carousel of Progress. "It’s a great, big beautiful tomorrow..." This song stuck in our heads big time. We’re still singing it constantly. Then we head back to the Castle to catch "Everyday’s a Holiday" and were lucky to secure a spot under the shade and near the water fountains.

After the show, it’s back to Tomorrowland for TTA. The car ahead of us had a small boy who got scared of the dark areas and cried the rest of the way. We wanted to ride the tram but it was closed. We did most of the MK, except for the Jungle Cruise which was closed for 2 weeks, but still wanted to catch the parade. We had time for a nap so we went back to WL.

Before that though, we took the Jitney to Main Street. I asked the driver if I could have the pin that said "Happy 27th Birthday - Walt Disney World" since I turned 27 this year so it would be neat to have. He didn’t say anything so I thought he was thinking about it. When we got to Main Street, I asked him again and he said no. It was no big deal that I couldn’t have it, but what bothered me was that he should have said no in the first place and not kept me in suspense or hopeful during the ride. I was tired and hungry so I made it into a big deal. Rob made the mistake of taking his side so I growled back at him and said it’s just a stupid pin, he wouldn’t die without it. I went on to say how the driver probably thought I was lying so I should have shown him my I.D. to confirm that I was 27, etc. It was not a pleasant trip back to the WL.

I took a nap and that got rid of the unpleasant incident. The boat back to the MK was late so we got there and there were very few prime viewing spots for the parade left. Fortunately, a family that occupied one of the benches directly across the train station took off so we took their place. Yay! The parade started late and the "Remember the Magic" theme got on Rob’s nerves a bit. We almost started up a fight again as we searched for food.

We headed to the GF Cafe and lucked out with one of the servers, Richard, who really saved the day. He was very funny and entertaining. He told corny jokes and used props. I ordered the mango chicken sandwich but only managed to say mango sandwich and sure enough, he pulled out a small rubber chicken and said, "What happened to the chicken?" Toward the end of the meal, he asked how it was and we said great. He then pulled out a giant thumb and said, "Then you give it a thumbs up!" But the best was yet to come. I was anxiously awaiting dessert time and happened to be looking out the window when Richard came back and asked if my name was Lyn. I nodded and he presented me with a small birthday cake. He shifted my chair aside then got down on one knee, took my hand and proceeded to serenade me with an opera rendition of "Happy Birthday." I turned beet red while Rob tried to steady the video camera as he laughed himself silly. After the song, Richard said a little birdie told him (about my birthday) then tapped Rob’s shoulder and said, "Thanks, Birdie." It was a good thing that the restaurant was practically empty. As a bonus, we saw Cinderella’s stagecoach pass by. This was the best meal ever-food was excellent, and Richard went above and beyond entertaining. We left him a very hefty tip. With our attitudes restored, we headed up to take the monorail however, there was a slight delay so we ended up taking the boat to MK then another boat to WL. We took a proper nap this time. After 7 pm, we went to Epcot. We were supposed to visit some of the countries before closing but when we got to Showcase Plaza, I decided we should claim our spot for Illuminations already so we did. We had over a hour to spare so Rob started taking down notes for his trip journal. Around 8 pm, this rude CM told us to get up and move the heck out of the way for the Junkanoo Bus performance. This upset all of us who were already situated. They didn’t explain why the area was not roped off to begin with. The Junkanoos tried their best to get the audience to participate but it was hopeless with our angry mob. Some Brazilians had a great time though. Finally, the bus rolled out of there and it was a mad dash for the front row. We were able to secure center front row spots where we stretched our legs and dangled them over the water. It started to sprinkle intermittently so a few people left. This was a long 20 minutes! Finally, Illuminations happened. WOW!!! We took our time after it ended then slowly walked toward the entrance and got to see another Fountain show.

Anyway, we head over to the Adventurer’s Club which was packed. I realized too late that this was CM night at PI so we were only going to do one show. We were the last two ushered into the library and were stashed away in the back corner by the bar. We pulled out our seats to get a better view but the host got upset and scolded us like children. "Were those seats not lined up against the wall, then why did you move them?" I wanted to leave at that point but chose to ignore him and stayed. This show involved Samantha Sterling singing and walking across the top of the bar so in a way, we had front row seats. We were pretty tired at this point so I even passed on lodging a complaint against that most ungracious host. We rode the bus back to WL then took pictures of the lobby and raided the vending machine before bed.

Day Seven: Epcot; PI; On the next episode of "Cops"

Aaahh, we slept in this morning. No set alarm or wake-up call (by the way, where’s Mickey, the last several calls just had music). We eventually got going and grabbed pastries from Roaring Forks as we headed to World Showcase. We did Mexico, Norway where we had ring cakes and rice cream and rode the Maelstrom, China, Germany where we bought chocolates. We arrived in Italy just in time for lunch at Alfredo’s. We had the calamari, spaghetti with tomatoes and basil, and ricotta cheesecake (why do we have to share one) and the servers weren’t bad looking either ;-)

We grabbed a lemon ice and headed to Am. Adventure. We caught the Voices of Liberty. They are awesome. We tried to fight off the urge to nap several times during the actual presentation. When Rob got up, he dropped the video camera, oops, so the viewfinder developed this giant black line right across the middle. We boated back to Future World to the camera center and also to get the rest of the batteries that we got charged up over at Guest Relations. The camera was fine after we tapped it a bit. While waiting for the boat back to America, we conversed with the boat driver and a few others and found that we all had one thing in common, we were all from California at one point or presently. It’s a small world after all.

Just as we got off the boat, the Fife and Drummers were performing. Next stop was Japan. We walked though the art display and the gift shop. The Japanese drummers provided great background to our videotaping as we walked about. We had to have the Kaki-gori rainbow shave ice. Yum! We stopped by Morocco and were able to catch the Genie. We moved onto France and as we approached, Esmeralda came out from the back. More pictures. We stopped by the patisserie and got another eclair and chocolate mousse. I also asked the CM there whose name was Laurent to pronounce it for me just for the sake of hearing it and it sounded so chic. I told Rob I was going to call him that from now on. Before leaving France, we caught another living statue right outside of Les Chefs des France. Amazing. Next stop was the UK and this time we finished the Holy Grail routine.

One of the players even recognized us and thanked us for coming back. Final stop was O Canada. Oh no, we only ate our way halfway around the World.

Rob stopped by the gift shop for an Epcot shirt then we’re off to PI again. We had a loooong wait for a DD bus and the line just kept growing while other buses, sometimes 2 or 3 for the same resort, came and went with no passengers. All of us in line were pretty aggravated. Finally, a bus pulled up and wouldn’t you know it, the driver was in training. After one hour wasted, we arrived at the Marketplace. Why didn’t we take a taxi?

We took in another show at the Comedy Warehouse and then made a brief stop at Adventurers Club. We could either stay here or shop and eat. We opted for the latter. We had dinner at Wolfgang’s Express right before they closed. We enjoyed the Caesar salad, pizza and chips (not Wolfie’s signature chips). The CM at the register was very friendly but we were hungry and she continued talking as we tried to escape out the door so we can eat.

We shopped at World of Disney until past the official closing and I was able to get some goodies for my nephews and nieces and a shirt for myself. Shopping under time pressure didn’t hurt the pocket too much. We’re done for day so we took the joint bus for WL, Poly and GF. All’s quiet on the bus until this mother and son who was maybe around 13 or 14 years old came onboard, then it was like being on an episode of "COPS." She was obviously drunk and she immediately started cussing because it was standing room only left. Her son got the last seat available directly across from us. The bus kept loading to capacity then both of them started to shout out for the rest of their party who didn’t respond (they probably didn’t want to be associated with these losers). The bus got going then mother and son started to sing and sing LOUD. The mother kept saying "Man, we’re gonna get kicked out of this bus." The son said, "We’re so drunk." And he really did look drunk too. The mother yelled out why no one else was singing and asked where the party bus was. The bus driver got on the P.A. then the son yelled "Excuse me, we’re trying to sing here." The guy in front of him, who was fed up along with the rest of us, turned around and told him to Shut the F* up. The mom quickly yelled back at him to not talk to her son like that. They exchanged obscenities. The mother and son then yelled out for "Jake" who wasn’t responding. The son shoved his way up front and tried to get "Jake" but had no luck so the mom did the same thing and shoved her way up and told "Jake" to get the F* back there because someone was messing with "Nick."

Then this big guy (let’s just say he works out) comes toward us and the other guy immediately began apologizing and acknowledging that it was totally his fault, etc. His girlfriend who was fuming at this point also explained how the situation came about and how obnoxious this mother and son were to begin with. "Jake" just listened and did nothing but stood right there like a bodyguard. The mother was commenting how chicken the other guy was but her son told her to just forget it and shut the F* up. At least, the rest of the ride back was quiet. I was quite disturbed over this whole scene especially because the bus driver did not resolve the situation and placed that couple’s safety at risk. I mean the guy could have been beaten to a pulp. Also, we were at Disney of all places. Thank goodness, WL was the first stop so we got the heck out of there fast.

All that excitement was too much so we turned in for the night.

Day Eight: WL; travel back to CA

No alarm on this last day. We woke up and had breakfast by the pool with pastries from Roaring Forks, large cinnamon roll and apple turnover. We swam, even did the slide several times, and ended with the jacuzzi. Now that we’re leaving, the true vacation feeling sinks in. Oh well. We got ready and packed frantically. We asked and got late check-out but underestimated our time. We took more pictures by the lobby and pool area and picked up a few more items at the Gift shop. We caught the Mears shuttle just in time but we delayed the van who had 7 other people because luggage services couldn’t find our bags at first. Rob had to go down and help them search for it. And we tipped them anyway? I took a nap during the ride to the airport even though I wanted to see the surroundings outside of WDW. We had appetizers at Chili’s Too. We wanted to have one last meal at WL but our stomachs didn’t cooperate with our plan. We had a brief layover in Nashville, then on the flight back to Oakland, some guy with a terrible cold sat by us. YUCK! Rob had his back turned away the entire time. Poor guy. And before we knew it, we were back home.

Concluding thoughts and observations:

Disney is big on the element of surprise with the use of water and air, and audience participation which I’m all for but I didn’t get picked : (
The colorful surroundings lends to the magical atmosphere. I loved basking in all the colors almost everywhere I was. I wear braces and happened to have teal and purple bands so I matched most of the decor there.
It helps to be an informed visitor via these websites. At times, I felt I knew more than some of the CM’s I questioned.
Early entry meant a big sacrifice especially for me since I’m a night owl but it really paid off. We accomplished so much with that additional time, plus the weather was more tolerable in the early morning.
We had such a great trip that we wondered why we haven’t gone before. Unfortunately, we don’t know when we’ll be returning. I’m going back to grad school this winter and that means no more vacations for awhile. I guess in the meantime, I’ll stayed tuned to DIS and other’s trip reports to "take me back."
I hope you all enjoyed these trip reports as much as I enjoyed reliving our excellent adventure at Disney.

Thanks for reading.

Lynette Baylosis

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