Trip Reports

Easter 1998 - Day 1

We started out this morning bright and early at 5:30 am, had to get Steve up to get his Easter basket and get our butts on the road to Columbus. We got ready and went through the basket and were our of the house by 6:02 am. We headed straight for the Columbus Airport to catch a 10:50 am flight to Orlando. We made it to the airport by 8:00 am, and we even stopped for breakfast at Burger King. So, we sat around for two hours, waiting for our flight to take off. We left right on time!!! And arrived in Orlando 20 minutes ahead of time. What a great start!!! We got our luggage and headed right over to the National booth for our Rent-a-Car. I was expecting a long line, but much to my surprise there was no one in line. We walked right up to the National rep and were on our way in 10 minutes. We got a Dodge Breeze, which is a nice little car (plus is has electric windows, last Feb, the rental I had had manual windows, hard to get use to that again!).

So, there we were on the road heading to OKW. We were at the OKW check in by 10 after 1:00 pm, not bad at all. It is funny, because as I was driving into OKW and I saw the Welcome Home sign, I just felt like I was home. I stayed at WL and it was beautiful, but OKW is home for me.

There were a couple of people ahead of us in line at the check in, but it moved quickly. We checked in and they told us about Animal Kingdom (we plan to do this on Tuesday). Then we were given our key to our room and package. The room key was not activated, nor did I know what our room number was. They gave a card with a phone number on it to call back and get our room number when the room was ready. Well, They were having the Easter Parade at MK at 3:00pm and I tried to talk Steven into going over there, but no go. He just wanted to go swimming, and so we skipped the parade (I have my VCR set, hopefully I got it all) I changed Steven into his swim suit and we headed over to the main pool. As I was sitting there watching Steven swim (or what ever you want to call what he does in the water…lol), a man and woman were in the pool and they yelled over to me, asking me if I were Darla from AOL..lol. I said yes, and he said he was a chatter too. He said his name was Pete and his wife’s name was Karen (Now, I’m terrible at names, I need screen names. So, he gave me his screen name and it was Disneyfile. Cool, more DVC friends. We chatted…lol….clear till 4:00 pm. Then I finally called and our room was ready. We didn’t ask for any location, just non-smoking room. I was pleasantly pleased with our room ( I just wish we were staying here at least 3 nights, but now luck). We are in room 4420 and it has a lake behind it and is next to the Turtle Pond Bus Stop and right next to the Turtle Pond Pool. I think it is a great location.

We had just enough time to freshen up before heading over to MK to meet Rich and Deb. We got to MK at 5:10 and were walking to Crystal Palace for dinner. There we meet Rich and Deb and had a great time and dinner there. Steven and the girls got along too well…lol It was great meeting them and chatting during dinner, it is just nice to have adult conversations while on vacation. After Dinner we hung around with Rich and Deb and did some of the rides in MK. Our first stop was the Enchanted Tiki Room. I love this new version. It is great and very entertaining. We will definitely have to see this one again. After Tiki we were going to ride Jungle Cruise, but It had a 30 minute wait, and no one wanted to wait that long. So we headed over to Pirates!!! Hardly any wait at all and as good as it always is. Next stop, Restrooms…..lol Then we headed over to Fantasy Land. Lines were starting to get pretty long, but we made it onto It’s a Small World After All, with little trouble. He kids all sat in the front seat while Deb, Rich and I sat behind them. This ride is the same as before, but I still enjoy it. The Tea Cups were next, Deb was nice enough to offer to take Steven with her girls. Great, someone that loves to ride the tea cups, thanks Deb, I know Steven enjoyed himself!!! Then we were going to do the race cars, but there was a 30 minute wait on them, so we did the people mover. Still enjoy this ride, not only is there no wait, but it is just nice to sit and go through all of tomorrow land. After this ride, Rich and Deb said they had never been on Carousel of Progress. Well, that had to be our next ride then!! There was no wait for this ride and it was great, as always.

Then Rich had a great idea, we were going to go to Mickey’s Toon Town and ride Barn Stormer then head to the park entrance on the train. Well, we did the Barn Stormer and then headed over to catch the train, but they said that the train quit running at 10:15….bummer. So we had to walk back to the main entrance. On our way back, we go to see Mickey and Minnie’s house. This was my first time in Minnie’s house and it was great!!!! Then as we were walking past Goofy’s Garage, the fire works started over the castle, so we just stood and soaked up the moment for awhile. Fireworks were wonderful!!! But Rich and Deb had a early day planned tomorrow, so they wanted to leave and Steven and I decided to stick around for Spectro Magic. We walked Rich and Deb out, and were going to sit on the truck at the beginning of Main Street to watch Spectro Magic, but much to our disappointment, the truck was gone. Steven was upset, but still wanted to watch the parade, so we headed over to the One Hundred and One Dalmation store and Steven spent $20 of his dollars he earned from his Mickey Chart. He got a bear dressed as a fireman, and he is sleeping with it right now. We found a bench and started waiting on Spectro Magic, gut then Steven started getting really tired and said he just wanted to go back to the room. So, we left, and we missed Spectro Magic. But we have 5 more days to try and see it, so we just might!

Well, I’m getting really tired writing this report. We are having a wonderful time, and found that Spring Break is not as crowded as I had thought it would be. Hopefully it will stay like this all week, I’m crossing my fingers.

Easter 1998 - Day 2

Well, we had such a late night last night (posting to my web page…lol) that we both slept in. Well, I got up at 8:00 (which is sleeping in for me!) and Steven slept till 9:40 am. Once up we were hungry. At first Steven wanted donuts from the Conch Flat store, but I talked him into going to the Market Place and eating Breakfast at McDonald’s. Knowing that the Lego Store was right next door put a big smile on Steven’s face. He had $9.00 left and he was going to get himself some Legos. Now, we had the option of driving or taking the bus. After talking this over with my son, he and I both decided to take the bus. So we walked over the bus stop and waited and waited. A Typhoon Lagoon bus went past, then MK, then MGM, then EPCOT, then Blizzard Beach, then all those buses again. It is now 40 minutes later and still no Downtown Disney bus. Finally, Steven said, Mom, lets drive, so I agreed and we left in our car. On our way out of OKW, we pass a Downtown Disney bus and as we were passing it up, the sign changed from Downtown Disney to Typhoon Lagoon. Now, when did that happen? When did they combine Typhoon Lagoon with Downtown Disney. We had 2 chances to catch the bus, but we didn’t know it went to Downtown Disney too. Every time it went past, it said Typhoon Lagoon. You live and learn!!! Steven and I both had a good laugh on this one.

Now, we made it to McDonald’s and it was 10:45, we ask for Breakfast, but they are serving lunch already. Oh well!!! Go with the flow, so we ordered lunch!! What can I say about the meal, it was McDonald’s, but it was fast!! We then headed over to the Lego Store, and Steven looked and he looked and he looked and still looked some more!!! He is a shopper, not a buyer! When he gets money in his pocket he has to wait until he sees the perfect toy before he parts with his money. He finally chose a street cleaner to build. FINALLY!!! Now Mom gets to go to the World of Disney Store (My Favorite). Now I get to shop and shop and not buy, well, ok, I had to buy lots of things. They have a new Official WDW album out and it has songs from the Animal Kingdom too. I just had to had that. And they had new magnets for the frig, what Mother doesn’t need these ?? Well, Steven thinks the one set of magnets are for him, but I’ll get it off of him. LOL.

On our return from the Market place we went to Conch Flat to pick up donuts for the morning, that will make it easier than waiting on that Downtown Disney bus…lol. While in the store Steven spotted a green OKW hat, said Mom, I have to have this…how could I resist, it has member on the back!!! I had to get it for him, he looked so cute in it. And he wore it all the way home, at least to our OKW home. Then we changed to go swimming to meet SweetP at the OKW main pool. We arrived at the pool, but no SweetP. So we just started swimming around. We ran into Pete (Disneyfile) again and I talked to him while Steven splashed around in the pool. It is just so nice and relaxing at the pool. We stayed there for about 2 hours and SweetP walks by. She said she had some troubles at EPCOT, but I’ll let her tell that story, and they were going to just head back to the room. That was alright with us, because we were ready to go back to the pool to. We are heading to Magic Kingdom. But, before we do, we went to the front desk to purchase our sneak preview passes to Animal Kingdom. We are going tomorrow because we are staying over at Coronado. I figure spend the morning at AK then swim at the pool in the afternoon. We got the tickets, no problem and then Steven said he was hungry (little boys are always hungry!) so we went to Good’s snack bar and we both got rice crispy treats and started our walk back to our room. We are in room 4420, which is at Turtle Pond, but Steven wanted to walk and I didn’t object. It is another beautiful day here, and the sky is so blue and the little puffy clouds. You just couldn’t ask for a more beautiful day. Someone said it is suppose to be like this all week, that is great!!! I love this weather. On our stroll home, Steven saw a bunch of people waiting for the bus at Turtle Pond, and he says to me I wonder where they all are going, and I said, "well Steven, they are right here, why don’t you ask them?" So he did. He asked, everyone going to MK raise your hands, and 5 people raised their hands, then he did MGM, no hands (there were two other people who didn’t raise their hands), so Steven said EPCOT, no hand, Disney Institute, no hands, Downtown Disney, no hands….lol, Steven was lost, whwre else could they be going? It turned out that they were headed over to the BoardWalk….We should have been able to guess that one.

We held off going to the parks till later, wanted to see Kathy at Magic Kingdom. And Steven has been a really good kid, so he is getting the other fireman bear at the Fire Station Store on Main Street, if he can keep it up. We got to Main Street around 6:00 pm and I have one word -- PACKED! --. I could not believe how many people were there and the waits were all 1 hour long. Luckily we found Kathy handing out maps right at the entrance of Magic Kingdom and it was wonderful seeing her again. Steven took Kathy over to show her the fireman bear he was going to get, and Kathy was such a good little Cast Member and followed him over to see, thanks Kathy!!! Then we tried to ride some rides, but there were just so many people, and the lines didn’t seem to get shorter, they seemed to be getting longer. We did walk through Mickey and Minnie’s house again. Steven enjoys them so much, he loves Minnie’s Kitchen and all then noise and things he can do there. Since everything was packed, we just went back down Main Street and talked with Kathy again, then we headed over to Tony’s to see if we could get in for dinner, NOT!!! So, we got the fireman bear (making Steven very happy) along with the fire chief badge, Mom just threw that one in. And then we went back to the room and ordered Pizza.

That is it for today, tomorrow is Animal Kingdom Day, I already bought our tickets, so hopefully we will get an early start!

Easter Trip - Day 3

We got up at 6:30 am this morning because we have tickets to Animal Kingdom and it opens at 7:30 am. After about 5 minutes of nudging Steven I finally convinced him to get up. We were up and out of the room by 7:30 am and on our way to Animal Kingdom. We drove over since we were checking out of OKW and checking in at Coronado Springs.

We got our car parked and pick up the tram car to take us to the main gate. There is a Rain Forest Café to the left of the entrance and you can go in it without going inside the park. Or you can enter into the park and eat on that side of the Rain Forest. Taking the suggestions from others that have done Animal Kingdom before, we headed straight for the African Safari ride. But, on our way we ran into Goofy, Pluto, Mickey, Minnie and Tigger. I got Tigger to pose with Steven in front of the DVC mobile. They had it all decorated up for the Animal Kingdom. We then made our way to the Safari ride. The entrance area for the ride is very long and takes a while to walk through, but when we made it to the Safari vehicle there was no wait at all. As a matter of fact, there were only 8 of us in the whole car. We started out with a rocky ride which continues through out our safari. We went into water, and on an old bridge. We did this ride early in the morning so that we would see a lot of animals. And that we did. It was nice seeing them free to walk about. We saw a lion, hippos, elephants…ect…. I thought the ride was great, and Steven really loved this ride, especially when we ran into some poachers, what a thrill for a little boy.

We then headed over to the Gorilla Falls, and we got to see two gorilla’s there. Steven wasn’t impressed, but I thought it was pretty neat. Our next stop was the Lion King show. This was Great!!! I had a really good time, even though Steven didn’t really want to see it. But, he finally got into the show. I thought they did a really great job for the half hour show, the costumes were very colorful and nicely done. They had us all singing The Lions Sleep Tonight and I made Steven sing too, even though he didn’t want to. I had a really good time and think this show was one of the best. Although I like the Hunchback show the best, this one is right up there.

Next stop, Dinoland. Now was the time to go on the Countdown to Extinction ride and I was really excited about this one. We went into a waiting area where they talked about Dinosaurs and how scientist think they became distinct. Then we head into a waiting room, where the show begins. If you don’t want to hear the rest, just skip to the next paragraph. They show a film of a scientist saying about how he wants us to bring back a dinosaur for him. His boss comes in and he pretends he said nothing, but when she leaves he reminds us again to bring back a dinosaur, I can’t remember the name of the one we were suppose to bring back. Then the doors open and we start heading to the Countdown vehicles. I get in first so that Steven doesn’t have to sit on the outside. There are seat belts for this ride and we all have to buckle up or they will not let you go forward (I know this because the woman behind me insisted that she was buckled in, but the guard (all right, Cast Member) said no you are not buckled. It took a good 3 minutes before she finally got it right). We had the front seat of the car, and there is a bar to hold on to. And we were on our way. This is a really fast ride, and kind of reminds me of a roller coaster, but not as smooth and there are not long dips, only really short ones, not enough to get a thrill. But, you really get whipped around. And you see a lot of dinosaurs on the way, that is if you can see them as you are being tossed around. The ride centers around us finding the dinosaur we are suppose to return back with and once we find the dino, then the meteor shower starts, but we make it back and we bring the dino back too. I thought this ride was a lot of fun, but more rocky than I like. Kind of reminds me of sitting on the Star Tours ride or the Body Wars ride, but your car moves forward, unlike those rides, but it is as bumpy as those rides. Steven’s opinion, he will not ride it again. He hated it, scared the poop out of him….lol.

After this we headed over to the Bone yard where the kids can play, kind of like the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area, only centered around dinosaurs. Steven loved it, there was a jeep there that he got to play in and he didn’t want to leave it, even to go and walk through the dinosaur tracks (you step on them and it makes dinosaur noises and vibrated). Then there were bones on the wall that you pressed and it played tones. Kind of neat. We didn’t see the place where kids dig up bones, so Steven asked a Cast Member. Good thing he did, we would have never found it. It was up a level and far over on your left. Well, we found it and I said, yuck the kids are going to get dirty, but the Cast Member assured me that they would not, the sand is not sand, but little pebbles that come right off of the kids, and they were right, Steven did not get dirty. But, while he was digging up bones, the News Reporter from Channel 2 (NBC) local network took a liking to Steven and wanted to film him digging up the bones. She asked me if it was ok, I said sure. She asked him what he was digging up and she told Steven to say Dinosaur bones. Steven did it really nice, but of course he was digging up bones, and kept to his work…lol. Then the news caster told me that my son was really cute (I said, yes he is, and he doesn’t want to shut up…lol, but she liked that about him), so she asked if they could interview him, I said sure, go ahead. And she asked him all about the digging of dinosaurs and how he was enjoying the park. They put the mike on Steven this time. I could not hear anything. I’m hoping it comes out, but since I don’t live around here, I won’t get to see it. They said it will air next Tuesday during the Animal Kingdom Grand Opening (All though, isn’t the grand opening on Wednesday?). So, Kathy and Sue, please set your VCRs for me, I would love to see this interview. After the news reporter was done, she told me that Steven is such a cutie, and yes he is, but after about 2 hours of the little cutie, Mommy needs a break, just kidding Steven. Anyone, the interview put a smile on both Steven’s and my face.

After all that, I finally talked Steven into leaving the Bone Yard and heading over to the Tree of Life to see the 3 d movie, It is Tough being a Bug. Well, if you don’t want to hear about his moving, then skip to the next paragraph, but here goes. You walk a long way around and beneath the tree of life and finally get to a waiting area. And there really isn’t much going on here, just music being played as you wait for the doors to open. We waited about 10 minutes then we were let inside the theater, oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that when we entered they gave us bug eyes…lol, the 3 d glasses! We took our seat and the show began. I thought this show was great, it was all bugs talking about what they do, then a mean bug came out and tried to destroy us, with ways we have used to destroy bugs…lol, there are effects in this show just like the Honey I Shrunk the Audience. I loved it, Steven hated it. He even said, Mom, I want out, in the middle of the show. So, just be careful, they don’t have the mice here, but there is enough to make your skin crawl…I thought it was really unique and creative. They did an excellent job, but man, did they really have to do a stink bug? If you like Honey I Shrunk the Audience, you will like this too. (But, Steven did almost cry during the show).

Next we wanted to ride the boats, they have boats going from Asia back to the beginning and then from the beginning of the park back to Asia, so we took the boat ride. What the heck, we paid to get in. Well, one of the boats got stuck so we were on this, what should be 5 to 10 minute ride, for about 30 minutes. Not much to see on the ride, and it is much faster to walk, but still, what the heck, you got to try everything out. Now, Steven wanted one of those Safari vehicles and all they had was a bank in the shape of those vehicles so we went to get him one, then we decided to leave the park and go check in at Coronado Springs, it was 2:00 pm. We arrived about 8:00 am (once you get the tram from your car to the front of the Animal Kingdom). We did almost everything, but we did not make it to the bird show or the Jungle Book show. We will have to catch those later.

We made it to Coronado and our room was not ready, so we ate at the food court here. Food was not bad and it was pretty fast. Steven just got the chicken nuggets and I got cheese pizza. We then went back to the front desk to get our room number and our room was ready (it was 3:00 pm by now). And we went straight to our room (Room 6336 - within walking distance of the main pool). Now, I hate knocking a hotel, but I miss my OKW and/or BW. The room here is a nice size, but there is no balcony, and I just miss it. But, I’m not complaining, just stating a fact!!! At least we have a room for the night. And it is in Disney World. Next, we are heading to the pool, Steven is dying to try this out.

Well, the pool is a fun time for Steven, but it is a little chilly here this afternoon, and I was not ready to get wet again, but I did. So we stayed at the pool for about an hour. Steven loves this pool here, he says the slide is really great, and there is a little play area here where you can dig bones again. I let Steven swim while I chatted with some folks watching their kids. This was a very long day, I’m not use to staying at a park so long, because of DVC, we just don’t have too, but this was our First time at Animal Kingdom and we wanted to get the most out of it. So, now I’m tired. I wanted to do MGM tonight, but Steven said he had a little bit of a tummy ache (Gee, I wonder how that could have happened, he had ice cream, a bottle of coke, one chicken nugget, 2 donuts…well, I guess it might be from that). So, we may just stay in the room tonight.

That’s it for now, tomorrow we check out of Coronado Springs and head over for our last 3 nights at BW. Hopefully we can meet up with the Andersons again.

Easter Trip - Day 4

Well, it is check out day at Coronado, I’m getting tired of all this packing and unpacking, but what can I do, this is the only way I could go, so I took what I could get. We left Coronado around 8:40 am and headed right for BW. Steven sat in the Lobby and played with his Safari truck while I checked in. I asked the Cast Member if I had made in request and he said no. So, I asked if we could be put near the Andersons, since I new their room number. He said sure, but there was only one room near and it was occupied so it may take a while for my room to get ready, had to wait for the other people to check out. He said that he would lock me into that room, but there was a chance that the people in the room could request another night and then I would not be able to get the room (I didn’t know you could that, but I guess you can). So, since we had no room, Steven and I headed over to EPCOT and Steven said he wanted to walk around the world and we did.

We went to every country but only rode the Mexico ride. We stopped at the glass blowing shop and a woman there was making a glass piano, Steven watched this for a while, it was pretty cool. Then we went to another country, Steven was looking for some cars to buy (He has $4.00 left) and could not find anything. Then we ran into some kids at the American Adventure and Steven played with them for about a half hour. When they had to leave Steven said he was ready to go back to BW, and I was too, it was around 2:30 pm and so we started our walk back to BW. We were going to wait for the boat, but there were none coming, so we decided to just walk. On our walk across the court yard, I hear Rich yelling Darla Rice. I knew right away it was Rich, because I checked out his web page last night and saw what his view was. I waved and told him I was going to check in. He said that he was going to the pool once the girls woke up from their nap. I told him we would meet them there.

I waited in the check in line for about 45 minutes, then finally I reached a cast member only to find that our room was not ready. I was not impressed with BW’s check in. I like OKW check in much better. BW said they did not work that way. Too Bad. So, Steven and I headed out the pool, and changed into our suits. Then we started searching for a chair. After a once around the pool, I found one lone chair with no towel or clothes on it, so I took it. As I was setting up the chair, Deb and the girls came to meet us. Then she had to search for a chair, this is not an easy task. But, after about 15 minutes some came available and we took them. Then It was off to the slide. I didn’t go down the slide but, Rich, Deb, Amanda, Kristen and Steven all did it and loved it. I waited on the bottom of the pool for Steven to come down. He didn’t want to come down and not be able to touch bottom, but when he came down, he could touch. After swimming a while, I went to see if our room was available (it was 4:00 pm and I was crossing my fingers). Hey, there was no line at check-in, yeah!! And what do you know, our was ready and we were in room 5050, right across the hall from the Andersons. This is great!! I check out the room and there was no daybed, but the room was twice the size I remembered it being. Here it is a corner room and it is larger. I went back down to the pool and told Rich and he said, I have to see this room. So, we all headed back up stairs and I let Rich see the room. Yep, he is jealous, our room is bigger, I really didn’t think it was that much bigger, but then Rich took me over to Deb and his room and sure enough ours was a lot bigger! I love it!!! Might even request it again, and we have an MGM view, perfect.

Well, the Andersons were getting ready for MGM tonight, Steven and I were getting ready to go down for some food, Steven was hungry, so was I. And we got a knock on our door, and who stops in again, but Rich and Deb, they want to show their friends our room…lol, Then Rich tried to steal our salt and pepper shakers, he said our are real, but theirs are not. After they left I went down and got Steven and I dinner, just TV dinners tonight. Steven didn’t mind at all.

Later...We watched illuminations at EPCOT and it is different then I remember it. I was kind of disappointed, I remember the music being better. But the fireworks were great!!! :-). Steven and I had selected our viewing spot one hour before it started, we were right below France. And we sat and waited for illuminations to start. When it was about to start, we started standing and all the people behind said, SIT DOWN! Well, I never..lol. Since I've seen it many times before I sat, but really I would have rather stood. And I almost did, it is not my fault they got there later and people that wanted to sit comfy on the railing, didn't want us to block them. If other's would have stood, I would have too, but no one else stood so I didn't. It only lasted 15 minutes then we headed back to our room. I knew that the MGM fireworks would be going off at 9:50 pm and I wanted to be back to the room and viewing those fireworks, and we made it back in time. I could hear the music from our Balcony, not loud, but you could still hear it. And the fireworks over there were great, and I could see the giant Mickey too. So neat. I perfect ending to our day :-)

Easter Trip - Day 5

I woke this morning and got my bathing suit on because Steven said he wanted to swim today :-), that is all right with me. At about 8:00 am I got a knock on my door and it was none other than Rich..lol. I was on the phone with Donna and she had to say hi to Rich too. He is still jealous of my room, sorry Rich, I'm not giving it up. Rich and Deb are heading over to Blizzard Beach today and Steven and I are hanging out at our pool, Steven would love to go to Blizzard Beach, but Mom said no. Maybe next year we will get the AP that includes the water parks.

So we walked the Andersons to the elevators then we headed back to the room to get ready for our swim for the day. Luckily we found a seat, not hard to do at about 9:40 am :-). Steven and I hung around in the pool until they turned on the slide, then we both got in line to go down the slide. Steven made me go first so I could catch him on the bottom. And I did and I loved it. What fun. I tried to get Steven to do it again, but he didn't want too. If you go too far out from the slide the water is too deep for Steven. After that, we decided to go over to the quiet pool, to check it out, and there we only about 5 people there. But there were kids Steven's age, so we stayed and swam there. Almost had the pool to ourselves, it was kind of nice. Then we went into the Community Hall there and played a game of board Hockey, not sure of the name, Steven won (Well, not really, but I couldn't beat him all the time!).

We then headed back to the room to shower and go for lunch. We decided to just do the BoardWalk for lunch and ride the 2 seater bikes. Well, as soon as Steven saw the bikes he wasn't hungry anymore, typical kid, so we just rented the bike. If you have never done these bikes, don't do it alone, what a hike. It isn't bad till you go up the hills at the Swan and after the Beach Club. I made it up the one hill, but after that, I had to get out and push. It was great fun though, and Steven had a wonderful time, even though he didn't pedal at all, he couldn't reach yet. When we returned the bikes Steven told the girl that he did all the work, he said he had to navigate!!! LOL.

Then we went to get something to eat and Steven decided he wanted a cookie, I know, real healthy, but he is on vacation too, so I got him a chocolate Chip cookie and he was happy, I stoped at the store and got a pizza pocket. We went back to the room and I'm hoping to get Steven to take a nap before we head down for Harbor Club and Jellyrolls. No luck yet!

After our afternoon nap, we went over to Rich and Deb’s room and before going down to the Harbor Club. They kids were ready to party at the club and Moms and Dad were ready to go to Cape May for dinner. We dropped the kids off and got a beeper from Harbor Club and then walked over to the Beach Club for our dinner at Cape May. Kathy (Dznynut) greeted us and sat and talked to us as we waited for the table. When our table was ready, they let Kathy sit with us even though she was eating, so we got to visit for about a half hour. It was great seeing Kathy again. We ate and ate and ate some more…lol. They had mussels, clams, pork, ribs, chicken, shrimp, salad, and wonderful desserts. The food here is very good and Rich said that he will definitely be doing this place again. Dinner took us till 7:15 pm and we finally had our fill of dessert, those chocolate bon bons were great!!! Then we walked back to Jellyrolls. We thought we would have to pay a cover charge, but we did not, they don’t start charging until 8:00pm. So we went and sat down and ordered drinks. Then at 8:00 pm the piano guys play, they were great, but not much singing was going on. We had already decided earlier that we were going to leave Jellyrolls at 9:30 so we could pick up the kids and go and see the MGM fireworks from Steven’s and I room.

The music at Jellyrolls is really great, and I think this place will be great fun with a lot of people, but since we left so early we really didn’t get to sing all that much. I was drinking my beer out of the bottle and the one piano guy told me to guzzle my beer, the more we drink the better they sound. When he said that I started laughing and the beer foamed up and went everywhere…lol. But, we all had a good laugh on that one. Then the one piano man came and took our picture for us. Before we knew it the time had passed and it was 9:30 pm, and we had to go and pick up the kids. They were just serving the kids milk and cookies when we arrived, but they let our kids take their milk and cookies with them. They charged us $5.00 an hour for babysitting and $8.00 for the kids meal. Not bad for a quiet evening without the kids, a much needed break!!

We then headed up to our room and were just in time for the MGM fireworks. They were great again, and it is nice that you can actually hear the music too. You can even see that giant Mickey at the end of it all. What a perfect ending for our wonderful evening. It was a great time.

Easter Trip - Day 6

This is our last full day here in WDW L . We leave tomorrow morning, so this will be the last posting I will post from here. We woke early this morning for early entry, and I’m paying for it now. We started walking over to EPCOT at 7:20 am and had no waiting for Honey I Shrunk the Audience or the Imagination ride. We went with Rich and Deb and their friends, and since Steven did not want to ride the HISTA ride, he and I went on the Journey into Imagination ride. We were the only ones on that ride. We were going to meet Deb and Rich and their friends at the play area upstairs.

After the ride, Steven and I painted, played with the nails, and drew pictures. After about an hour, I finally convinced Steven to leave, I figured either Deb and those guys couldn’t find us or they just went somewhere else. So Steven and I started heading down towards the Land and we ran into Deb. She said they close the Journey into Imagination ride and they couldn’t get on to come up to see us. So they went on to the Spaceship Earth and then the Living Seas. So we walked to the Living Seas and went on that ride. Steven loves looking at all the fish, Mom doesn’t mind it, but I could skip this one.

We then went to the Land and rode their ride there. After that ride we parted with the Andersons, since they had to check out of their room this morning, I gave them Steven’s key to our room so that they could use it to change clothes later for the pool. On our way out Steven wanted a sugar cookie, not one cookie, but two. I said ok, but he better eat them and eat them he did. He surprised me!! We then walked to out of EPCOT towards BW and caught the boat to Yacht and Beach Club. There we switch boats and headed over to MGM. Steven wanted to do the back lot tour (His favorite ride at MGM, he loves making me sit on the left side, so I get soaked). Our first stop though, was at the little gas station store on the right of the MGM entrance. Steven just has to buy a car there, and he had $6.00 in his pouch that he wanted to spend. He picked out something for $9.00 so Mom threw in the other $3.00 (I’m easy!) and Steven was smiling from ear to ear. We then headed to Mama Melrose to see if we could stop for lunch, Steven was not hungry (after 2 cookies, I guess not), but Mom was, so he let me stop, as long as he could play with his new cars he just bought. We did not have reservations, but were seated in about 5 minutes, the place was deserted. I was surprised, but very happy. I got the penna pasta and Steven got a small pepperoni pizza. Steven only ate one piece, but I got a doggie bag for his pizza and he will now have dinner J . And I remembered to use my MKC card, a first for me, I always forget this thing. The meal, after our discount, came to $15.70.

After feeling our stomachs we headed to the Back Lot Tour and there was no wait! We were in the front of the line, so when they let us in we skipped the first part and went right to the tram ride. We had to wait in that line for about 10 minutes, but still not bad. It was a hot one today, and I couldn’t wait to get wet on the Tram ride. But we got the second car and we were in the first row of the second car and we got almost no water L . After that ride, we were going to ride the Star Tours ride, but the line was too long, so we decided to take the boat back to the room. And that is where we are now. We are planning on going to the Video Arcade after we rest up and either go to MGM or MK for tonight.

Post Trip

Well, I'm back home :-(, but I'm already planning our next trip in June. Our flight home was very uneventful, which is the way I like them and Steven was great for me. He meet another little boy while we were standing in line to get on the plane. We flew Southwest, so we got to pick our own seats. I said, why don't you boys sit together, and they both yelled, OK!!! So, there I was sitting on the plan with two boys, but it was great, the boys kept each other entertained, and I didn't have too.

We arrived in Columbus at 9:45, and got our luggage and car and were on the road to home, we made it home around 12:30 pm. Not bad!!

Darla

ILuvDVC@aol.com

PS: I just thought I would let you know that I will only have my pictures on my site till my June trip, then I remove them to make room for the next one :-).

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