DisneyJen
12-17-2001, 09:52 AM
Players: DH, 40, who after 17 years of marriage has learned that visiting WDW is part of our yearly family vacation plan. Me, DisneyJen, who has loved WDW since first stepping on property in 1972. Our DD, who is 9, stayed home with my parents since this trip was partly a Christmas shopping trip.
Background: We own DVC and are now at the point where we are deciding if we should add more points at DVC or add a week via Marriott's Vacation Club. Dear friends of ours own three weeks at Marriott and since they referred us we were able to stay at the Marriott Grande Vista for a very reasonable rate if we sat through a presentation, which we wanted to since we are in the fact-finding stage.
We can fly....
Being the mean parents that we are, we dropped DD off at school and then headed to Philadelphia International Airport for our flight to Tampa. We originally booked this trip back in August when air from PHL to Orlando was running much higher than air from PHL to Tampa. We have flown in and out of TPA a couple of times and the drive to WDW. We rented a Volvo wagon from Hertz for this trip since we are thinking about purchasing one in the fall.
DH travels a good deal and was able to upgrade us to first class ... This was the first time I had flown since 9/11 and I was a bit apprehensive. We had a wonderful flight attendant on our USAirways flight named Wendy who kept us laughing and quite comfortable (couldn’t have been the champagne now could it?).
The flight was a little over two hours and we were in our rental car and Orlando bound before 2. We found our way to the Marriott Grand Vista, which is off I-Drive near Sea World, and we checked in at 3:30.
After dropping off our bags we headed to the Publix on I-Drive for some provisions.... the basics for breakfast and post park relaxing. We then quickly unpacked and headed over to the Grand Floridian (GF). We had priority seating for 7:40 at Citrico's, one of our favorite restaurants. We arrived at the GF around 5, valet parked and then hopped on the monorail to Magic Kingdom.
While I waited in line to purchase our annual passes, DH waited and waited to see the space shuttle launch down by the boat dock. The good news is that the shuttle went up as scheduled at 5:19 ... bad news is that it was so cloudy that DH couldn't see the shuttle.
We cleared security and the gate by 5:30, just in time to watch the tree lighting ceremony on Main Street.
Since Dec. 5 is Walt Disney's birthday I just had to be at the one park that he really had a hand in creating. After all these years, it is still my favorite.
The tree lighting ceremony featured some caroling and a special visit from Mickey and Minnie. The music, the lights and the tree all came together so magically and for the first time this year I felt that holiday spirit. I was so overcome with joy that I actually cried. DH knows that I always cry the first and last days at Disney.
We wandered through the stores up around the castle, through Liberty Square and over to the Haunted Mansion. We were the last people on the ride for the day. It made it extra eerie:eek:
It seemed as if we were the only people in this park of MK. We worked our way through Fantasyland and stood by the Carousel to watch the fireworks. They were wonderful as always. DH and I commented that while you couldn't hear the soundtrack from this position you did indeed feel like you could reach out and touch the fireworks.
After the fireworks we slowly worked our way back down Main Street to the Monorail. We took the monorail to the GF.
In May, DH and I will celebrate my 40th birthday with our family (parents and siblings and of course DD) at Victoria and Albert's. We are staying at the BoardWalk for five days and the GF for 2. DH wanted to talk to the gust relations folks about something he has planned for that weekend so I relaxed and soaked in the holiday atmosphere. I was disappointed that the Grand Floridian Orchestra wasn't playing. We love their sound so much that we have two of their CDs.
By this time it was 7:15 and we both were exhausted. I asked DH if he would mind passing on dinner at Citrico's because all I wanted to do was put my feet up and relax. Being the wonderful guy that he is he said no problem and we headed back to the room.
We drove back to the room (I sure missed being on property) and ordered a pizza from Pizza Hut. Not exactly haute cuisine but at that point anything would have tasted good.
We phoned home and watched the end of "West Wing."
Background: We own DVC and are now at the point where we are deciding if we should add more points at DVC or add a week via Marriott's Vacation Club. Dear friends of ours own three weeks at Marriott and since they referred us we were able to stay at the Marriott Grande Vista for a very reasonable rate if we sat through a presentation, which we wanted to since we are in the fact-finding stage.
We can fly....
Being the mean parents that we are, we dropped DD off at school and then headed to Philadelphia International Airport for our flight to Tampa. We originally booked this trip back in August when air from PHL to Orlando was running much higher than air from PHL to Tampa. We have flown in and out of TPA a couple of times and the drive to WDW. We rented a Volvo wagon from Hertz for this trip since we are thinking about purchasing one in the fall.
DH travels a good deal and was able to upgrade us to first class ... This was the first time I had flown since 9/11 and I was a bit apprehensive. We had a wonderful flight attendant on our USAirways flight named Wendy who kept us laughing and quite comfortable (couldn’t have been the champagne now could it?).
The flight was a little over two hours and we were in our rental car and Orlando bound before 2. We found our way to the Marriott Grand Vista, which is off I-Drive near Sea World, and we checked in at 3:30.
After dropping off our bags we headed to the Publix on I-Drive for some provisions.... the basics for breakfast and post park relaxing. We then quickly unpacked and headed over to the Grand Floridian (GF). We had priority seating for 7:40 at Citrico's, one of our favorite restaurants. We arrived at the GF around 5, valet parked and then hopped on the monorail to Magic Kingdom.
While I waited in line to purchase our annual passes, DH waited and waited to see the space shuttle launch down by the boat dock. The good news is that the shuttle went up as scheduled at 5:19 ... bad news is that it was so cloudy that DH couldn't see the shuttle.
We cleared security and the gate by 5:30, just in time to watch the tree lighting ceremony on Main Street.
Since Dec. 5 is Walt Disney's birthday I just had to be at the one park that he really had a hand in creating. After all these years, it is still my favorite.
The tree lighting ceremony featured some caroling and a special visit from Mickey and Minnie. The music, the lights and the tree all came together so magically and for the first time this year I felt that holiday spirit. I was so overcome with joy that I actually cried. DH knows that I always cry the first and last days at Disney.
We wandered through the stores up around the castle, through Liberty Square and over to the Haunted Mansion. We were the last people on the ride for the day. It made it extra eerie:eek:
It seemed as if we were the only people in this park of MK. We worked our way through Fantasyland and stood by the Carousel to watch the fireworks. They were wonderful as always. DH and I commented that while you couldn't hear the soundtrack from this position you did indeed feel like you could reach out and touch the fireworks.
After the fireworks we slowly worked our way back down Main Street to the Monorail. We took the monorail to the GF.
In May, DH and I will celebrate my 40th birthday with our family (parents and siblings and of course DD) at Victoria and Albert's. We are staying at the BoardWalk for five days and the GF for 2. DH wanted to talk to the gust relations folks about something he has planned for that weekend so I relaxed and soaked in the holiday atmosphere. I was disappointed that the Grand Floridian Orchestra wasn't playing. We love their sound so much that we have two of their CDs.
By this time it was 7:15 and we both were exhausted. I asked DH if he would mind passing on dinner at Citrico's because all I wanted to do was put my feet up and relax. Being the wonderful guy that he is he said no problem and we headed back to the room.
We drove back to the room (I sure missed being on property) and ordered a pizza from Pizza Hut. Not exactly haute cuisine but at that point anything would have tasted good.
We phoned home and watched the end of "West Wing."