Our celebration and a vacation...My Trip Report w/ pics! Updated 2/13-Day 6

[UGAFan0829]

Okay, so let me start this off by saying that my main goal for writing this Pre-Trip Report and eventually a regular Trip Report is to hopefully be able to help at least one other DIS’er. I’ve been a member of these boards for a couple of years now, and I can’t tell you how much invaluable info has come from right here. So I know that I won’t be as entertaining and funny as some of the other TR’s that you might read, but I’m just trying to give back. If only one person gets some piece of valuable info from my report, then I have been successful!!

Now on with the show….
This will be our second trip to the World, the first trip being around the same time last year. Now, let me give you a little info on who we are.
Me- Missy, 27 now, but will turn 28 before we leave for the trip.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/100_1838.jpg
Love most all things Disney and have recently become more and more into Disney the past few years. My favorite character is Pooh, and I am very excited to be having breakfast with him at the CP on our anniversary this year. I also love dirt-track racing, and that is where the majority of my time is spend on the weekends. I am a HUGE kid at heart (probably more so than most people my age, and definitely more so than the DH.) I work at a bank where I have been for almost 8 years now. I hated math in school, so how I ended up at a bank is beyond me. But the company that I work for is great, and I enjoy what I do for the most part. I am also a huge planner and can be a little OCD at times when it comes to things like planning trips. Sometimes the DH calls me "Monk"!
The DH-Mike is 30.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Mikeears.jpg
He is my bestest friend in the whole world. He also loves dirt-track racing and drag racing and loves to hunt and fish. He doesn’t really have a “favorite” character so to speak, but he does love to clown around with Donald Duck and he is a fan of Mater
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/mikeandmater.jpg
and Goofy. He does a really cute Goofy imitation that always makes me laugh!! Mike is really an all-around great guy who can get along with just about anyone. He doesn't make a big fuss about planning things like I do...mainly just a go-with-the flow kind of guy, which is totally opposite from me!

As I said before, this will be our 2nd trip to Disney. Both the DH and I always wanted to come here as kids, but it never happened for either of us. As a matter of fact, neither one of us took that many family vacations when we were growing up, so it has become important for us to try to see and do all the things that we possibly can in our lifetime. As a matter of fact, we really love to travel. We were able to cruise on DCL in 2005 and 2006
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/MikeMissyMinnieMickey.jpg
and really fell in love with cruising. But we were really ready to see the “land” side of Disney, so in September of last year we made our first ever trip to the world. DH had just started a new job, and thankfully he got the okay to take a couple of days before they hired him. So we spent 4 nights at the All-Star Movies resort and were able to visit all of the parks with the exception of Animal Kingdom. And before we even left Disney property, we knew that we would be back again this year. So in December, I started planning our 2007 trip.

Since September was value season, and we had such great weather on our first trip, I decided to go around the same time of year again. Our anniversary is also in September, so I thought that it would be nice to celebrate in Disney. So our original plans went a little like this…September 9-15, staying at the Wilderness Lodge. Long before our first trip, when we had dreamed about visiting the World, the DH always wanted to stay at the Wilderness Lodge, so I was really excited to make this happen for him. When we booked, we also booked the Dining Package. Then a few months ago, they announced the free dining, so I was able to call and have my package credited which saved us a lot. I had also decided to book the Guided Fishing Excursion for the DH as an anniversary gift. What could be cooler than catching a big un’ right out of the waters of Disney World, right? Since I know that my husband likes to fish early in the morning (he says the fishing is better then), I booked the 7:00 a.m. excursion. I really wasn’t thinking when I decided to do this, but I had booked the excursion for the same day that we were due to arrive in Disney. Arriving in Disney at 7 a.m. might be a bit of a problem considering the fact that we live 7 hours away by car, and flying was definitely not an option, much less in the budget. So then I started thinking of adding an extra day to the beginning of our dates so that we could be up bright and early for the fishing, but would also give us a little extra time to do some of the other things that were on our “wish list”, like Disney Quest, mini-golf, etc. So when I tried to call back and add an extra day to our reservation, the CM told me that the free dining wasn’t available for that day, and that she would have to book a room only reservation for that one night. That really stunk because it would have been nice to have one more night for extra dining plan credits. Not to mention, there was a chance that we would have to change rooms, which wasn’t a huge deal, but all of this got me thinking about the possibility of switching resorts. So when I got online to see what I could find that was available in a moderate, my wheels started turning. I did a little research here to get some opinions/advice on what I should do and which mods were the best. So after I realized that we would be saving a lot more money by switching to a mod, I called the DH and asked what he thought about it. Of course, he was all up for saving money, so I cancelled our Wilderness Lodge package and booked a new one for the Caribbean Beach Resort. (Just for the record, I think I was more heartbroken about not staying at the Wilderness Lodge than the DH!) So, our new itinerary went like this: September 8-15, staying in a king room at the Caribbean Beach Resort!!

Can’t wait to be here:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/CaribbeanBeachCollage.jpg
If I haven't bored you yet, then stay tuned for all our dining plans and to see all of the "must haves" goodies that I got for the trip!!

[mvazul]

Great start to your report! :thumbsup2 It feels great to save that kind of money, doesn't it? :goodvibes

I look forward to reading more!!

Michelle

[UGAFan0829]

Great start to your report! :thumbsup2 It feels great to save that kind of money, doesn't it? :goodvibes

I look forward to reading more!!

Michelle

Thanks so much! I'm very excited to have a reader. Can't wait to post more!

[niclodn]

So far so good! My best friend and I, along with my 10-yr. old niece will be at Pop the 7th - 15th, so I am anxious to read more of your report to figure out what things I have forgotten to do:)

[UGAFan0829]

So far so good! My best friend and I, along with my 10-yr. old niece will be at Pop the 7th - 15th, so I am anxious to read more of your report to figure out what things I have forgotten to do:)

Thanks! I am sure that you are excited about your trip! We don't have much longer to go!

[UGAFan0829]

Well, in all my planning, I figured that I would need some new "goodies" along the way to take on our trip.
Even though I swore that they were the ugliest things on earth, and I told myself that I would never wear the things, I finally broke down and ordered myself a pair of Crocs. And now I can't make myself take them off. I guess after reading so many good reviews about them here on the boards and seeing all the other DIS'ers look so cute in theirs, I figured that they couldn't be that bad. Now I just have to convince the DH to like them too. He thought I was crazy when I first started talking about getting a pair, and honestly, I think that the more I wear them, the more he likes them...or so he says. So here's a pic of my brand new Disney Crocs in Pearl/Pink...I can't wait to sport them around the World:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/100_3319.jpg
If you are even thinking about getting yourself a pair, then I will tell you to do it!! I promise you won't regret. They do live up to all the hype!! (And just FYI...I ordered mine from shoebuy.com...They were the only ones that I could find who had the Disney style in stock...Plus they also offer free shipping AND free return shipping!! Can't beat that!)

I tell ya, I don't know how anyone could plan a Disney vacation without these boards! I'm sure you agree! I always manage to find out about the latest and greatest things...like my new Overland Donner that I also ordered a few months ago. Actually, last year I bought one of the Baggallini messanger bags and used it in the parks everyday. I have to say that I love the bag itself, as it did keep everything very handy, but I hated the way that it sat on me. It wasn't always the most comfortable thing to carry. I liked to keep the strap a little lose so that I wouldn't feel like it was clinging to me, but it kept falling down. And the strap just wasn't very comfortable. So I had been pondering trying something else when I happened upon a thread here on the DIS that was the answer to what I had been looking for. Someone had posted about the Overland bags (which I had never heard of), and I was immediately hooked. I think I ordered my bag that very day and had it a couple of days later. I'm still wondering if it's going to work as well as my Baggallini as far as keeping things handy and having lots of room, but we shall see. So here are a couple of pics of the new bag:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/100_3316.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/100_3317.jpg
(I also ordered it from shoebuy.com and was able to get a pretty good deal on it as well.)

The last of my goodies are just a couple of new "Disney" shirts that I've bought here and there. Last year my selection of Disney attire wasn't so great, so I thought that I would go dressed a little better this year. Here are the new shirts that I have hanging in my closest just waiting to be worn in Disney:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/100_3322.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/100_3320.jpg
And of course this is my FAVE:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/100_3323.jpg

Well, I guess that's about it for now. Next I plan on posting my plans to see what all you think about them.
Only a little more than a month to go...Can't wait!
Thanks again for reading!

[I Believe n Fairies]

Loving the pre trippie so far! I'll be there a little before you. This is also an anniversary trip for me and dh and our 2nd time in the world.

I like the Overland bag, but I think dh would kill me if I got one after pitching a fit for my Baggalini last year! :lmao:

OH, I have the Crocs, too. I'll have to clean mine up for our trip! I've worn them so much...:rolleyes:

[UGAFan0829]

Loving the pre trippie so far! I'll be there a little before you. This is also an anniversary trip for me and dh and our 2nd time in the world.

I like the Overland bag, but I think dh would kill me if I got one after pitching a fit for my Baggalini last year! :lmao:

OH, I have the Crocs, too. I'll have to clean mine up for our trip! I've worn them so much...:rolleyes:

Thanks a bunch!
It sounds like we have a lot in common. Congrats on your upcoming anniversary. I know I couldn't think of any better place to spend our anniversary!

I know what you mean about the bags...I kinda didn't tell the DH that I was ordering the Overland until after it had arrived. But he did agree with me that we needed something new for this trip since the Baggallini didn't work so well last year!

Thanks for reading!

[mvazul]

I love the shirts (especially the top one)....and the shoes.....and the bag!! :goodvibes In fact, I have the exact same bag - even the same color. I bought my bag from bagsbuy.com after I bought my Birkenstocks from shoebuy.com. They were really easy to order through. :thumbsup2

[UGAFan0829]

Well, not much happening here in Pre-trippie land, so I thought that I would post our plans for each day. I have been over these time and time again, until I've decided that I'm not changing another thing!! Actually, I'm open to any feedback/input that anyone has. Like I said before, this will be only our 2nd trip, so I'm fully aware that we still have a lot to learn!!

Saturday, September 8th- Also known as arrival day!!
As mentioned earlier, we live about 7-8 hours away from Disney, so our plan is to try and be on the road as early as possible Saturday morning.:car: Hopefully no later than 6 a.m., but we're never able to leave on time...I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this year will be different, though! Not to mention, the earlier we leave, the more ATL traffic that we'll be able to beat!:scared:
Our plan is to stop in Valdosta at the Cracker Barrel for a quick but yummy breakfast at around 9 a.m. (if not earlier.) :coffee:
Other than potty breaks or needing gas, I hope that we don't have to stop again until we're in Florida, which I am really hoping is by 2 p.m. at the very latest. That would give us a total of 9 hours to make it, providing that we are on the road by 5 a.m.
Once we arrive at Disney, of course our first item on the list is to check in here...
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/CaribbeanBeachCollage.jpg
Where I'm hoping that we'll have a room ready!
After checking in and hauling our stuff to the room, if needed, our 2nd item on the list is to visit some of the other resorts. Since I always drive myself crazy trying to decide which resort I want to stay at next, we figured that we would go and check them out in person. If possible, we'd like to try and see Pop Century, both of the Port Orleans resorts, Animal Kingdom Lodge, Coronado Springs...all in no particular order. Of course if we decide not to check-out the resorts, we always have the option of exploring our own resort, or resting in the room.
At 5:15, we have a dinner ADR for 50's Prime Time Cafe in MGM.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/50sPT.jpg
We really wanted to try this one last time, but it just didn't work out for us, so we are going to hit it this time. I'm excited about this one, but I hope that the DH and I are able to finish our meals so that we can have dessert!!:mickeybar
After dinner, we plan to return to the resort to splash around in the pool. (I can't wait to slide down the slide!!:banana: ) Or maybe play around in the arcade, then turn in at a decent hour to be well rested for an early morning for day 2!!

[UGAFan0829]

Sunday, September 9th- Fishing Excursion in the early A.M. followed by Epcot
Day 2's plans go a little something like this:
At 7 a.m. we have the Guided Fishing Excursion booked. This is my gift to the DH for our anniversary. As I noted earlier, he loves to fish, so I thought that it would be really neat for him to have the chance to do this. We'll be leaving from the Wilderness Lodge marina to go out, so we'll have to be up and out of the room early in order to make it over in time. When I made the reservation, I was told that we needed to be there at least 15 minutes early, which would put us there by 6:45 at the latest, so I know that this is going to be a very early morning for us, but I am sure that it will be worth it!!
Since the trip is supposed to last for 2 hours, that will put us finishing up right around 9 a.m.
After fishing, we plan to head over to Epcot.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/epcot.jpg
Last year, Epcot was the hardest park for us to cover. It really is a BIG park. And even though we got there right after park opening, we were just too run down to be able to see everything. We acutally ended up skipping most all of World Showcase. It really proved to be too much for us, so this year I wanted to try a different approach. I thought that we would spend this morning in the Future World section. And just take a leisurely pace since we won't be rushed to do anything. Plus mine and the DH's favorite rides are in this section (his being Test Track,
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/testtrack.jpg
and mine being Mission Space.)
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/missionspace.jpg
After Epcot, we have a 6 p.m. dinner ADR for Chef Mickey's.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/chefmickeys.jpg
We ate dinner here last year and LOVED it. The character interaction was really a lot of fun. Not to metion those mashed potatoes were WONDERFUL!!!
After dinner, if we aren't too tired, we plan on heading over to Fantasia Gardens for a little friendly mini-golf competition!
Depending on how tired we are after mini-golf, we'll either head back to the resort for some more swimming, or head to bed!

[Beep]

Hi, it all sounds great! Can't wait to read more.

I love the t-shirts and Crocs. I have been a HUGE Croc fan for about 18 months and seem to be collecting them! I've got a pair of turquoise ones with Disney Jibbitz ready for our trip in September and can't wait to wear them out! I've trekked around India in a pair and they still look as good as they did when I bought them.

Hope you have a great anniversary - I'm proposing to my DBF at Boma when we are there!! It is his birthday and I've booked a couple of nights at the Boardwalk. We've never stayed on-site before, or visited the resorts so i am really looking forward to it.

Keep us updated :thumbsup2

[Nicole786]

Okay,

1. This TR is awesome, I love the pics!!
2. I love those croc colors! Originally I didnt want the mickey crocs, but I don't know if i can resist with that awesome color combo!
3. That Pooh Studio shirt?? I just ordered it myself! Well, in the cinderella version

Can't wait for the next update!

[Nicole786]

Also just wanted to add:

1. Did you get those shirts at the disney store or online?
2. If you are doing the fishing excursion at the WL, you'll probably see us on the 9th! While he's out fishing, we'll probably be eating breakfast at roaring forks! We'll also be at EPCOT that day too, so it would be funny if we were on the same bus! lol

[UGAFan0829]

Okay,

1. This TR is awesome, I love the pics!!
2. I love those croc colors! Originally I didnt want the mickey crocs, but I don't know if i can resist with that awesome color combo!
3. That Pooh Studio shirt?? I just ordered it myself! Well, in the cinderella version

Can't wait for the next update!

Also just wanted to add:

1. Did you get those shirts at the disney store or online?
2. If you are doing the fishing excursion at the WL, you'll probably see us on the 9th! While he's out fishing, we'll probably be eating breakfast at roaring forks! We'll also be at EPCOT that day too, so it would be funny if we were on the same bus! lol

Thanks for reading! I know I have enjoyed reading yours. I got really excited when I read your latest post and saw that you got some Disney mail...:banana:
Hopefully that's a sign that I'll be getting ours before too much longer!!


As far as my shirts...I actually got the two Mickey ones online and the Pooh one I bought in the store!!
Since we have to be over at WL before the buses start running, we'll have to take our car over, which means that we'll have to drive over to Epcot...so we won't be on the bus, but maybe we'll still see ya in Epcot!

[UGAFan0829]

Sorry that I haven't updated in a few days (not that anyone has even noticed :rolleyes:). It's been a busy few days at work and home, so I haven't had much time to sit down and type it all out!
Ok, so enough with the excuses...Back to the Pre-trippie!
So, when I left off I was posting all of our plans for y'all to see. So to pick up from where I left off...

Monday, September 10th- Epcot (again)
As I had mentioned earlier, Epcot was the hardest park for us to cover last year. Since we plan on spending the afternoon there on Sunday, we’ll cover the rest on this day. In fact, depending on how much we cover on Sunday, we may even sleep late and wait until World Showcase opens before we head out. That’s one of those wait and see things.
We really don’t have anything planned until the evening when we have a 6:10 dinner ADR for Le Cellier.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/LeCellier.jpg
The DH and I both are really excited about eating here as I’ve read some really good things about this place.
After dinner, we hope to catch Illuminations, which is something that we missed last year, so I’m really excited about seeing it this year. I’m a little nervous about finding a good spot though. I’ve read lots of different info, and it all seems a little confusing. If anyone has any tips on finding a good spot, I’m all ears! :earboy2:

So, that’s the plan for day 3. I know it probably doesn’t sound to thrilling, but there’s a lot to see in Epcot. Hopefully with the game plan that we have, we’ll be able to see a lot of what we missed before!!

Thanks again for reading! I’ll be posting more sometime today!

[Nicole786]

Last year, we found a great but I cant remember where we were!! I think we were to the right of France (towards mexico) and we had a great area!! As long as you can see the reflection of the island in the water (this means you'll have an unobstructed view) you'll be fine!

[UGAFan0829]

Last year, we found a great but I cant remember where we were!! I think we were to the right of France (towards mexico) and we had a great area!! As long as you can see the reflection of the island in the water (this means you'll have an unobstructed view) you'll be fine!

Awesome! Thanks for the tip!:thumbsup2 I will keep that in mind!

[UGAFan0829]

Tuesday, September 11th- Magic Kingdom- OUR ANNIVERSARY!!!

This will be the day that I am the most excited about of all! We'll be getting up early for a breakfast ADR with Pooh and all his pals at the Crystal Palace.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/crystalpalace.jpg
This was actually the very first meal that we ever had in Disney World on our trip last year, and I knew the minute that we stepped foot out of the restaurant that it would be a tradition for us. As you already know, Pooh is my fave, so I can't wait to see him again. I remember last year, that I hardly ate anything because I was afraid of getting up and missing the characters. It was really a lot of fun! Here are couple of pics from last year:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/100_1848.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/100_1841.jpg
So after breakfast with my favorite characters, the plan is to try and take the park a little at a time and fit in as much as possible. I think we had the most fun here last year, and we really got to see and do a lot of the rides. So I'm hoping that we get to do them all again and include some of the things that we did miss. One thing I know that we have to make sure and include is a stop at Aloha Isle for one of these delicious concoctions:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/dolefloat.jpg
I remember reading all about them last year, so we tried one out, and it was wonderful! Can't wait to have another!!!
We plan on staying in the parks long enough to see the afternoon parade, possibly a little longer, but will have to leave early enough to head back to the resort to get ready for our anniversary dinner ADR at California Grill.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/californiagrill.jpg
We really had a hard time picking out the restaurant that we wanted to eat at on this night, and after asking around here on the boards and reading some reviews, this is what we finally decided on. Our reservation is at 8, so I'm hoping that we'll get to catch these while we're there:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/100_2064.jpg
We did get to see Wishes and Spectromagic last year, so if we miss them this year, I won't be too awfully disappointed. But when I called to make the ADR this was the closest time that was available, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!!
I'm still not sure what we'll do after dinner since our reservation is a little later than normal, but I had thought about maybe going to DTD to check out some of the clubs at Pleasure Island. The DH and I have never been "club goers", or really big dancers, but I thought that it might be something neat and different to do. If anyone has any suggestions on the best clubs to visit, let me know!!

So that's it for our plans for day 4! More coming later!!

[Nicole786]

Wow you should have a great anniversary day!! First timer at crystal palace this year, but its for dinner and I haven't heard much about the dinner, i hear the breakfast is great!! ANd darn you for that delectible edible picture of a dole float! I can't wait to get my hands on that baby! I already have it planned that the first day we're there, we'll be at magic kingdom for the parade and I need a dole float for the parade!!!!

[UGAFan0829]

We're finally under the 30 day mark...
ONLY 29 MORE DAYS TO GO...:banana:

Not that I'm counting or anything!! ;)

More updates/plans coming later!:thumbsup2

[mvazul]

WooooooHoooooo!! Congrats on 29 days!! :banana:

Your plans look great. I'm sure you will have a great time. BTW - my BIL and his wife also have September 11th (1999) for their anniversary date! ;)

[UGAFan0829]

Good morning! I hope that everyone had a great weekend (or at least the two of you who are actually reading this!!!)
So, I haven't had much to update on lately, so I've just been posting our plans for each park. It's actually kind of fun to do...it makes the magic seem more real!
But I do have something new to report today!! A couple of weeks ago the DH found out that his boss is going to be in Disney for a couple of the same days as us! Too neat! I always love to hear when people we know are going to Disney! It turns out that he and his wife are going down for a long weekend to attend the Nights of Joy at the Magic Kingdom. So, we are trying to plan to be able to eat dinner together one night. I'm waiting to hear from his wife to compare our plans to see which night we might be able to meet up. All of our dinners are booked, but if they are able to join us one night, hopefully we'll be able to add 2 to our ADR. So even though I'm usually very shy when it comes to this kind of thing, I think that it will be really neat. Even though I've only met the boss once, I know that he is a really great guy and my husband loves working for him!!! So I will make sure to keep you posted to let you know what we figure out about meeting them for dinner!!!

So now, I'm going to continue on with posting our plans for the rest of the week.

Wednesday, September 12th-MGM
The plan for this day is to spend pretty much the entire day, or as much as possible, in MGM. I'm hoping that we'll make it in time for the park opening, but if not, I don't think it will be a huge deal. I know that we were late getting there last year, but still had plenty of time to do all of the things that we wanted and still ended up leaving in the early evening.
One thing that I do want to make sure and do this year is to visit the Animation Studios! I read someone else's TR, and they had some really cute drawings from there. I'm no artist by any means, but I figured that it would be fun to give it a shot!!
We do have a very early dinner ADR at Hollywood Brown Derby for the Fanstasmic Dinner Package.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/brownderby.jpg
I know that some people think that the Fantasmic package isn't really neccessary at the time of year that we're going, but I thought it would be nice to try anyhow. Our reservation is at 4:10, so we should have time to watch the afternoon parade before we head over to dinner. Since we're eating WAAY earlier that we are used to, I am sure that we'll be using some of our counter service credits later that night!
I am guessing that we'll probably have plenty of time to venture around the park a little more before we see Fantasmic.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/fantasmic.jpg
One other thing that I would like to try and see is Beauty and the Beast and the Lights, Motors, Action stunt car show. We wanted to see both of these last year, but ended up missing them!!
I'm not positive on how long Fantasmic lasts, but hopefully we'll be back to CBR at a decent hour!!

[UGAFan0829]

Thursday, September 14th-Typhoon Lagoon
I think this is one of the days that I'm most excited about! I am a total kid when it comes to water. I could play in the water all day long and not get bored. It has been a really long time since I'v been to a water park, and I cannot wait to go to Typhoon Lagoon!!
I'm a little nervous about the DH with this one though. Unfortunately, he wears glasses and he's one of those who can't wear contacts, so we always have to be cautious when it comes to things like this. I'm going to make sure that he has a good time though!!
Bascially, for this day, we plan on being at the park when it opens. I hope that we're able to do most of the rides that we want. I doubt that we'll do all of them, but especially the tube rides!
Hopefully we'll have done everything that we want to do by early afternoon as we'll have to head back to the hotel around 3:30 to get ready for our 5:10 dinner ADR at the Whispering Canyon Cafe.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/whipseringcanyoncaf.jpg
After dinner we plan to hit DTD to do Disney Quest, which is something else that I'm really excited about.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/disneyquest.jpg
Hopefully it won't be too crowded, which I've heard that it can be. I really want to do the thing where you make your own roller coaster and then ride it!! I think that will be a ton o' fun!!!
If we have enough time after DQ, then we plan to hit the Marketplace to do some shopping! And of course, we'll have to visit Ghirardelli to get some of that yummy good stuff before heading "home" for the night.

[Nicole786]

your plans sound great! We're going to typhoon lagoon also and I can't wait!!! Be sure to do shark reef, thats one i cant wait for!!

[hjd0411]

Hi there - and Happy Anniversary to you and your DH. Your plans sound good so far - and you are looking forward to everything, by the sounds of it!!!! :rotfl2: (Don't blame you, though - so am I!! ;) )

Keep up the good work on your pre-trip report, and please remember to do an actual trip report - I can pick up some tips from you for my trip!

Thanks for your hard work..

[UGAFan0829]

Hi there - and Happy Anniversary to you and your DH. Your plans sound good so far - and you are looking forward to everything, by the sounds of it!!!! :rotfl2: (Don't blame you, though - so am I!! ;) )

Keep up the good work on your pre-trip report, and please remember to do an actual trip report - I can pick up some tips from you for my trip!

Thanks for your hard work..

Thank you so much for reading! I will definitely make sure to write a trip report! I plan on taking my laptop wiht me, so I may even write some while I'm there, though I'm not going to promise anything!;)

[Code]

Followed you here from my pre-trip, I too love hearing about other couples w/o kids, and our dates overlap! It's cool that you'll be there for your anniversary.

I didn't know a thing about free dining either when I booked and we were doing the dining plan anyway. Sure was nice to get that $$$ back ;) When that happened I added an extra day so we could be there for Haunted Mansion's reopening. We'll be at the MK gate super early for the morning EMH on the 13th, assuming it doesn't soft open earlier in the trip (and it doesn't sound like it will). I hope we get to ride the "new" HM at least twice!

I chuckled when I saw the Overland Donner, I just finished posting pics of ours in our thread. I'll be carrying my camera bag but we decided there wasn't enough spare room so I picked a Donner up for my wife too, 100% because of the DIS. She probably wanted one of the brighter colors, but .. err.. I might have to carry it too :laughing:

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Hey there! It sounds like your trip is really coming together nicely. I love all the cute things you have bought for your trip. You must be getting really excited as you are getting really close. Can't wait to hear more about your trip.



http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/100_3319.jpg


I have the same pair of Crocs and I love them:love: I wore them all over WDW in July and they were fantastic.


http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/100_3316.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/100_3317.jpg


That bag is super cute! I may have to pick one up for myself. I have a Baggalini which was great but we really needed a second bag due to all the stuff my mom crammed into the one bag.


And of course this is my FAVE:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/100_3323.jpg

I just love the Studio Collection. I bought a bunch of them online earlier this week as they were all on sale for $5 each!




This will be the day that I am the most excited about of all! We'll be getting up early for a breakfast ADR with Pooh and all his pals at the Crystal Palace.

We ate breakfast here and loved it!:love: It also really neat to get to enter the park an hour early and get Main St and the castle to yourself.

[UGAFan0829]

Hello again! I can't believe that it's been so long since I last posted. I am really starting to get anxiety as we only have 16 days left, and I feel like I still have a TON of things to do!!:scared1: Since we are leaving on a Saturday, my inital plans were to just take Friday off, but now I think I may go ahead and take Thursday of as well. I still have to get all of our clothes washed, ironed, folded and packed. I still have to make our mousekeeping envelopes and the decorations for the door, which I can't do until I get some ink for my printer!:scared:
So anway...To pick up where I left off....

Friday, September 14th- Animal Kingdom
This will be our last day in the parks!!:sad1:
We missed Animal Kingdom all together last year, so I'm pretty excited bout seeing it this time around, and especially riding Everest.
Our game plan is to be at the park when it opens that morning. Hopefully we'll be able to do most of the things that we want. But the one thing that I know that I don't care about doing is the "trail" or whatever it is that has the bats. :scared1: I hate bats and am very scared of them, so I can't imagine seeing them up close like some of the pictures that I've seen here.
We plan to catch Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade at 4, and then will head out shortly after to make our 6:20 p.m. dinner ADR at 'Ohana. I also have to stop by the check in desk to drop of my Croc for the next DIS'er to take care of.
After dinner, we plan to walk around and check out the resort and then head over to the Grand Floridian since we've never been inside.
Lastly, if we have any last minute shopping to do, we'll probably end up at DTD before heading back "home" to get things packed up to head out the next morning.

So that's it...That's what we have planned for our 7 nights in Disney. It sure seems funny typing all of it out so fast when it took so long to get everything planned. I just hope that the actual vacation doesn't go by so fast! I can't believe that in 16 days, I'll actually be living out all of these plans! And I hope to meet up with some of the other DIS'ers who are going to be there at the same time as us.

Even though I'm finished posting our plans, I still have lots to do as I mentioned at the beginning of the post...like making our door signs, printing the mousekeeping envelopes, getting packed, etc....
So stay tuned to see what else I can manage to report.
Thanks again to those who have been reading. I can't wait to make this an "official trip report!"

[mvazul]

Wow!! Only 16 days left! Trust me, it will fly by. I can say that with certainty as I sit here with only 4 days left. ;) All of your plans look great. You are doing a few things I would have liked to try (WCC, water park), but we just don't have enough time/days. I guess I will just have to go back! :thumbsup2

Michelle

[hjd0411]

16 days - getting closer!! I'm with you re the planning thing. I'm taking off 4 days before I leave - I've got to go to the hairdresser, drop one dog off with my parents and the other at kennels, do some last minute shopping/washing etc, plus all the other last minute things that have to get done prior to going away. I even have to renew my drivers licence as it expires 2 days after I leave. So, I feel your pain!!!:)
Anyway, your plans sound good - I'm always interested in what other people are doing! :rolleyes1
Have a great trip if I don't get back here before you go! And remember the trip report!!! ;)

[UGAFan0829]

Wow!! Only 16 days left! Trust me, it will fly by. I can say that with certainty as I sit here with only 4 days left. ;) All of your plans look great. You are doing a few things I would have liked to try (WCC, water park), but we just don't have enough time/days. I guess I will just have to go back! :thumbsup2

Michelle

I know I can't believe that time has went by so fast. I have a feeling that the trip will feel the same.
Only 4 days left for you...WOW!:banana:
Isn't it funny that no matter how long of a vacation you take, there is just never enough time to do everything that you want?!
I hope that you have a wonderful trip, and I can't wait to read your TR when you get back!

16 days - getting closer!! I'm with you re the planning thing. I'm taking off 4 days before I leave - I've got to go to the hairdresser, drop one dog off with my parents and the other at kennels, do some last minute shopping/washing etc, plus all the other last minute things that have to get done prior to going away. I even have to renew my drivers licence as it expires 2 days after I leave. So, I feel your pain!!!:)
Anyway, your plans sound good - I'm always interested in what other people are doing! :rolleyes1
Have a great trip if I don't get back here before you go! And remember the trip report!!! ;)

Now it's only 15 to go...:banana:
Wow, it's good to know that I'm not alone in still having so much to do!
Like you, I like to know what other people's plans are...especially to make sure that I'm not missing out on anything!!
Thanks for reading, and I hope that you have a good trip as well!!

[UGAFan0829]

Only 10 days to go!
I am really in shock right now. It seems like just yesterday that I was booking this trip, and now we only have 10 days left. I will be honest and admit that I am actually having a little anxiety now. I am very nervous. The DH says that I do this everytime that we go on vacation, but I don't remember ever feeling this way before. First of all, this will be the longest that we've ever been away from home. I'm worried about my doggies. I hope that they don't miss us too much. We're having to trust my nephew and brother-in-law to feed them, and even though I know they will take care of it since they are just next door, I still worry about it. I think some of it has to do with the fact that I still have a lot to do. We still have to go get the DH a new pair of shoes, I need a couple more shirts, I have to get a car charger for my cell phone, still have to make my mousekeeping envelopes and make my door signs. And I haven't finished reading the UG, either and that stresses me too. Even though I didn't read any guidebooks before we went last year, we still had a wonderful time, but this year I'm afraid that I'm going to miss out on something. I keep telling myself that it's not going to ruin my trip if I don't finish the book before we leave.
Another thing that I'm having anxiety about is missing a weekend at the racetrack. We are huge into dirt-track racing, and every Saturday we are at the races. My family was into racing, so I was born into it. I went to my first race when I was 2 weeks old and have been going ever since. Looking forward to raceday is what gets me through the week sometimes, so I'm really sad that we're going to miss a weekend. We're leaving to go down on a Saturday, so I know that we'll have to miss that one, and we're coming home on a Saturday, but I'm hoping that we can be on the road early enough that morning to make it home in time to make it to the track that night.

Well, now that I vented about all my anxieties, I do have some good news. I mentioned in a previous post that the DH's boss and his wife are going to be in Disney as the same time as us, and that we were going to try and work something out so that we go eat together. Well, it ends up that they are staying at the Wilderness Lodge. We'll be at the Lodge on Sunday morning for the DH's fishing excursion. Turns out, that they had a breakfast reservation at Whispering Canyon for 9:30, which will hopefully work out perfectly because our fishing trip is supposed to be over at 9! So we are meeting them for breakfast that morning. I'm excited about that!

I'll try and post more later. I'm going to start getting packed in the next couple of days, and since we get paid on Friday we'll be picking up the last of what we need over the weekend.

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Just try and relax, your trip is going to be great!

That is great that you are able to meet up with DH's boss for breakfast, it is really neat that you guys are going to be down there at the same time.

[Code]

I know what you mean about the anxiety. We are 1 week & 1 day away and most of the big stuff we need to do is taken care of, but there are still a lot of little things that can't be forgotten, and it seems like each day is absolutely blinking by.

[Nicole786]

I know how you feel! With not feeling well, i'm getting really nervous and anxious about the upcoming trip!

[UGAFan0829]

I want to start this installment off by saying that I apologize for being so slack with my posts lately.
I have to admit that time has really flown by and the past few days have really snuck up on me. We now have 2 days to go, and I am still in panic mode. Though I am starting to get excited again.
We went over the weekend and got the DH a new pair of kicks to wear. He has a size 15 foot, so sometimes it's really hard to find shoes that he actually likes in his size. Thankfully, we aren't very far from a Tanger Outlet Mall who happens to have a Nike Store. We were able to find several pair of shoes in his size there, and ones that he actually liked to boot!!
I was able to add a couple more $$ to my spending stash last week as I received some $ from my Dad for my birthday! That's always a good thing, right. I also got this really, really cute pair of gold Pooh earrings from my Mom that I can't wait to wear with my Pooh shirt.
SO the last couple of days have been spent doing odd and end kinda things...like trying to get all the clothes washed, getting the suitcases out, making door signs, etc, etc. I am really still in shock that we are leaving for this vacation in 2 days...It just seems unreal to me!
I'm still a little nervous about leaving my doggies for so long and just being gone from home for that long in general, but I'm sure that once we get there things will be fine!!
I've been trying to get all my memory cards cleaned off so that I'll have plenty of room for lots of pics, so that's why there's no pics on this installment, but if I get some stuff done tomorrow then I'll try and post some.
Thanks again to everyone who's been reading so far, and I really can't wait to turn this thing into a real trip report!

[hjd0411]

Ooooh, that is so good!!! 2 days to go!!! Have a fabulous vacation, and I look forward to your trip report and lots and lots of photos!!
See you when you get back.... :wave2:

Oh, and don't stress - it's all going to be OK!!! :thumbsup2

[UGAFan0829]

We're here!!!
Just wanted to post a quit update to let say that we're here! We arrived on Saturday afternoon and hit the ground running. We've went full speed ahead the past two days, so we decided to sleep in a little this morning to catch up on a little lost sleep. I had planned on posting before now, but I had a little trouble getting on the internet.
Anyway, the weather has been nice so for. It did rain on us Saturday afternoon, but cleared up quickly. It has been really hot and humid though.
I will try and post again later in the week!!

[UGAFan0829]

Well, our trip is now over and done with. I can't believe that a week went by so fast. When we look back, the days really flew by, but yet we really did a lot. It was really hot down there, a lot hotter than I remember it being last year, but we still had a blast. In fact, we had so much fun, that we took advantage of the free dining promotion and booked again for next year.
I hope to get the actual trip report started sometime today with lots of pictures to go along with it!

[UGAFan0829]

:scared: :dance3: I looks like it's finally time to start that trip report that I've been giving so much thought to the past couple of days. Honestly, looking back now, the whole week really seems like a blur. Like I mentioned before, this was the longest vacation that we've ever taken, and while we were able to do a lot, there was a lot that we didn't get to do, and it all went by so fast.
Our first day started out pretty early. We got up around 3 a.m., with the intention of being on the road by 5, but just as it never happens that we actually leave at the time we plan, we didn't leave until a little after 6. It really wasn't that big of a deal, but I did have some things that I wanted to try and do before our 5:15 dinner at 50's Prime Time.
When we left, I was driving. We stopped at Chick-fil-A in McDonough, GA and had breakfast. Thankfully they weren't very busy, so we were able to get in and out pretty quickly. I continued to drive until we got to Valdosta where we had to stop and get gas, and then Mike took over. We stopped at the FL welcome center to potty and then once more further into FL we stopped to get some donuts. We ended up getting into Orlando around 2. We made our way to the Caribbean Beach Resort where we would be staying for 7 whole nights.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/100_3553.jpg
We found the Customs House, parked and made our way inside. My first thought was WOW...it was really crowded in there. There was a long line for check-in, but it really went fast. The Customs House is a really neat place. As we were waiting to check-in, Mike and I talked about how it really did feel like we were in the Caribbean. We liked the place already, and hadn't even made it to our room yet.
Once we finally made our way up to the counter, we had only been waiting for about 10 minutes, it really wasn't long at all. There were lots of CM's working, and you could tell they were doing their best to get everyone checked in as fast as they could. I don't remember the CM's name that helped us, but she was very nice, and I do remember that one of the first words out of her mouth was, "Welcome!" It was really nice to hear that. We proceeded with the check-in process, and she gave us 2 anniversary buttons that I was really excited about. She told us that we were in Trinidad North on the 2nd floor...room 3348.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/100_3505.jpg
I asked to make sure that we were in a King room, and she confirmed that we were. I was a little nervous before she told us what village we were in, because I know that most of the bad reviews that the CBR has gotten has been because of the size of the resort and time that it takes to get to Old Port Royale from some of the islands that are a little further away.
We said our thank-you's to the nice CM and headed back to the car to make our way to Trinidad North!
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/100_3558.jpg
I think it was then that it finally hit me that we were in Disney. Once I realized how close Trinidad North was to Old Port Royale and that we were on the 2nd floor with a king bed, I got really excited. We unloaded some of our luggage and made our way up to our room. We were in building 33, and as luck would have it, we were the last room on the front of the building, which meant we were on the corner...Yeah!
We had 2 windows which made the room look bigger. Once we got inside here's what we found:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/100_3508.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/100_3510.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/100_3511.jpg
The room was great. It was very roomy, and perfect for the two of us!! Everything was clean, and we were ready to start our vacation.
By this time, it was getting pretty late, and since we had our dinner reservation coming up, we decided to shower and change clothes before we headed over to MGM for our dinner. We also had a appt. for the photo session over at the Grand Floridian that I was excited about, so I prayed that we didn't spill anything on us during dinner.
After we were ready to go, we decided that since we were running a little late, that it might be best for us to drive our own car over to the park since we weren't sure how long it might take us if we waited for the bus.
We made it to the park with about 15 minutes to spare, and of course as we parked, it started to rain. Thankfully, I had brought our bag with us that we were going to carry in the parks, so I happened to have 2 ponchos for the long walk through the parking lot to the gate. Once we finally got inside the park, we were right at our 5:10 reservation time. We made our way on over to the restaurant and checked-in. The restaurant was full and lots of people were waiting. I noticed as we were waiting that there were several people who were trying to get in for dinner, but all of them were turned away as everything was booked for the night. We waited about 15 minutes or so, and was finally called and were seated towards the back of the restaurant. It took a few minutes before our server came to the table, and even though she "played" the part well, her service wasn't great. We went ahead and ordered our drinks, appetizers and meals all at the same time, and found that to be how all of the other restaurants that we dined at during the week worked as well. I think it actually worked better that way. Mike had the shrimp cocktail and I had the Herb Fried cheese to start with. Of course silly me wasn't paying attention to what I was saying when I ordered, so I pronounced it as HERB instead of erb. Our waitress got a good kick out of that, and didn't let me forget it for the rest of the meal. Mike's shrimp was as good as shrimp is supposed to be, and my Herb cheese was WONDERFUL!! I love cheese anyway, but this was excellent!
Shortly after we finished our appetizers, our meals arrived. I had the Old Fashioned Pot Roast, and Mike had the Golden Fried Chicken. Both plates were pretty big portions and were really good. Mike loved his chicken, and my pot roast was pretty good as well. I ate all my vegetables with the exception of the celery, which I DO NOT eat. Thankfully Mike helped me out, and ate it for me so that I could order dessert. We ended up waiting a while for her to come back and get our dessert order and fill up our glasses. Here's a pic of me being bad and putting my elbows on the table:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/100_3516.jpg
And here's Mike deciding on what he wanted for dessert:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/100_3520.jpg
We sat right across from this neat little tv set that we watched on and off while we waited:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/100_3523.jpg
Overall, this turned out to be a really good meal despite the slow service. But again, they were really busy that night, so I'm sure that was probably the reason. Either way, we would definitely eat here again!!
After dinner, we had a little time to look around in some of the shops, as our photo session appt. wasn't until 8:30. Since it was our first day, we didn't buy anything and decided to wait until later in the week to start our shopping.
We headed back to our car, and since it had rained on my hair, it was not exactly picture material, so we went back to our resort and I was able to freshen up before we headed to the Grand Floridian.
Since we still had time to spare, we decided that it would just be easier to take a bus over to the Magic Kingdom, and then over to the GF. When the bus came, we were the only ones on. So the driver asked if we were actaully going to MK, or if we were headed somewhere else. We told him that we needed to go to the Grand Floridian, so he told us that he would drop us off there! Awesome! I thought that was really nice of him to do that for us, and so we got our first dose of Disney Magic on this trip!!
Once we got to the GF, we took a few pics of the beautiful lobby, and I decided that I would love to stay there one day when we win the lottery! haha! It is a beautiful place.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/100_3532.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/100_3531.jpg
Because of our awesome bus driver, we still had a few minutes to kill, so we took a look in one of the shops right off of the lobby. I saw a silver Mickey necklace and bracelet on a mannequin in the store window that I loved, but when we asked the CM inside, she didn't know what we were talking about, so we had to show her. She called someone to find out if they had any, and then looked to see, but they had nothing like it. :sad2: I was kinda sad, because I had really wanted to get myself a nice piece of Mickey jewelry on this trip. But I knew that there were lots of other stores to see, and hopefully I'd be able to find something else that I liked.
We left the shop and headed upstairs to the Photopass desk. We had to wait a couple of minutes since the photographer was with another family, so we ducked into another one of the shops there, but they didn't have anything good there either. As we were walking out, the Photopass CM was coming to get us. I don't remember her name, but I do remember that she was in the College Program, and she was from Washington (I think). She was really nice, and we ended up taking quite a few pictures. We started out outside on the beach in a hammock. Since it had rained earlier, the hammock was wet, but we sat down anyway because I thought that it might turn out to be a really good pic. Turns out, I was right...the poses that she took there were about the only ones that I really liked out of the whole session. I really liked them because the wedding pavilion was just over our shoulders in the background. I will make sure to post them here when I receive my Photopass CD. We took a few more outside pics, some around the fountain, and some in the courtyard. Then we went inside to finish up. We took a couple on the Grand Staircase, and I was really hoping that those would turn out nice, but they didn't. We took a couple in the lobby and on another staircase. Overall, I think we ended up with close to 30 pics. I think I am going to use the hammock pose for our Christmas cards this year. Since we had pre-ordered the CD, we didn't have to pay the session fee, which was really nice. I'm glad that I chose the time that I did because the sun was going down, so we didn't have to worry about the sun being in our eyes, or being sweaty.
After we were finished viewing our pics, we walked over to the MK bus depot and caught a bus back to CBR. We didn't have anything else planned for the evening, so we decided to go check out Old Port Royale and get one of the refillable mugs. We then decided to return to our room to catch some sleep since we'd have to be up early for our 7 a.m. fishing trip at the Wilderness Lodge.
Stay tuned for day 2 to see what I caught on our fishing trip that wasn't a fish...
Thanks for reading!!!

[jordanyosh]

What a perfect start to a TR. Loving it. I've stayed at CBR 3x and have loved every stay there. I know people complain about the size of the resort, but inspite of the size, I feel like there was alot of privacy.

Looking forward to hearing more.

[UGAFan0829]

Well, for anyone who may still be reading, it's obviously been a while since I last posted...and as you can tell I never even got past posting the 1st day of our trip.
I was going back through our pictures recently, and I decided to go ahead and finish my report. I think it may be good therapy for me since I'm waiting for our trip this year.
When I last left off, we had just finished our 1st night in Disney after having dinner at the 50's Prime Time in MGM and then had the Photo Session done over at the Grand Floridian. Before I get started on our 2nd day, here are some of the pics from our photo session:
(This one turned out to be my favorite, and we even made it our Christmas card)...
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/image05.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/image13.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/image20.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/image24.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/image29.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/image48.jpg
This one was another one of my favorites:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/image61.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/image66.jpg
You can probably tell that Mike isn't very photogenic. Some of the looks on his face are priceless. I really don't know what was going through his mind in a couple of them!! As I mentioned before, the photo session went well, but I wasn't impressed with the inside pictures. I think she did a good job as far as posing us, but the light didn't work out right. Either way, I still enjoyed having them done and would definitely do it again.

[UGAFan0829]

Alright, so let's get to day 2!
We were up bright and early this morning as we had a 7 a.m. Guided Fishing Excursion at the Wilderness Lodge Marina. This was actually my gift to Mike for our anniversary. I couldn't think of anything that he would like more! And he was so excited about it! I have to admit, I was too. When I made the reservation, they asked us to arrive 15 minutes early. Since it was so early in the morning, we decided to drive over to the WL since I wasn't sure if the buses were running that early. We made it to the WL with about 5 minutes to spare. Once we parked, we had to hustle into the lobby and out to the marina. I think we were right on time when we finally made it.
As we walked onto the dock there was a guide standing there who greeted us right away. He asked us our last names, and as we told him another guy walked up and told us we were his. He introduced himself to us as Travis and told us that we he saw our reservation, he picked us because he was from GA also! Pretty cool! Turns out he was from Powder Springs, GA which isn't too far from where we are. We were on a Pontoon boat which made Mike happy since that's his "dream" boat. We set out and headed over to the dock at the Grand Floridian. It was a beautiful morning, but was getting warm pretty quickly. It wasn't long after our first cast that we were reeling them in. Here's a couple of shots from the first part of the trip and our view from the GF dock:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3544.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3543.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3548.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3546.jpg
After we had caught several fish at the GF dock, Travis decided to take us to another good spot for the other half of the trip. So, we made our way over to the dock at Ft. Wilderness. Along the way, Travis pointed out several neat things to us. He told us where River Country used to be and a couple of other things.
The fishing at Ft. Wilderness was really good. The fish seemed to be a lot more aggressive there. We continued to catch several more, and Mike ended up missing "the big one". But I think I ended up with the catch of the day:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3550.jpg
Since we were in a little bit of a tight spot, Travis offered to cast our for me to get me in a good place. He threw a little bit too far and ended up going on the dock with the birds. We were fishing with small fish called "shiners" and as soon as the birds saw the bait, they went after it, resulting in the picture above! It was kinda funny, and no the bird wasn't harmed. Travis got him unhooked and let him go.
Here are a couple more pics of the rest of the morning. The first one is Mike missing "the big one".
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3552.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3549.jpg
Our 2 hours really went by fast. Travis took us back to the docks where we paid for the trip. We ended up giving Travis a tip since we weren't sure how much he actually made off of each trip. He was really a great guide and made the trip really enjoyable. He was very patient with me when I made a couple of oopsies. There were drinks on board that he offered us through out the morning, but we were too busy fishing to want any. Mike really liked Travis a lot and wants to do the excursion again this year. I told him I'd have to think about it, and if we do, we will definitely be requesting Travis again.

[UGAFan0829]

So, when we were finally finished with everything, it was about 9:10. We had a breakfast reservation at Whispering Canyon at 9:30. If you read my Pre-Trip report, you'll remember me writing about Mike's boss and his wife being there at the same time as us for the Nights of Joy. Mike's boss is Paul, and his wife is Shawn. Shawn and I had e-mailed each other before the trip to try and get something worked out for us to eat together while we were all there. It actually ended up working out that they had a reservation at WC for the very same morning that we were to be fishing! So, they added us to the reservation and we were really looking forward to eating with them!
We met them in the lobby at about 5 minutes before our reservation time. They checked us in, and we were seated within 3 or 4 minutes.
Since we were eating with them, I didn't take any pictures. The meal was great though. Mike and I both had the omelette, and it was very yummy!! I had thought about ordering the skillet, but decided that it would probably be too much to eat since we usually didn't eat breakfast! The potatoes that came with our meal were SOOO good! We are definitely going back there again!
After we said our goodbyes to Paul and Shawn (they were flying out the next morning)...we headed back to CBR to park the car and grabbed the bus to Epcot. As I had also mentioned in my Pre-TR, Epcot was the hardest park for us to cover on our last trip. We tried to do it all in one day, and by the time we made it to World Showcase, I was dead. So we only saw a few countries and headed back to the resort.
This time, we decided to try a different approach. Since we had 6 whole days to spend in the parks, we decided to split Epcot into 2 days. One day was just for Future World and the next day would be solely for World Showcase.
So this day was for Future World. I don't remember what time we actually arrived at the park, but it wasn't very crowded.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/image73.jpg
I think a lot of people had made their way over to World Showcase by the time that we made it into the park. So, Future World was a breeze. We went over to Character Connection and had several pictures made. Here's a couple:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3578.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3576.jpg
We made our way around the park and was able to take our time, which was really nice. I can't even remember in which order we did what, but I know that we did Mission: Space, Test Track,
Soarin, Living with the Land, and all that stuff. I really like being able to add your ride photo from Test Track to your Photopass, and I hope Disney will eventually add more rides to this.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/image78.jpg
Of course, we had to make sure to see Nemo and Friends since we didn't get to see that last time.
Here's a couple of pictures from there...(can you tell it was really hot that day?):
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3575.jpg
And of course the obligatory pics with Bruce:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3567.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3566.jpg
I remember really liking Turtle Talk with Crush!! Even though we don't have kids, we really had a good time...Crush was hilarious!! Oh, and we were able to get front row seats on Soarin' this time...so no feet in the picture! It really does make a difference...I think it makes it seem more real that way!
Since we had eaten a somewhat "big" breakfast that morning, and had a dinner ADR for 6, we skipped lunch for the day.
We made our way on around the park, making sure to try and see all the things that we missed last time. At about a little after 5, we made our way over to the Contemporary for our dinner ADR at Chef Mickey's. We got there at about 5:15, so we had a little bit of a wait. They were REALLY busy, but I guess we were right in the middle of the dinner rush. I think we ended up being seated at about 6:20 or so, but it was no big deal. We ate at CM on our first trip and really liked it, so it's probably going to be a tradition for us. However, we did decide that we'll probably do breakfast there next time. Since I don't have a lot of pics from the day, here are a couple from dinner:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3583.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3584.jpg
You really can't beat the character interaction there!!
Our original plans for the day had been to play some mini-golf after dinner, but since it had been so hot that day and we were so tired, we decided to head back to the resort to play in the pool a little.
Mike and I had a great time being the only adults going down the slide. I didn't care though...I think I went down it about 20 times. We really had a good time in the pool. After that we filled up our mugs and headed back to the room for the night.

[UGAFan0829]

Wow...I can't believe that I'm already on day 3!!!
Since the day before had been our Future World day, today was to be dedicated to the World Showcase.
Since WS didn't open until 11, we were able to sleep in a little. Once we made it to the park, it was close to noon, but that was okay. We had the whole day to spend there. It was really nice not being rushed this time.
Once we were inside, we made our way straight towards the Mexico side. I had to turn around and get this great shot on the way:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3587.jpg
I think it's one of my favorite pics from the whole trip. And of course, I couldn't resist this pretty YOAMD decoration...I think it's supposed to be a butterfly...
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3586.jpg
Since it was already lunch time, and we didn't have breakfast, we were getting a little hungry. Since we were on the Mexico side, the Cantina de San Angel was the first CS place that we came across. We took a quick glance at the menu and decided to give it a try. Mike and I both ordered the Cantina Nachos and a Churro. We got a table by the water and watched the ducks play. I took this pic across the lagoon while we ate:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3594.jpg
As you can tell, it was a cloudy day, but it was really warm and humid!
The nachos were really good, and the churros were even better! We would definitely eat there again!!
After leaving there, we headed over to the Mexico pavilion to check it out. We went inside and found that it was really neat in there. Not to mention, it was a good place to cool off. We headed for the Gran Fiesta Tour. The line wasn't too long, but right about the time that we entered the line, a CM announced that they were having technical difficulties, so the ride was stopped for a few moments. There were several people ahead of us who decided to leave, which pretty much put us at the front of the line. Right after they left, they started loading the boats again. It was a nice little ride. I've read a lot of comments about not liking the ride since it had been re-done, but since we'd never been on it before, we didn't have anything to compare it to! We did actually end up getting stuck at the end of the ride. There were several boats that got backed up, and I think we ended up playing "bumper boats". It was a cute ride though!
And I had to get this cute picture of Mike in his sombrero..Just thought this one was too cute to pass up...
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3597.jpg
After Mexico, we made our way over to Norway. I was really excited about riding Maelstrom after everything I had read about it! It was just as fun as everyone had made it out to be!! The best part was going backwards!!!!
We continued to make our way around the "world"...and of course, I had to make sure to stop in on Pooh and the gang once we got to England...
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3607.jpg
I was sad that Eeyore and Piglet weren't home, but was really happy to see Pooh and Tigger! Can you tell that pooh is my fave??
I also ended up running into these guys somewhere along the way between countries:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3601.jpg
I won't bore you with the rest of the details from the World Showcase. However, once we had taken our time getting into all the countries, we still had some time left before out 6:10 dinner ADR at Le Cellier. We decided that since we were so close to the Boardwalk that we would take the boat over and check it out. Going to all the different resorts while we were there was one of the things on our list, so we took the opportunity. Not to mention, I really wanted to see what kind of goodies the Boardwalk Bakery had.
The resort was beautiful, and I really wish I had taken some pictures. Mike and I both decided that we'd love to stay there one day. The Kesiter Coaster looked really fun! :thumbsup2 We walked into the ESPN Zone and killed a little time by playing some games. Then we made our way back to Epcot to check in for our dinner at Le Cellier.
I'm sorry that I don't have any pictures--I guess I've just always felt weird about taking pics of food...though I admire those who do.
I can't remember what Mike had for an appetizer, but I had the Cheddar Cheese soup, which was just okay. It wasn't bad by any means, but it just didn't have that really cheesey flavor! For dinner, we both had the filet which was really good, and I don't remember dessert.
After dinner, our plan was to watch Illuminations for the first time, but when we came out of Le Cellier, it was POURING!! Thankfully, I had taken the advice of some of the DIS'ers who suggested getting several of the Dollar Store ponchos, so I had those handy. The rain by itself would have been okay, but it was thundering and lightning really bad. So we ducked inside one of the stores there by Canada, along with everyone else who was in the park that night. I was a little nervous that they would cancel Illuminations, but everyone we talked to said that they very rarely cancelled it. So we stuck around and waited it out. The storm passed pretty quickly, and it looked like a lot of people had cleared out with it. We were able to get a great spot right on the fence in front of Canda. It still sprinkled while we waited, but nothing terrible. Here we are waiting it out:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3611.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3610.jpg
It was a really neat show, and though it wasn't as good as Wishes, I was still glad that we were able to see it.
And of course here's some pics that I attempted to take:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3627.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3622.jpg
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http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3637.jpg
It was a really pretty show. I loved the colors of the globe as it lit up!!
After the show, we slowly made our way back to the front gates to catch the bus back home. On the way out, I had to get this pic of Spaceship Earth...It's really beautiful with all the lights on it...
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3645.jpg
So, that's it for day 3...tomorrow we head to the Magic Kingdom for breakfast with Pooh, and our anniversary dinner at California Grill!

[UGAFan0829]

On to day 4...
This was our 8th anniversary, and probably the most magical day of all!
We started the morning off early by catching a bus to the MK where we would be spending the day. We had a breakfast ADR at Crystal Palace for 8:10. CP is my favorite place to eat...I guess it has a lot to do with Pooh being my fave!!!
Of course we were donning our "Happy Anniversary" buttons, and as soon as we stepped onto the bus, we started getting "Happy Anniversary" from everyone. Even though we were still a little sleepy, the bus driver made sure we were all awake as he told some really cute jokes. There weren't that many people onboard, as everyone was heading to either MK, the Poly or the Contemporary for character breakfasts. The driver asked everyone what their reservation times were so he could make sure to have everyone where they needed to be on time. I thought that was really nice of him!
Once we got to the MK, I was so excited. I think seeing the park all decorated for Halloween really added to my excitement.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3658.jpg
I LOVED the Mickey pumpkins...
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/MICKEYPUMPKIN.jpg
We were within a few minutes of our ADR, so we were trying to hurry! I was able to snap the obligatory castle pic as we hoofed it down Main Street:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3665.jpg
We arrived at CP right on time and checked in. There were SOOO many people already waiting. I guess the first times are the most popular as people try to eat and make it to rope drop, but that didn't happen for us. We waited 10 minutes or so before we were seated. When we were taken to our table, this is what was waiting for us:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3669.jpg
I was so excited, and this just made my day!!!
We made our way to the yummy buffet as we waited for the characters to come around. They ended up doing the little "parade" twice while we were there. It was really cute seeing the characters "parading" by.
My Pooh waffles were just too cute!:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3671.jpg
Here's just a couple of pics of Mike and I from the morning:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/MIKEANDPOOH.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3685.jpg
Before we left, our server brought us a Magical Moments certificate signed by Pooh and his pals. I was even more excited...My gosh, could this day get any better!!
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_4080.jpg
This is definitley one of my most treasured things from the trip!!!
After breakfast, we were so syked and ready to take on the MK! Our morning had started out so great!
I remembered reading about the "Dream Along with Mickey" show that was performed in front of the castle, so I checked my times guide, and we were right on time for the next show. I was so glad that we stopped to see it. It was such a cute show, and the costumes were so beautiful. Here's a few shots:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3705.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3723.jpg
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http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3715.jpg
Mike agreed that this was definitely a show worth watching!!!
We then made our way over to Fantasyland to get in all the rides there before the lines go too long. Of course we did IASW, Peter Pan's Flight, Pooh, and most of the others. As we made our way on through, we came upon a meet and greet for Alice and the Mad Hatter!
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3769.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3770.jpg
I was really excited as I had been wanting to meet them for a while. The Mad Hatter noticed that it was our Anniversary, and made sure to tell me it was his "unanniversary". I think they are such cute characters!
We made our way on over to Tomorrowland and rode the Carousel of Progess and the Tomorrowland Transit Authority for the first time. They were both fun rides. The lines were really short, so we ended up doing Space Mountain twice.
After we came out of Carousel of Progess we found these guys:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/image149.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/image155.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3779.jpg
Of course I was happy since they were 2 characters that we'd never seeen before! Stitch is just so darn cute, even if he is mischevious!!!
I really don't remember which way we went from there, but I know that we eventually made it over to Frontierland to ride the other 2 mountains. When I checked our times guide, I remembered that I wanted to see Ariel, so we made our way back over to her Grotto. The line to see her was really long, and it was really hot, be we toughed it out. It was so worth it though...I think Ariel has become my favorite princess...(I think it may have something to do with her having red hair)...
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/image142-1.jpg
She was sooo cute when I sat down beside her. It really did make me feel like a kid again!! But, that's what Disney's all about, after all!!
It soon became time for the afternoon parade, and we really hadn't planned on seeing it, but we decided that since we were already in the shops on Main Street that we would watch it.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3789.jpg
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So, after the parade, we decided to go back and ride a few more rides before heading back to the resort to get ready for our anniversary dinner at the California Grill.

[UGAFan0829]

We headed back to the resort a little after the afternoon parade was over. Our dinner ADR was for 8:00 at the California Grill, and we wanted to have plenty of time to shower and get ready before.
I was really excited about eating there since it was our first time, and I really hoped that we'd be able to get lucky and have a window seat to be able to see Wishes.
We ended up driving our car over to the Contemporary just because we didn't want to have to take a bus over to the MK, then either walk or take the monorail over. By the time that we got to the resort, it had started to rain.
We ran inside and made it to check-in. We were a few minutes early, and I went ahead and requested a window seat again.
We had a seat in the waiting area and ended up only waiting a very few minutes. We were happy to find that we were being seated right by the window! It was a very neat view! Seeing the lights of the MK was very cool. Mother Nature put on her own show with some big lightning bolts. That was actually kind of scary.
I don't remember our servers name, but she was great in explaning what we could and couldn't order with the dining plan. (There were only a couple of things on the appetizer menu that was off limits, by the way.) To start, Mike had some kind of sushi (I don't remember what, cause I don't eat the stuff), and I had the tomato soup. I wasn't really sure what it would taste like, but OMG, that stuff was yummy! I so wanted to lick the bowl. For our meal, we both had the filet which was SOOOO yummy. It was cooked just right!! As far as dessert, there was really nothing on the menu that I liked, so I declined. By this time, Wishes had started, so they dimmed the lights and piped in the music, which was really cool! Since it was raining, we just stayed inside and watched. I tried to get some pics, but it was too blurry from the glass and being so far away. After Wishes started, our server brought out the dessert that Mike had ordered, and also brought me this really yummy looking HUGE piece of chocolate cake. Both of them were topped with a piece of chocolate that said "Happy Anniversary from the California Grill". I thought it was a really nice touch!
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3825.jpg
I forgot to mention, that while we were eating a gentleman came over and asked if we would like to have our picture taken, compliments of the California Grill. I said sure, I'm all about photos! After we had almost finished with the meal, he came back and brought us the photo in this really nice photo holder that had the Contemporary logo on the front. I thought that was really nice, and it was definitely a nice momento.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/meandmikeatcg.jpg
They also gave us both a set of Chopsticks from the CG.
After dinner, we rode around the Disney property a little and then headed back to the resort for the night to get some rest for our next day in MGM!!!

[AshleyMWC]

Hello, I just found your TR and it's great. I love reading TR's with kids, but once in a while it's nice to read one about a couple, like DBF and myself. It sounds like you guys had an awesome anniversary!! I cant wait to hear about the rest of your trip :surfweb:

[UGAFan0829]

Hello, I just found your TR and it's great. I love reading TR's with kids, but once in a while it's nice to read one about a couple, like DBF and myself. It sounds like you guys had an awesome anniversary!! I cant wait to hear about the rest of your trip :surfweb:

Thanks so much for reading!
I really enjoy reading TR's as well!!
We did have an awesome anniversary! Stay tuned...I'll be adding more soon!

[UGAFan0829]

Now for day 5...
This was our MGM day.
To be honest, I don't remember a whole lot about this day, but here's what I do remember...
The park opened at 9, and we arrived shortly thereafter. (Have you noticed the theme of us arriving AFTER park opening all week?)
As we entered the park, and made our way down Hollywood Blvd., we stopped to have our pic made:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/image161.jpg
We weren't in the park long when we realized that Beauty & the Beast was starting soon, so we headed over to Sunset Blvd. By the time that we made it across the park, there was only a few minutes left before the show started, but there were still plenty of seats left. I had wanted to see this show on the last trip, but we never made it, so I was glad that we got to see it this time.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3844.jpg
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http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3869.jpg
Beauty & the Beast has always been one of my favorites, so I was really glad that we took the time to see the show. It was really good!
After B&tB, Mike really wanted to see the Lights, Motors, Action stunt show, so once again we walked back across the park.
Mike really liked the show, but it was just okay for me. I think the heat was one thing that kept me from enjoying so much. Unfortunately, the seat we got wasn't under the shaded area, so it got a little warm on us. But I was glad that Mike got to see it.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3876.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3889.jpg
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After leaving LMA, we piddled around the park a little more. We were hoping to see Mater and Lightnin', but we never did.
We eventually made our way over to Tower of Terror, which we ended up riding about 3 times in a row.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3952.jpg
We love this ride, and it was really fun to ride it with people who had never been on it before. Just hearing their reactions was hilarious!
We then had an early dinner ADR for the Fantasmic Package at the Brown Derby. So we headed over to get a little something to eat, but most importantly, get our passes for Fantasmic!
The dinner was pretty good, but I doubt that we would go there again. It was a little to stuffy for us. We both had the steak, and it was pretty good. The staff just didn't seem very friendly which made it not as enjoyable as it could have been.
After lunch/dinner, we headed out to catch the Stars and Motor Cars parade. I love watching this one, and we were able to get a decent spot right before it started.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/UGAFan0829/Disney%20World%202007/100_3901.jpg
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After the parade, we had some time to kill before we had to be at Oscar's for Fantasmic. So we decided to go try to meet the guys from Ratatouille. So, we headed over to the Animation Courtyard. The line for them was pretty long, but I had figured that it would be since they were still pretty new. We saw the movie as soon as it came out, and it turned out to be one of my favorites, so I was excited about meeting them!
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They were so darn cute! I never knew that I could fall in love with rats!!!
So after meeting them, we decided to check out what The Magic of Disney Animation was all about. We'd never done it before, but I had read several trip reports about it. So we jumped in line and waited for the next one to start.
Now, I have NO artistic ability what so ever, but this was really fun. We drew Minnie, and I was actually proud of how mine turned out. I thought Mike did a pretty darn good job as well.
Here's Mike's:
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And mine:
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We really had a lot of fun, and thought about doing it again, but we decided it was time to start heading towards Oscars. Of course, by this time, it had started to rain on us. I was really, really hoping that Fantasmic wouldn't get cancelled since this would be our first time seeing it. So we got to Oscars, and then made the long walk back to the theater. It was a nice walk though. And of course it was still raining. So we got seated, and everyone had broke out the ponchos. The longer we waited, the worse the weather got. We waited for about 30-45 minutes...and they would come on with the little "due to nature of the show, tonight's showing of Fantasmic may be delayed or cancelled"...They must have played that recording over and over and over and...until they finally cancelled it. It was really disappointing, but we expected it since the weather had been so bad. Crazy thing is...it seemed like the worse part had come and gone before the decided to cancel.
So we sadly packed up and got ready to leave. I had mentioned to Mike that I had read here on the DIS that you could go by Guest Relations and nicely ask them for another Fantasmic pass for the next night. We figured it wouldn't hurt to ask, so we stopped by. Evidently, a lot of people had heard the same thing as there was a line just for replacement passes. We handed ours over, and they issued us one for the next night...no questions asked. I thought that was really nice. I mean I couldn't have been mad if they had said no, but I'm glad that we decided to try.
After we got our pass, we made our way to the bus stops and headed home for the night.

[UGAFan0829]

Day 6 was one of the days that I had looked forward to the most...We were finally getting to visit the waterparks! Ever since we had watched our very first planning video, and they showed the waterparks clips, I wanted to go sooooo bad!
So our plan for the morning was to be at Typhoon Lagoon at opening so that we could try and do most of the slides before it got crowded. What I didn't realize was that TL didn't open UNTIL 9. All along, I had planned on them opening at 8. We decided to take our own car so that we would be more comfortable. We made it all the way to TL before I realized that we were an hour early!! So we took the opportunity to drive around the DTD area and made a stopped at McDonald's for breakfast.
Finally, the park opened, and before we knew it, we were inside the park for the first time! I was so excited, but also a little nervous. It had been a VERY long time since I had been to a waterpark, and I really didn't know what to expect for the slides...I was hoping that they weren't too scary!!
We made our way to the locker rentals and got a smaller one. Everything fit in their very easily. We had both our flip flops, 2 beach towels, beach bag, money, KKTW cards, and a couple other things and it all fit in the locker with no problem.
Since we were in a waterpark, I didn't bring my camera, so the only pics we have of the day are the Photopass photos, and I'm not too crazy about posting pics of my Pooh sized self in bathing suit!!! So, you'll just have to read about today and do without the pics...SORRY!
The first ride that we hit was Gang Plank Falls. I was a little scared when we got on the raft, because I wasn't sure what to expect...Once we got to the end, I was asking..."Is this it?" It was a really short, yet fun little ride! I think it was a good way to get the day started.
After GPF, we hit Humunga Kowabunga! I was definitely scared of this ride, mostly because it was partially enclosed. Mike and I both went down at the same time. If you've never rode this ride, then you are probably like me in thinking that it wouldn't be too bad of a ride...which the ride itself wasn't bad at all...it is very fast...it's the end that will get you. I will just say that I was NOT prepared for the end. It took me a while to gather myself before I was ready to ride anything else. Mike beat me to the bottom and was waiting for me when I got there. He said the look on my face was priceless...and I am sure that it was. Good grief, that hurt!
After that, we hit some of the other tube slides, and then made our way over to Crush N' Gusher...I had read about this being a new slide and couldn't wait to try it out. I was especially excited that Mike and I could ride it together!
This one was sooooo much fun! We ended up doing it 3 times...once on each slide. I think this was our hands down favorite!
After Crush N' Gusher, we decided to try the wave pool. We love playing in the waves at the beach, but I knew these waves were probably a little stronger than what we were used to! We had so much playing. We would place ourselves at a certain place in the pool, and then wait and see how the waves hit us. If we were okay, then we would move out a little further. I was afraid to get out as far as some people were. We are both good swimmers, but I didn't want to go crashing into anyone. We had several people crash into us, and it was just too funny. We looked like 2 kids out there playing!
After the wave pool, we were pretty tired. I think we ended up hitting most all of the slides at least twice. So we decided that since it was still early, that we would head over to Blizzard Beach. When we planned the day, I really didn't think that we would have time to do both, but we still had plenty of time left!
So we headed over to the other side of WDW and made our way into BB. We once again rented a locker to store our stuff in. The park wasn't crowded by any means, but I think there were definitely more people there than at TL...I know the lines were definitely longer. We really liked the slides at BB, but it seemed like there was a lot more walking and stair climbing involved. Not to mention, we were barefooted, and the concrete was starting to really get hot by this time. I really wanted to try Summit Plummit, but I was just too scared after riding Humunga Kowabunga at TL, so we settled for the Slush Gusher instead. I was definitely scared of this one as well. Even though it wasn't as high as Summit Plummit, it was still pretty high up there...Needless to say, I was definitely more prepared for the ending...it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be...it really went fast!!!
We checked out a few more rides and then decided to get some lunch. So we headed over to the Lottawatta Lodge. I think we both had burgers, and they were good. I don't think we realized how hungry we were! By this time, our feet were REALLY sore and hurting from walking around barefoot all day, so we decided to head back to the room for a little while.
Our original plans for the day after the waterparks included dinner at Whispering Canyon, but since we were out of dining credits, we decided to call and cancel.
So instead, we lounged around the room and then showered and changed and headed to DTD to finish up our shopping.