ShannonP
08-20-2002, 09:10 AM
Myself - 38 Researcher and neurotic planner of all things
DH - 38 Definitely not a planner, but willing to go along with just about anything.
DD - 16 We surprised her by celebrating her 16th birthday during this trip. Her birthday was actually July 1st, but due to younger DD’s softball schedule, the trip had to be postponed until now. She didn’t know that this would still be considered her birthday trip.
DD - 11 (Will be 12 in September and already considers herself a teenager.)
First, let me say that this trip was originally planned for Thanksgiving 2001, but we canceled it because we were in the middle (actually the beginning, supposed to be the middle - delays) of building our new home. We didn’t feel comfortable leaving town during that phase of construction. As it turned out, we should’ve gone on our trip, because virtually nothing was accomplished on the house the week of Thanksgiving. And as stated above, we couldn’t go the week of July 1st because DD 11 was chosen to be on the All Star softball team and couldn’t miss any practices - by the way, they won the championship!) So, our trip is finally here...
Friday, August 2, 2002 - Well, we left New Orleans around 5:00 p.m. (central time) and immediately encountered a traffic jam on I-10. It took us an hour just to get outside of the city - ugh...don’t they know we’re in a hurry!! We finally arrived in Tallahassee around 1:00 a.m. (eastern time). I had already made reservations at the Best Western Seminole Inn so that we wouldn’t have to drive around trying to find a hotel in the wee hours of the morning. When I made the reservations months ago, I had trouble finding a hotel because there was apparently something going on in Tallahassee and the hotels were requiring a 2 night minimum stay. So when I was able to get the BW Seminole Inn, I booked it. I definitely would not want to stay in this hotel again. The room wreaked of bleach and just felt dirty. The kids complained, but I convinced them (and myself) that we were only there to get a few hours of sleep and we would be off. I don’t think I slept more than 2 hours total (I had been sick with a bronchial infection and earache for 2 weeks and had just been to the doctor that morning for more medicine and a shot - I’m sure my illness -and excitement - didn’t help with my sleeping) and we were out of the hotel by 8:00 a.m. and on our way. We
grabbed a quick breakfast at Burger King and were back on the road to Mickey’s house.
We arrived at the All Star Movies at about lunchtime. Check in took about 30 minutes (kids immediately found the arcade), but we were happy to find that our room was ready and all of our requests had been met. Toy Story - Woody bldg, facing Andy’s room, 3rd floor. We were in room 9964 which is the corner room, next to Woody’s right ear and facing Buzz. I was concerned that the corner room would be noisy, but we were fine. When we checked in, the CM gave us our lanyards through the AmEX White Glove Treatment program. The CM was kind enough to give us each a lanyard, although that is not their “official” policy, usually it’s only 2. I explained all about “pin trading” to the girls (I had managed to keep that a secret prior to the trip) and they were hooked immediately - off to the gift shop...
After we checked in, we went down to the food court to purchase our refillable mugs and grab some lunch. We were all pleased with our choices (taco salad for me, quesadillas for DH, Caesar salad for DD16 and chicken nuggets for DD11). After lunch,
we went to Downtown Disney to look around. We made some purchases at World of Disney and then returned to our hotel to get ready for our PS at Chef Mickey.
Our PS at Chef Mickey was for 7:00 p.m. We got there a little early, checked in and proceeded to look around in the gift shops for a bit. We were called for our table and began our meal. We have done Chef Mickey in the past when we’ve gone with a
larger group - always on our first (non-park) day. As mentioned earlier, we planned to surprise our DD 16 by celebrating her birthday for the entire trip. She was shocked when our server brought her a cupcake and announced to everyone that it was her birthday. Donald was there when the napkin waving began. We had fun, but this meal was definitely more fun with a group of people. The chowder and potatoes were good, other than that the food was average (even average may be a little generous here - I remember it being much better on our last trip in 1998), but at least it got us in the Disney spirit. After dinner, we went up to the observation deck and then for a round trip ride on the monorail. We decided to return to the hotel and turn in so we would be rested for tomorrow - Magic Kingdom!! :Pinkbounc
DH - 38 Definitely not a planner, but willing to go along with just about anything.
DD - 16 We surprised her by celebrating her 16th birthday during this trip. Her birthday was actually July 1st, but due to younger DD’s softball schedule, the trip had to be postponed until now. She didn’t know that this would still be considered her birthday trip.
DD - 11 (Will be 12 in September and already considers herself a teenager.)
First, let me say that this trip was originally planned for Thanksgiving 2001, but we canceled it because we were in the middle (actually the beginning, supposed to be the middle - delays) of building our new home. We didn’t feel comfortable leaving town during that phase of construction. As it turned out, we should’ve gone on our trip, because virtually nothing was accomplished on the house the week of Thanksgiving. And as stated above, we couldn’t go the week of July 1st because DD 11 was chosen to be on the All Star softball team and couldn’t miss any practices - by the way, they won the championship!) So, our trip is finally here...
Friday, August 2, 2002 - Well, we left New Orleans around 5:00 p.m. (central time) and immediately encountered a traffic jam on I-10. It took us an hour just to get outside of the city - ugh...don’t they know we’re in a hurry!! We finally arrived in Tallahassee around 1:00 a.m. (eastern time). I had already made reservations at the Best Western Seminole Inn so that we wouldn’t have to drive around trying to find a hotel in the wee hours of the morning. When I made the reservations months ago, I had trouble finding a hotel because there was apparently something going on in Tallahassee and the hotels were requiring a 2 night minimum stay. So when I was able to get the BW Seminole Inn, I booked it. I definitely would not want to stay in this hotel again. The room wreaked of bleach and just felt dirty. The kids complained, but I convinced them (and myself) that we were only there to get a few hours of sleep and we would be off. I don’t think I slept more than 2 hours total (I had been sick with a bronchial infection and earache for 2 weeks and had just been to the doctor that morning for more medicine and a shot - I’m sure my illness -and excitement - didn’t help with my sleeping) and we were out of the hotel by 8:00 a.m. and on our way. We
grabbed a quick breakfast at Burger King and were back on the road to Mickey’s house.
We arrived at the All Star Movies at about lunchtime. Check in took about 30 minutes (kids immediately found the arcade), but we were happy to find that our room was ready and all of our requests had been met. Toy Story - Woody bldg, facing Andy’s room, 3rd floor. We were in room 9964 which is the corner room, next to Woody’s right ear and facing Buzz. I was concerned that the corner room would be noisy, but we were fine. When we checked in, the CM gave us our lanyards through the AmEX White Glove Treatment program. The CM was kind enough to give us each a lanyard, although that is not their “official” policy, usually it’s only 2. I explained all about “pin trading” to the girls (I had managed to keep that a secret prior to the trip) and they were hooked immediately - off to the gift shop...
After we checked in, we went down to the food court to purchase our refillable mugs and grab some lunch. We were all pleased with our choices (taco salad for me, quesadillas for DH, Caesar salad for DD16 and chicken nuggets for DD11). After lunch,
we went to Downtown Disney to look around. We made some purchases at World of Disney and then returned to our hotel to get ready for our PS at Chef Mickey.
Our PS at Chef Mickey was for 7:00 p.m. We got there a little early, checked in and proceeded to look around in the gift shops for a bit. We were called for our table and began our meal. We have done Chef Mickey in the past when we’ve gone with a
larger group - always on our first (non-park) day. As mentioned earlier, we planned to surprise our DD 16 by celebrating her birthday for the entire trip. She was shocked when our server brought her a cupcake and announced to everyone that it was her birthday. Donald was there when the napkin waving began. We had fun, but this meal was definitely more fun with a group of people. The chowder and potatoes were good, other than that the food was average (even average may be a little generous here - I remember it being much better on our last trip in 1998), but at least it got us in the Disney spirit. After dinner, we went up to the observation deck and then for a round trip ride on the monorail. We decided to return to the hotel and turn in so we would be rested for tomorrow - Magic Kingdom!! :Pinkbounc