Its finally that time. The time we get to fully relax and enjoy the first blissful minutes of knowing that we were on vacation. It occurred for us on a Wednesday night when we packed the last of way too many bags into the car, and pulled out heading for my parents house about 2 hours south of our home. It gives us a headstart on the drive down, and makes it possible to spend a little time on Thursday afternoon goofing around Downtown Disney. Of course, it also means dropping off the canines for a week and a half. Weve never left them for this long before.
Things went well at my parents, and Thursday morning we got up bright and early and began the trek down I-95 to Orlando. I set goals for my driving. Leave by 7 and grab breakfast at Chick-Fil-A. Stop in Brunswick , GA around 11, and then get to our hotel right around 3. Thats the goal. It never seems to work out that way. But actually this time we came pretty close. We left at 7:20, skipped Brunswick in favor of St. Augustine, and hit Port Orleans French Quarter at 3:15. We spent our honeymoon at this hotel and havent been back since. I missed that place. But now, its time for our cruise. No, not the one onboard the Magic. This one is just a riverboat ride from Port Orleans to Downtown Disney.
Downtown Disney has truly been a refuge for us over the last few years. Its that place you can go to begin getting a feel for the Disney experience, without yet having to fork out $70 for theme park tickets on a very short day in Orlando. Forking it out for a full day is bad enough, but having to blow that kind of dough on about 3 hours just makes me cringe. So
we dont. We just go blow the money in souvenirs without actually entering a park.
My best friend moved to Melbourne about 5 years ago and he and I rarely get to see one another anymore. Thursday night, he and his wife drove over from Melbourne and joined us for our evening at Downtown Disney. Mike is, shall we say, an interesting character. Hes the type of guy that youre either insanely mad at, or laughing with hysterically the entire time youre around him. Sometimes its both at the same time. There is absolutely nothing PC about this guy. He will say anything to anyone at any time. He and I have had conversations about the DIS. He uses the wdwinfo site to keep up with whats new at WDW. So, he and I start talking after we get to DD. What percentage of the people at DD are DISers we wonder?
Mike proceeds to try and find out. Hes, literally, walking around, stopping people as they walk by and asking them if they know what the DIS is. After about 10 people or so, he gets a hit. Then, this yahoo friend of mine proceeds to introduce me to the woman in a way only Mike can. This is Mozart. He writes
DCL Trip Reports. Do you want his autograph?
Im serious. He actually asked the woman if she wanted my autograph or to have a picture taken with me. My face is probably as red as it can be. The woman and her family have looks of absolute confusion on theirs. It was about this time that DW and Mikes wife walk back up and tell us that its time to go to the House of Blues for dinner. I escaped as gracefully as I could considering the circumstances. Mike just laughed. Why am I friends with him again?
After dinner, we just did some shopping before heading back to the resort. The new T-Rex restaurant is pretty cool. Whether you eat there or not, you need to step inside and check it out. The dinosaurs are so realistic its scary.
Caught a little bit of the jazz musician in the lobby at POFQ. His name is Elliott Dyson, and if you get the chance to see him, hes excellent. Basically we just relaxed because we knew that the next day we were going to be EPCOT commandos. And thats where we leave off for now.
THOUGHT FOR THURSDAY: I have never ever found a shirt that I like in my size at World of Disney. Either they're out of my size, or I don't like the shirt. I'm telling ya...It's a conspiracy.
TIP FOR THURSDAY: Never ever tell anyone you know in real life that you're a DIS'er. It's just asking for trouble.