The Ramblings of the Younger Sister: Running from the Yeti in a Canoe! UPDATE: 1/3!!

[CoP Luv]

I have been telling myself for weeks that I would start this TR. I mean I have been home for a month and a half!

You can already see that I am totally on top of the ball regarding this whole TR process, right?



Anyway, welcome! This is my first TR and I will try to make it as interesting as possible! But please know that I do tend to ramble.

Since there was no PTR, there is a little explaining to do. Well, maybe I should just tell you a little about us...

Onward to introductions!

Moi - I mean Cop Luv. That pretty much explains me. I love Carousel of Progress. I have been known to break out into the fabulous "There's A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" at any given time. I am the planner of this trip (and every trip - because I need to know everything that we will be doing). I'm a newlywed. Still hoping for a Disneymoon at some time. Married to a Disney "I'm Not A Hater, But Why Do I Need To Go To Disney World Every Five Years?". Yup, still waiting on that Disneymoon. I love Peter Pan and am the Disney "Freak" of the family. I have been called "Tour Guide Cop Luv" since I was a freshman in college. Well, without the Cop Luv of course.

DS aka Alice in Wonderland - My older sister. Her last Disney vacation was in 1998. Her idea of a Disney vacation is staying at the Yacht Club with a water view, automatically getting PH tickets that don't expire, AND include the water parks. Well, that's what you get when you are on your parents' payroll...and it's 1998 when things just made sense in Disney World. She just loves Lady and the Tramp! Is Imagineering thinking of a ride for that yet?

A few things about us as sisters. Most people think I am the older one, even though she beats me by 2.5 years on that. We both have Italian tempers in us that may make an appearance on this trip. We are very different. I bought a Prius, she bought a Mustang convertible.

Need I say more?

Well, yes. She has been bugging me to take her to Disney for about 10 years. Yes, when I was 16 she was asking me to take her to Disney World.



No, not really. But it has seemed like it has been that long. Anyway, since I have a husband that is not interested in going to WDW with me, I need to find other companions. Like my parents.



Not only them. I went with my friends from college, my ultimate Disney friend and cousins, and now my older sister.

Like a good DISer who has been without a trip since Christmas 2007, I have been eyeing the specials and dreaming of how I could coax my husband into taking a trip with me. Really, I'm fun! Anyway, one day, my sister found out that there were running races in WDW.

Running?

I don't think so.

I mean I knew that they had races, because in Sept. 2006, I was on a Segway while the runners were going past me in Epcot. Segway or running?

Segway.



So I started to research a little on these races. She wanted to do the Race for the Taste, but she would be doing that alone. And then I saw that they had the Expedition Everest Challenge. A 5K, a obstacle course, and a scavenger hunt.

Very "Amazing Race" - which we watch religiously on Sunday nights and she has been telling me for years how good we would be on that show...how great of TV personalities we would be.

TV personalities? Aren't those the people that they want to look dumb on TV?



Moving on...

Not only was it a race that I could also tell myself that I could run it was probably also during Free Dining!

Works for me!

And so I hit the treadmill.



I started training and actually ran my first race on Mother's Day of this year.

That's me. With my mom and older sister.

Anyway, we started looking at the race details and I sent her pictures of resorts, restaurant menus, activities.

"Well, whatever you want to do is fine."



No input. I only knew where this was going to go. Sure, I could plan this trip with my eyes closed. I could do what I wanted. But then we would fight. And I would be mean and cold hearted, because she tells me that every time we get into a fight.

We're sisters after all.

Because of the race, we had three options for hotels. We weren't renting a car so we decided on Port Orleans Riverside. This was going to be a new resort for us and since I had heard so much praise on DIS, I was really looking forward to staying here.

March 31 came and I booked us 5 nights with free dining.

In the beginning of the summer, I also got a pin! I had never gotten one before. I tried to switch the FD to room only because it would have worked out better for us. No luck. My company then announced that they would give us an extra personal day off this year because we are so awesome.

Take off work an extra day? Who needs that?



And so, I decided to take advantage of my pin offer for one night. SOLO!

I was going to fly out an extra night early, stay at the All Star Sports for $59 and see SpectroMagic. The only day that it was going to be showing was the day we got to WDW. And I couldn't miss that!

This was my first time doing anything by myself. I was so excited!

And so that is the long, rambling version of how our trip came to be:

Sept. 23 - Fly to Orlando, stay at ASSp
Sept. 24 - Switch to POR, frolic around WDW by myself, and meet up with my sister.
Sept. 26 - EEC 5K
Sept. 29 - Fly home.


Chapter 1: The Unexciting Exciting Journey to WDW
Chapter 2: Heaven in a Bag
Chapter 3: Bring It On Deer Lady
Chapter 4: Oh, The Cat Calls
Chapter 5: Hello? Where Is Everyone?
Chapter 6: The "Stop and Smell the Roses" Tour
Chapter 7: Party of 1

 

[DisneyJo]

Yay you've started, I still can't believe we didn't see each other, were you in the all girl wave (3 I think?) as that's where I was meant to be

 

[CoP Luv]

I never thought that I would have no excitement with an upcoming Disney Trip. Seriously, what was wrong with me??

Maybe it was because Mr. Disney Hater was not coming with me.

Again.



I woke up at 6 AM and grumbled to the shower. I got dressed and ready for work in record time. Hair in a pony tail (it was going to frizz up anyway the second that I got off of the plane in Orlando) and finished my packing.

I grab my travel purse which was the 'everything you couldn't fit inot the suitcase, but still had to bring' bag. It was filled with a giant book, all of my travel documents including about 84 billion menus from All Ears, ipod, snacks, wallet, plastic bag filled with essential liquids, and probably a bunch more stuff that I can't possibly remember now.

I came downstairs and had no time for breakfast or to make my lunch. It was already 7 AM, and that was the time I needed to be at my coworker's house because she was bringing me to work that day.

I'm not known for being on time. Ever.



One last look at my suitcase, and I realize that I packed Mr. Disney Hater's suitcase and he needed it for an upcoming trip.

Oops.

Oh well, nothing could be done now.

We made it to my friend's house and I said good-bye to the hater.

By the time I got to work at 8AM, I realized that I forgot to pack batteries and deodorant.



Two things that should never be missed when going to hot, steamy Florida with your camera. One of my other coworkers drove me to Wal-Mart during lunch to pick a few things up. We went to Panera for lunch - since I didn't have time to make one - and I got broccoli cheese soup in a bread bowl.



The rest of the afternoon was pretty uneventful. It was the first time that I was leaving work for a week and didn't feel the slightest bit nervous. I went upstairs to give my sister her race waivers and a map of MCO so she would be able to figure out how to get to ME - yes, she works in the same building as me.

I was supposed to leave at 4 PM, but decide to put my out of office on when someone emails me that I didn't really feel like responding to. I was already in vacation mode.

What?

That's wrong?



I print the remaining race documents, said good-bye to my coworkers and was on my way.

Well, sort of.

My coworker was giving me a ride to the L...aka the subway in Chicago. On the way, we had to pick of her two little boys from daycare. They were really excited that I got to go on an air-pain.



By the time we got to the station we were nearing rush hour. I always get stressed when I need to take the train somewhere and this proved no different. Since my wallet was underneath 85 billion items in my giant bag that was ridiculously heavy, I fished out $5 and put it on a travel card.

I get down to the platform and wait.

And wait.

And wait.



Four trains come from the opposite direction.



FINALLY, a train comes. Since there were no seats available, I stood. It was only a few stops until we got to O'Hare. No problem. We were smooth sailing.

Until...I have to brace myself for immediate braking of the train. It starts to smell like smoke in our car.



The only other time that I have ever experienced that was on Dec. 1, 2006. Yes, I remember the date exactly. I was giving a presentation to the president of our company that morning. I was in a suit (something I never wear to work) and gym shoes...because it was snowing.

Naturally.



I am on the L underground going on my merry way. All of the sudden as we are riding through the tunnels, I start to smell something funny. I notice one other person having a funny look on his face too. By the time other people are noticing it, there is actual smoke coming through the doors. We get to the next station about 20 seconds later and I book it to the stairs. Everyone else was just sitting on the train! Um, excuse me, didn't you all just see smoke, and you are underground?

We ran before the masses did.

Yup, there was a fire on my train.

So of course, I am thinking "Here we go again." except this time I was above ground, in the middle of a major interstate.

The conductor comes out and opens the doors to our car. Did someone remind him that we are in the middle of an 8 lane expressway? Nope. He jumps out.

I am sitting next to a lady who says that this is the second time the train has stopped. That explains all of the waiting time! Sheesh!

I was all ready to take a picture of the conductor standing on a two-ft. wide platform between the train and oncoming traffic, but I figured I would look too much like a tourist.



I went back to reading my book when a gloved hand comes out of nowhere and grabs hold of the railing that I am leaning up against!



Don't worry. It was only the driver.



I nearly had a heart attack and the man across from me just starts laughing.

Gee...thanks.

After 10 minutes, we are continuing onward at a snails pace. It's a good thing I wasn't rushing or I would have been in a full on panic. Right before we get to the airport (and go underground I might add), the smokey smell returns. Finally, we arrive in trusty Terminal 2. Which is about a mile's walk from where I needed to be.

I checked the board for an earlier flight and there was nothing. Oh well, I have a good book, I can write in my trip journal, and find some dinner. I head to Security #2. I wasn't too sure where my gate was, so I went to the Security right in the middle. Couldn't go wrong.

And so, I met myself with about 10 other people trying to get into line, but the 'wonderful' TSA person says that we can't go through. No explanation, just "Nope. Sorry."

Lovely.

So we all truck ourselves down to the end. Security 3 here we come. We all got in line and I remembered at that moment that I forgot to wear socks.

I had an image in my mind of my feet walking through a green, bacteria-infested swamp of germs. It was enough to make me ill. I wanted to dump my suitcase in the middle of the security line and get out a fresh pair. But I didn't want to be that traveller.

I decided to suck it up and gave my ID and boarding pass to the nicest TSA employee that I have ever seen. He even smiled! The crazy lady at Security 2 should learn some people skills from this guy.

Anyway...jeez how I am only at this part of the day?!

Of course when I get through security, I realize that I am completely at the opposite end of the terminal as my gate. Oh, well. Now I have the entire terminal to find me some food.

And food I did find.

 

[CoP Luv]

Yay you've started, I still can't believe we didn't see each other, were you in the all girl wave (3 I think?) as that's where I was meant to be

Hi Jo! We were in wave 6. So luckily we finished running before it started pouring. We only got completely drenched on the back half.

 

[praisehisname]

Hi! I'm enjoying your report so far!

 

[CoP Luv]

Hi! I'm enjoying your report so far!

Welcome and Thanks! I have a lot to go!

 

[DisneyJo]

We ended up in wave 8 so we got slightly wet

Sounds like a stressful start, glad you got there safe though

 

[CoP Luv]

I could only describe my "dinner" as Heaven in a bag. And when one describes food as Heaven, it usually means one that has zero calories, no fat, and has some nutritional value, right?



As I was walking down the terminal, I passed a number of airport establishments. All high quality food. I did briefly consider Wolfgang Puck Express, but figured that I would be spending some quality CS credits there in a few days. And so I moved on.

I saw a Vosages chocolate stand and immediately convinced myself that having chocolate for dinner was totally a "vacation thing to do". But I would probably get sick to my stomach from that. And I would be running in a race on Saturday, so I probably should eat a little better than that.

So the next little stand that I came across was glowing and the Alleluia chorus suddenly blasted itself through the terminal.

Like I said. Heaven in a Bag.

Being a native Chicagoian has taught me three things about life : You are only in traffic if you are going less than 35 mph, pizza is better when it is thick, and popcorn has only three flavors: caramel, cheese, and butter.

I couldn't pass this stand up. It was calling to me. I quickly got behind one person and waited to place my order. I think everyone else in the terminal heard the Alleluia chorus because the line quickly went from two people to about 8 billion.

My standard order is a small bag of cheese popcorn. But I was 'on vacation' as the little voice in my head kept telling me and urged me to get Caramel and Cheese.

Yup, I was getting crazy.

$5.23 later, I was walking down the terminal with my dinner: a bag of popcorn, a bottle of water, and as many napkins as I could carry.

I headed to my gate and found a little seat where I could happily munch and write everything down in my new trip journal.

I still had over an hour to wait until our flight was ready to board. As I was writing, I started to take pictures of things for my TR. I even had my camera halfway down inside the bag of popcorn.

Sorry, those pics didn't turn out so well.

There was someone also waiting near me that just kept staring. What? Taking endless pictures of a random notebook, your popcorn bag, and the individual kernels of cheesy goodness wasn't normal?



I happily went back to munching and writing.

Only a little while later, a group of flight attendants came over and sat by me.

"There's my Boston girls!" one of them said.

Boston? What do you mean Boston?

I looked up at the illuminated sign above the gate number and sure enough, it said Boston. I fished my boarding pass out of my "Everything that I had to bring on this trip and carry around the airport on my shoulder" bag and checked the gate. No gate listed. The other gates in my area didn't have cities assigned to them yet.

I looked around and sure enough, there were some families, a little lime green here and there; the perfect combination for a flight going to Orlando. This had to be right. And the last thing I wanted to do was gather up all of my stuff and drag it to the nearest departure monitor.

It was nearing my boarding time, so I had to figure out where I was supposed to be. I am never like this. I don't go to the wrong place...ever. I may not be on time for it, but I usually know exactly where I am going.

It must have been the diversion to 'dinner' that clouded my memory.

Anyway, everything stowed away, I grabbed all of my belongings and walked to the monitor. I scanned the city listing...

Oklahoma City - Boarding
Omaha - On Time
Oswego - On Time

Wait, where's Orlando?

 

[CoP Luv]

We ended up in wave 8 so we got slightly wet

Sounds like a stressful start, glad you got there safe though

It was quite a long day!

 

[DisneyJo]

Oh no where was Orlando And I had my first taste of Garretts last trip, it's very moreish

 

[ariel2007]

Oh, you so cannot leave me hanging like this, I want more. More pictures, more popcorn, more humor

 

[praisehisname]

Oh no you didn't!!! You can't leave us like that!!!

 

[CoP Luv]

Oh no where was Orlando And I had my first taste of Garretts last trip, it's very moreish

Glad you got to try it, though one of these days you will have to try the cheese flavor. I promise...it's great!!!

Oh, you so cannot leave me hanging like this, I want more. More pictures, more popcorn, more humor

Hi!!! Glad you came to check out my report!

The pictures will probably start once I actually get to WDW. I didn't want to be the person taking pictures of herself while being alone in the airport. That would have been a little too weird. Even for me!

Oh no you didn't!!! You can't leave us like that!!!

Sorry! Got to make it a little interesting. I mean...I am only in the airport.

 

[CoP Luv]

Did I miss something somehow? Was everyone checked in and they decided to leave an hour early? Without me? I was seriously stumped. Since I checked in at work, I had no gate listed on my boarding pass. I could have sworn that when I first looked at the monitor, it said B16. And B16 was where I was sitting, shoving my wonderful face full of heavenly popcorn.

After I didn't see Orlando on the monitor, I started to panic. What the heck was I supposed to do? There wasn't another flight after the one I was supposed to be on.

And then I remember something.



I remember when I was lugging all of my stuff down the terminal that I saw Easy Check-In kiosks in the terminal. "Why," I wondered, "where these things on this side of security?" I just didn't get it. But, I bet I could try and print out a new boarding pass and figure out where the heck I was supposed to be.

Or something like that.

I pulled all of my stuff to the kiosk and tried to get a new boarding pass. This included fishing down into my "starting to get annoyed with myself with how much random stuff I felt I needed to put in this bag" bag - really...that's what it was called - to find a credit card to put into the machine. Finally, I am able to get a new boarding pass.

And the gate on there is....


....


Wait for it...

....

B17.

Yup...on the other side of the wall from where I was sitting.

As I walk over there, I see no LGMH, only three families. Do they really have this right? Excuse me for being a semi-new DISer, but isn't Lime Green the secret code to professing your all out love for the DIS/WDW?



Except I was wearing a purple dress, very suitable for wearing to the office. Clearly I was already breaking the DIS rules. I grab a seat in the correct waiting area, on the right side of the wall and continue to write in my trip journal.

At that moment, I started regretting my dinner choice. Who said that eating caramel popcorn was a good idea? Oops. Good thing I have some granola bars and fruit snacks to make up for it.

I never said I needed to eat healthly.

Anyway, we start to board and I have to make my way back around the lovely wall to get into line with the other 84 billion people. While I was waiting, I tried to call the Hater to let him know that I was about to leave. He was at a work dinner. Of course. Mr. "I'm Too Cool For Disney" didn't have time for me...his lovely wife that was going to have a heckava time without him.

Hmpft.

I noticed that morning while my bag was sitting next to my desk at work how large it was. It was quite larger than my own bag that I usually travel with. Of course, I didn't want to check it and pay some ridiculous fee, and then have to wait to get it off of the baggage claim. All at some incredible late hour. How's that for justification? Anyway, I started checking out everyone else's bag of choice. I was pretty sure that it was still classified as a carry-on size. In fact, I am sure of it at this point. Nothing to worry about.

UNTIL some nosey deer tattooed lady who is standing right behind me says loudly, "What's with all of these HUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGEEEEE bags?" She was traveling with her aunt and I just turned around and gave the aunt one of my looks, which just happens to be some of the most evil eyes that I could muster up at that moment.

Please...I just want to get to Disney. Is that too much to ask?

FINALLY, I get on the plane. I am sitting by the window, about two aisles behind the window exit. Yes, I planned that. The aisle and middle seats in my row were already occupied, but I asked the gentleman at the end of my row if he could put my bag in the overhead. It appeared that it didn't fit the "right" way...you know, the long way in, not wasting any space.

Oops.

I sat down, buckled up, and the flight attendant came over and worked her magic. My bag fit after all.

Take that deer lady.

As I was celebrating my bag victory in my head, I began to hear the screams of a baby. I swear, this child is always traveling with me. Always. However, once we got going, I think it stopped. Because it must have gone to the bathroom.


Yes, it smelled.

And immediately it smelled like diaper wipes. What was going on back there? Thank goodness I was in front of it. Goodness me. It was bad.

About an hour before we were to land, I needed to get excited about being on vacation. I mean I wasn't excited about going to Florida all day. And so I fished my ipod out of "the bag" and started listening to my Disney Playlist. It always makes me happy no matter what.

After some a little more bouncing around than I would have liked, our plane touched down in Florida.

FINALLY! I made it.

 

[Daisy14]

I'm in... but is it too late? Loved your opening post!

 

[CoP Luv]

I'm in... but is it too late? Loved your opening post!

It's never too late! Welcome!

 

[DisneyJo]

Yay you've landed and I'm so pleased you found the right gate and your bag fitted

 

[praisehisname]

Glad your gate wasn't on the other side of the terminal! So glad you made it and don't have to worry about getting any bags from baggage claim!

 

[CoP Luv]

Yay you've landed and I'm so pleased you found the right gate and your bag fitted

Me too! Or else I would have had to find another dinner with the amount that I was walking around. Wonder what it would have been...

Glad your gate wasn't on the other side of the terminal! So glad you made it and don't have to worry about getting any bags from baggage claim!

It would have been such a long night if I had to wait for a bag!

 

[CoP Luv]

This is going to be a drive-by chapter. I promise there will be more pictures in the next installment!

Anyway, where were we?

Oh, yes, I had finally landed in Orlando. It was about 10:45-ish. Right on schedule. Everyone was so antsy to get off of the plane. Well, I was too, but I knew that I couldn't go anywhere until the 84 billion people got out in front of me. There were actually people from the back of the plane trying to get out in front of everyone else? I think a book on airplane exiting etiquette may be in my future.

I asked the same guy who put my bag up in the overhead if he could be so kind to take it down for me. After that, I was on my way to the 'fake monorail'. I tried to call the Disney Hater to let him know that I arrived but he didn't answer. He must have been still dining on steak with his collegues.

I got into the first car of the monorail with a few other seasoned travelers. They all knew that the first car got you closest to the exit at the other end. I walked through a completely empty terminal and down to the ME. I didn't even have to check in at the desk. There was a man standing at the red carpet who just scanned my reservation and I was on my way!

When I was going to board the bus, the driver stopped me and asked me if I was old enough to travel alone. "But you can't be older than 18!" I realize that I look young, but I'm not 12. And I don't know if I would really take it as a compliment that I looked like a high-schooler. My older sister would, but not me.

I got right onto a bus and we were on our way by 11:15! I was on a bus that was going to 4 resorts: CBR, PC, BWI, and ASSp. Of course I was the last one. This was going to be a long ride.

After we left BWI, we took a mystery road through the back of Epcot and around passing the YC & BC only to come right around out of the Swan & Dolphin. Couldn't we just have gone out the BW entrance and taken a few quick rights? Um, hello?? Sign me up to me a bus driver!

It was about an hours ride by the time I got to ASSp. I was the first one off of the bus and the first one to check in, not that there were many of us. By the time I got my keys and my map, I was practically a zombie. It was nearing 12:30 AM and I had been traveling since 5 PM. I was tired.

On my way through ASSp, I really thought about taking my camera out and getting some wonderful night shots, but that would have required me to put down my overly huge 'I-want-to-kick-this-bag-to-the-curb-why-didn't-I-leave-it-on-the-plane' bag and fish out my camera. No thank you. I proceeded bag to my room. I was in the baseball section. I don't even remember my room number, but I think I was in the Coke buildings on the third floor. I was in a little corner that faced the parking lot, but since it was so dark out and there were so many trees, I couldn't tell if I could actually see the parking lot or not.

As I was nearing my building, I had to come pretty close to the Home Run pool. There was quite the party going on in there and if I had to listen to that all night, I would have been, well, shall we say, the meanest person that they would ever see? When I have a lack of sleep, oh the wrath comes out. My closest friends from college have actually seen that once. It was about a year and a half ago and we had 9 people staying in our apartment. NINE! It was 5 AM and techno music was being played. One person managed to get sick outside of my bedroom door as a result of...well, you know...thinking you're still in college when you get back together with your college friends...even though you graduated 3 years before.

Yeah. That.

Well, at 5AM I flew out of my room in a rage and screamed all bloody murder at the hater and a few other people. That. Was. Scary.

I didn't want to have to repeat that this night. It was for the good of all man-kind that these crazies act like normal people. But no. I think they had all gotten together with their college friends too. Except they were all guys...who I don't think had ever seen a girl in a dress and heels at 12:30 AM.

In the course of walking by, and I wasn't even that close, I was invited to their room, given about 84 billion room numbers, and asked when I was coming over.

Nothing like the magical evening that I was expecting.

Finally! I open the door to my room and I see a Minnie Mouse towel animal!

I washed by face and set my alarm for 6:30 AM. I needed to change resorts and get to Epcot by Rope Drop! I watched the new Stacy show until 1 AM and made myself go to sleep.