The MAGIC, the MEMORIES, the storms, and HEY! Where's Perry? Aug 2011 TR (upd: Oct21)

[BerrysGirl]

Inquiring minds want to know... why is it called MCO?!?

[beebeeryan]

Originally Posted by BerrysGirl

Inquiring minds want to know... why is it called MCO?!?

The airport was an air force base back in the day and named after a General or something...McCoy. That's where it got the MCO. It's also the biggest airport, size wise, not traffic wise in the country for security. By the time anyone could get to the runways to do anything, they'd have been spotted and stopped it would have taken so long. Strategic Military planning at it's best, was used to design the original airport. The runways were built for fighter planes to take off on so are way longer than necessary for commercials planes and there are 4 of them all parallel to each other so the jets could all take off at the same time going the same way. They were long so they could scramble and take off even from halfway down the runway if necessary.

Thanks Wally!

[beebeeryan]

We arrived at the Contemporary at about 11:30 dropped our bags with Bell Services and were led inside by a cute CM. Can't remember his name, but he was cute. We didn't have to wait at all, there was nobody at online check-in so we picked up our packet and away we went to our room. We did get our request of Ground Floor in the Garden Wing. We arrived at our room and were happy with the location and the view. We had a corner room (5116) right next to a door and pathway to the pool. Perfect. The patio is a little small, but really the kids were the only ones that ended up using it turns out. The room was about halfway up the stem of the t shape of the resort.

The room from the pathway to the pool.

I called for the bags and they came right away. We did a quick semi-unpack, get settled, but didn't take long because we were famished. Kids decided we should head straight to MK to eat instead of eating at the hotel. So we headed to the lobby and I stopped at the concierge desk to have our UT tickets put on our KTTW cards. Then we headed to...

And found ourselves...well the boys anyways...in Salamander heaven. It became the focus of every walk outside. Finding salamanders. We walked into MK for the first time and headed straight for lunch near the first ride we'd be doing, which was decided upon 3 months ago.

At 12:30 we were ordering lunch at Columbia Harbour House. Kids had nuggets, I had the Lobster Roll which was quite good and DH had the Shrimp Platter. We sat upstairs in a quiet corner, although not as quiet as last year, and ate.

Time for the first ride of the trip!!!

So off we went into the new queue to check it out...

Then went straight in, no wait to the stretching room and then Doom Buggy. Good times. We made it out minus our own heads, but alive. The new ending was a hit with all of us. It's good.

Next it was Splash and Big Thunder. We grabbed FP for Splash since there was a 20 minute wait and headed to Big Thunder and waited 10 minutes for it.

We spent a few minutes in the store by Splash, waiting for our FP time then headed into the Briar Patch! We noticed Phineus and Ferb merchandise onsale which was cool! We also saw lots of people wearing Perry shirts. I had to take this next photo at this point to remember the insane amounts of comments starting in the morning at the airport to every ride queue and store we stood in about how this could possibly have happened in the same family. DH's father was a Red Sox fan all his life for whatever bizarre reason (born and bred in NY State) and somehow Matthew, who was just a baby when he died, managed to get that gene. Grandma keeps the rivalry going. He likes to oppose us at every turn so this is just another way for him to be different. The attire was not planned, they all just happened to put on those shirts in the morning and we didn't even notice it till the TSA agent at the airport made the first comment.

Just a picture of the picture of this first ride, we went on it many more and bought the best picture we got. We'll see that later. We were in the last 2 rows and you can't really see me and Eric well because DH and Matthew put their arms up.

and a little video of the drop!

After that, we headed towards Pirates and the Jungle Cruise where yet another CM commented on the family sports rivalry and asked Matthew if he was sure this guy was his father. On Pirates the little boy behind us in line was worried about the ride and it being so dark. His mom was trying to reassure him it wasn't like the Splash drop, but he was afraid. She was pointing out Eric and how he was younger and not afraid. I turned and told him it was nothing like Splash and there was just one small drop in the dark and that was it. After the ride we saw them in the store and the kid was fine. Between these rides we had our first thunderstorm/downpour, but it only lasted about 10 minutes. Then we headed out of the park for a break.

Up next...
First Dip in the Pool!

[justakrazymom]

Love the red sox/yankee thing.. my 9 year old isn't a huge baseball fan but his best friends are.. one is a Yankee and one a red sox fan ( the 3 of them are best buds)..so whenever all 3 are together the each try and get Declan to like their team..lol

[DisMomAmy]

Sounds like a great start! Room was ready & you got the location you requested.

I can't wait to check out the new queue & ending at Haunted Mansion!

We have a mixed Red Sox/Yankees home... DH is from southern CT so he's a Yankees fan. But his brother is a Red Sox fan?? Well our kids have taken after them. Alex (10) is a Yankees fan like dad, Zach (7) is a Red Sox Fan like me (not that I'm a huge Red Sox fan but living in NH all my life it's sort of a given). They get comments all the time out in public!

[DisMomAmy]

After a wet ride on vacation in July:


At a Red Sox game in July:

[beebeeryan]

Originally Posted by DisMomAmy

After a wet ride on vacation in July:


At a Red Sox game in July:

OMG that sign is hysterical! That is awesome! Glad we're not the only ones. Be sure to have them dress like that on your trip!

[Disney9.9.10]

Great start to your trip! Isn't it great when you get your room requests? And how funny about your boys and their teams - it is nice that people had fun with it.

[Kat in GA]

I can't believe how quickly you have your trip report started!! We just got home tonight - and what an amazing trip it was! Now I need to decide if I am going to write a trip report or just piggy back on Pixie Mama's report

Looking forward to reading more about your trip!

[beebeeryan]

Originally Posted by Disney9.9.10

Great start to your trip! Isn't it great when you get your room requests? And how funny about your boys and their teams - it is nice that people had fun with it.

Yeah, it was fun! I gotta say, I really liked the Garden Wing, it was nice and quiet over there and so convenient to the pool which we used a lot. It was nice not having stairs or elevators to deal with either.

Originally Posted by Kat in GA

I can't believe how quickly you have your trip report started!! We just got home tonight - and what an amazing trip it was! Now I need to decide if I am going to write a trip report or just piggy back on Pixie Mama's report

Looking forward to reading more about your trip!

OH BOO! It's nice to be home, but sad when the trip is over. Although I don't feel very sorry for you, you're going back so soon!!!

[beebeeryan]

So, we left off it was late afternoon (4pm) and we decided to head back to the hotel and take a dip in the pool. We decided to try out the Monorail to get back. We stopped on the 4th floor to pick up a few things for the room, some bread for Matthew's Nutella sandwich breakfast and some morning drinks. Not to mention some adult beverages as well. Then off to the room to change into swimsuits and hit the pool.

View of the pool from our patio

The boys were in for less than 2 minutes when they decided to try out the slide and Eric who is 5 and could not swim last year (really can only swim under water even now) and was too afraid to go near the much smaller slide at the Wilderness Lodge, went up first, alone, and came down without hesitation. Crazy kid! Matthew was next. That was it, they were up and down the slide for an hour with us taking turns waiting for them at the bottom and alternating going off for a drink. Pina Colava...YUMMY!

My water camera came in handy...









The clouds...it was overcast every time we got to the pool pretty much.

A little slide video

By 7pm we were starved again and headed to the Contempo Cafe for dinner. Kids had the kids Pizza meal, I had the Hot Turkey Sandwich - topped with Brie, apple butter and arugula on Challah bread and DH had the 1/3 lb Angus Cheeseburger - served with cheddar cheese.

Then we shopped a little and WE FOUND PERRY!!! Two of them that came home with us to our room. Making that Perry noise all the way there.

We headed back to the room and to an early bedtime since we'd been up since 4am. Thus ends Day 1. The bonus day.

Up next...
First Steps into the Future!

[kokotg]

Another all boy mother joining in! I even have an 8 and 5 year old, too (although with a 10 year old thrown in for good measure). Hooray for a bonus day! It's nice that something good came out of the hurricane

[15isto2]

I love the "Hit my day" picture

[taymacsmom]

Hi! Joining in the fun! We flew home on Aug. 26. We were lucky that Irene changed course and did not hit Orlando but we got home to CT and she hit us on Sunday morning and we were out of power for 2 days. No major damage though so I guess we were lucky. Looking forward to hearing all about your trip. We were also in MK on Thursday around the same time and rode HM. Maybe we saw one another!?!

Kelly

[Pixie*Pirate]

Joining in!!