kimmar067
TAGS?? It's all about the 'likes' now!
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2001
"...Mommy, why are those crazy people driving with their luggage like that...??!??!"
DAY 3 - August 13, 2006
Okay, we have had a comfortable, full night's sleep, so it makes sense that we get up at a reasonably early time to head on over to beat the 'rush' of folks coming to WDW to enjoy the first day of FREE FOOD, right? Sounds like a plan, doesn't it? Ron, wishes to reciprocate on the WDW hospitality by attempting to give MICKEY a wake-up call, or at least that's what he must have been thinking - he awakes before the butt-crack o' dawn! Not everyone in our party was as exuberant about this idea, though; it took everyone else more than an hour to even BEGIN to wake up....okay, so ETA of 8AM at AKL isn't too bad.....no biggie, except for one TINY detail ~ there were originally 4 of us travelling to WDW in our Navigator with 6 pieces of luggage, a DVD player and OODLES of DVD's, various assorted snacks and 12-packs of drinks. Now there are 3 more passengers and 4 more pieces of luggage....WHERE TO PUT THEM?!??! Now, you must remember this rather important piece of 411 - my DH does NOT function well prior to downing his first cup of coffee in the morning!! So, what started out to be a game of musical chairs, turning into a full-blown argument in the Pop 50's Section parking lot, my DH gets the brilliant idea of 'chucking' [or, if you prefer, 'tossing really hard'!]the extra baggage on TOP of the roof of the car.....no bungee cord, no string, no rope, no ripped up pieces of bed sheets, no magical tape - zip, nada, NOTHING!!! So, I proceeded to drive out of the Pop parking lot oh-so-slowly, all the while worried that SOMEONE'S luggage was going - inevitably popping open, boxer shorts, or other 'unmentionables', strewn about all over Osceola Parkway. We did arrive at AKL about 22 minutes later, at warp-speed of 14 mph, culminating in me sticking my hand out the driver's window, signalling for all the Mickey buses to GO AROUND ME....I can't even begin to imagine how this must have looked to passersby......
I knew that my sanity would be restored once I spied the thatched roof of my wonderful AKL. I pulled up to the sentry and waited for those heavenly words, "Welcome home!' , and I immediately knew that the 22-minute-SILENT-ride-through-hell was over...
We pulled under the portico, where CM's rushed to help us with our luggage, bright-eyed and cheery as could be [apparently, Mickey called THEM, not vice-versa!], and entered the lobby,
through the glass doors, into the vestibule,
and into the grandiose lobby...WE WERE FINALLY 'HOME' again:
[those two doors from which we just entered]
Forging ahead, we got on the queue line to check in....this should be a breeze [or so I thought], since there was only 1 group ahead of us.....NOT! Since I had changed my ressies so many times, AKL just couldn't keep up the pace, and it was evident by how the final outcome of keys and rooms came to be. We had three rooms - 2 standards and one pool-view room (now pay close attention to this, because you WILL be tested at the end...!). We had 9 guests checking in, with only 8 reigstered for the 'Free Dining' plan....ahhhhhh, here is where it gets 'messy': under the original ressies, we had 1 room booked - me, my DH, my DS Jesse, and my DS, Dylan. We added another room when my DS, Todd and his lip-piercing GF decided to join us, along with my DNeph, Tyler, and then again, my DS's friend, Ryan. Viola`, add another room, and, upon the insistance of the CM, just add those 4 additional persons in that room (I was told that, rather than changing all the names, it would be easier to play 'musical rooms' with our keys).....okay, so everything is still 'smooth sailing', that is, until my DS, Jesse, decided to ask his other friend, Nick to 'tag along' (what is he, a wide-eyed, drooling puppy dog???). Well, in order to maintain sanity, at the last minute (LITERALLY!) I added another room with the 9th person - unbeknownst to me, they did not add the 2-day park passes to this 9th person, AND, as an extra added bonus, it was reserved under separate cover, since it had an employee discount (I'm NOT even 'going' there, so don't ask!) Are you still with me?? Okay, so now, we have THREE ROOMS with NINE persons, but only EIGHT entitled to 'Free Dining' AND only Eight persons with 2-day passes - oaky, let's try to figure this out -who gets what kind of room key??? And to think, it only took a measly 80 minutes to straighten the whole mess out! Basically, my DH, Dylan, Tyler, and I were in the pool-view room with TWO keys - one strictly for the room and one for the passes and dining. My DS's friend, Ryan, also had TWO keys - one for HIS room and one for the passes and dining, and everyone else had just one key. You see, they couldn't transfer the 'Dining Option' onto our 'non-dining option' room, since the room was reserved after June 24, when the Free Dining Plan expired. Well, we had our rooms, but no room numbers, since it was still earlier than the scheduled check-in time; our luggage securely tucked away with Bell Services, we headed off to Epcot.....
...now, remember, there is that little detail of Nick not having the Two-Day pass to the Disney parks - it couldn't be strightened out at AKL (or ANY resort, for that matter) - I was directed to head on over to Guest Services. Okay, not too much of a damper - I'll pick up Nick's pass and the rest of the family can get a great spot on line at Mission:Space.....long story short, there NEVER WAS any 2-day pass for Nick, so I had to ante up the moola (..da-da-da-DA-ta-da....CHAR-R-R-R-R-R-GE it!) and paid for the pass. Guess the fellow felt sorry for me, so he gave me a Fast Pass (for nine persons) for ANY RIDE at Epcot at ANY TIME ~ Thanks, nameless-CM-at-the-Epcot-Guest-Services-counter-Dude! Running, and I really mean RUNNING to M:S, I met up with my 'motley crew'....M:S did NOT disappoint! Little did I know that, before my DFam wait on the M:S line, they had already gotten Fastpasses to TT, but, since they didn't have my pass, they didn't get ME one! @#%$!@ ...not to worry, I have absolutely no qualms about entering the 'Single-Riders' line, which I hastily did. I was near the front of the line, when, suddenly, my cell phone rings - ACK! It's my DS, Jesse, and they can't enter Epcot because Nick doesn't have his pass....I DO!!
I got OFF the line, mumbling under my breath, something to the effect of 'having kids should be illegal in the state of New Jersey...' when I passed a CM at the TT entrance. He asked me what was wrong, which, of COURSE, I had to inform him, so he, too gave me [say it WITH me] Fastpasses for ANY RIDE at Epcot at ANY TIME (don't you just love it when a day starts off lousy, but keeps gettin' better 'n better??) I ran back (yeah, bad knee and all) to teh Epcot entrance to meet up with Jesse and his buddies. Once in the park, we hurried over to TT so that they could get on that ride. Now, you are NOT gonna believe this ( 
hey, don't things happen in "three's"?) but, as we passed Innoventions West [or is it 'East' - I always get those two confused!] a woman stops us and asks us if we would like her Fastpasses to M:S, since they were about to expire and they were scheduled to do something else (don't know what, don't care!). Jesse and his friends get on M:S, I head back to the TT 'Single-Rider line, get ON TT, and meet my family within 15 minutes! And, they had NO IDEA what had just occured! With the 'guest-services' fastpasses in hand, we decided to use them on Soarin', with impeccable timing, because it looked like, just behind us, the freed Israelites after the parting of the Red Sea. Soarin' was most awesome - I am so glad that we were able to use the Fastpasses for that.
Now, incredibly hungry, we decided to stay at the Land and eat at the newly refurbished Food Court. It was clean, lively, and the food selections were fantastic - especially, since the CS included one entree, one side, one desert and one drink - what's not to love??
We were anxious to get back to AKL to see if our rooms were ready, and we wanted to relax by the pool for a bit, before getting ready for my FAVORITE place to eat, Le Cellier, so after briefly stopping in Innoventions:
[remember, my DS is a
...]
we decided to make a 'pit stop' at AK. The fact that it was almost 4PM probably explains why everyone leaving AK was looking at us so strangely... Honestly, some folks have no sense of adventure.....
We DID get to ride EE and the line was surprisingly short - only about a 15-minute wait...EE was amazing!! (unfortunately, we wanted to ride it again after going on Dinosaur twice, but we couldn't, because there was lightning in the distance and all outside rides were shut down) We quickly headed to "It's Tough to Be a Bug" [I never get tired of this campy show.....!] and finally made our way back to AKL, where we did, indeed, get our rooms - the 2 std rooms were #4021 and #4023 and our room was #3032:
This was the view from the balcony:
By 8PM, we were ready to return to Epcot for our 8:50 ressies at Le Cellier - unfortunately, I forgot my pass and dining key in the room, so I had to go back to the room to get it, causing us to miss our bus! Nothing to worry about, we were seated at the best table in Le Cellier by 9:10PM, where we proceeded to have one of the best meals of our vacation, including that wonderful Cheese soup, pretzel breadsticks, filet mignon, and, of course, Chocolate 'Moose'!! We didn't intend on being the last folks outta there - I was concerned that they would give us the key and tell us to 'lock up the place'....walking through Epcot with not another soul in sight was kinda eerie and surreal
until, seemingly JUST FOR US, the fountain came to life, with the volume of the music suddendly turned up:
All in all, I'd say it was a fantastic finish to a 'shaky-start-of-a-day'.....
DAY 3 - August 13, 2006
Okay, we have had a comfortable, full night's sleep, so it makes sense that we get up at a reasonably early time to head on over to beat the 'rush' of folks coming to WDW to enjoy the first day of FREE FOOD, right? Sounds like a plan, doesn't it? Ron, wishes to reciprocate on the WDW hospitality by attempting to give MICKEY a wake-up call, or at least that's what he must have been thinking - he awakes before the butt-crack o' dawn! Not everyone in our party was as exuberant about this idea, though; it took everyone else more than an hour to even BEGIN to wake up....okay, so ETA of 8AM at AKL isn't too bad.....no biggie, except for one TINY detail ~ there were originally 4 of us travelling to WDW in our Navigator with 6 pieces of luggage, a DVD player and OODLES of DVD's, various assorted snacks and 12-packs of drinks. Now there are 3 more passengers and 4 more pieces of luggage....WHERE TO PUT THEM?!??! Now, you must remember this rather important piece of 411 - my DH does NOT function well prior to downing his first cup of coffee in the morning!! So, what started out to be a game of musical chairs, turning into a full-blown argument in the Pop 50's Section parking lot, my DH gets the brilliant idea of 'chucking' [or, if you prefer, 'tossing really hard'!]the extra baggage on TOP of the roof of the car.....no bungee cord, no string, no rope, no ripped up pieces of bed sheets, no magical tape - zip, nada, NOTHING!!! So, I proceeded to drive out of the Pop parking lot oh-so-slowly, all the while worried that SOMEONE'S luggage was going - inevitably popping open, boxer shorts, or other 'unmentionables', strewn about all over Osceola Parkway. We did arrive at AKL about 22 minutes later, at warp-speed of 14 mph, culminating in me sticking my hand out the driver's window, signalling for all the Mickey buses to GO AROUND ME....I can't even begin to imagine how this must have looked to passersby......
I knew that my sanity would be restored once I spied the thatched roof of my wonderful AKL. I pulled up to the sentry and waited for those heavenly words, "Welcome home!' , and I immediately knew that the 22-minute-SILENT-ride-through-hell was over...
We pulled under the portico, where CM's rushed to help us with our luggage, bright-eyed and cheery as could be [apparently, Mickey called THEM, not vice-versa!], and entered the lobby,
through the glass doors, into the vestibule,
and into the grandiose lobby...WE WERE FINALLY 'HOME' again:
[those two doors from which we just entered]
Forging ahead, we got on the queue line to check in....this should be a breeze [or so I thought], since there was only 1 group ahead of us.....NOT! Since I had changed my ressies so many times, AKL just couldn't keep up the pace, and it was evident by how the final outcome of keys and rooms came to be. We had three rooms - 2 standards and one pool-view room (now pay close attention to this, because you WILL be tested at the end...!). We had 9 guests checking in, with only 8 reigstered for the 'Free Dining' plan....ahhhhhh, here is where it gets 'messy': under the original ressies, we had 1 room booked - me, my DH, my DS Jesse, and my DS, Dylan. We added another room when my DS, Todd and his lip-piercing GF decided to join us, along with my DNeph, Tyler, and then again, my DS's friend, Ryan. Viola`, add another room, and, upon the insistance of the CM, just add those 4 additional persons in that room (I was told that, rather than changing all the names, it would be easier to play 'musical rooms' with our keys).....okay, so everything is still 'smooth sailing', that is, until my DS, Jesse, decided to ask his other friend, Nick to 'tag along' (what is he, a wide-eyed, drooling puppy dog???). Well, in order to maintain sanity, at the last minute (LITERALLY!) I added another room with the 9th person - unbeknownst to me, they did not add the 2-day park passes to this 9th person, AND, as an extra added bonus, it was reserved under separate cover, since it had an employee discount (I'm NOT even 'going' there, so don't ask!) Are you still with me?? Okay, so now, we have THREE ROOMS with NINE persons, but only EIGHT entitled to 'Free Dining' AND only Eight persons with 2-day passes - oaky, let's try to figure this out -who gets what kind of room key??? And to think, it only took a measly 80 minutes to straighten the whole mess out! Basically, my DH, Dylan, Tyler, and I were in the pool-view room with TWO keys - one strictly for the room and one for the passes and dining. My DS's friend, Ryan, also had TWO keys - one for HIS room and one for the passes and dining, and everyone else had just one key. You see, they couldn't transfer the 'Dining Option' onto our 'non-dining option' room, since the room was reserved after June 24, when the Free Dining Plan expired. Well, we had our rooms, but no room numbers, since it was still earlier than the scheduled check-in time; our luggage securely tucked away with Bell Services, we headed off to Epcot.....
...now, remember, there is that little detail of Nick not having the Two-Day pass to the Disney parks - it couldn't be strightened out at AKL (or ANY resort, for that matter) - I was directed to head on over to Guest Services. Okay, not too much of a damper - I'll pick up Nick's pass and the rest of the family can get a great spot on line at Mission:Space.....long story short, there NEVER WAS any 2-day pass for Nick, so I had to ante up the moola (..da-da-da-DA-ta-da....CHAR-R-R-R-R-R-GE it!) and paid for the pass. Guess the fellow felt sorry for me, so he gave me a Fast Pass (for nine persons) for ANY RIDE at Epcot at ANY TIME ~ Thanks, nameless-CM-at-the-Epcot-Guest-Services-counter-Dude! Running, and I really mean RUNNING to M:S, I met up with my 'motley crew'....M:S did NOT disappoint! Little did I know that, before my DFam wait on the M:S line, they had already gotten Fastpasses to TT, but, since they didn't have my pass, they didn't get ME one! @#%$!@ ...not to worry, I have absolutely no qualms about entering the 'Single-Riders' line, which I hastily did. I was near the front of the line, when, suddenly, my cell phone rings - ACK! It's my DS, Jesse, and they can't enter Epcot because Nick doesn't have his pass....I DO!!
I got OFF the line, mumbling under my breath, something to the effect of 'having kids should be illegal in the state of New Jersey...' when I passed a CM at the TT entrance. He asked me what was wrong, which, of COURSE, I had to inform him, so he, too gave me [say it WITH me] Fastpasses for ANY RIDE at Epcot at ANY TIME (don't you just love it when a day starts off lousy, but keeps gettin' better 'n better??) I ran back (yeah, bad knee and all) to teh Epcot entrance to meet up with Jesse and his buddies. Once in the park, we hurried over to TT so that they could get on that ride. Now, you are NOT gonna believe this ( hey, don't things happen in "three's"?) but, as we passed Innoventions West [or is it 'East' - I always get those two confused!] a woman stops us and asks us if we would like her Fastpasses to M:S, since they were about to expire and they were scheduled to do something else (don't know what, don't care!). Jesse and his friends get on M:S, I head back to the TT 'Single-Rider line, get ON TT, and meet my family within 15 minutes! And, they had NO IDEA what had just occured! With the 'guest-services' fastpasses in hand, we decided to use them on Soarin', with impeccable timing, because it looked like, just behind us, the freed Israelites after the parting of the Red Sea. Soarin' was most awesome - I am so glad that we were able to use the Fastpasses for that. Now, incredibly hungry, we decided to stay at the Land and eat at the newly refurbished Food Court. It was clean, lively, and the food selections were fantastic - especially, since the CS included one entree, one side, one desert and one drink - what's not to love??
We were anxious to get back to AKL to see if our rooms were ready, and we wanted to relax by the pool for a bit, before getting ready for my FAVORITE place to eat, Le Cellier, so after briefly stopping in Innoventions:
[remember, my DS is a
...]we decided to make a 'pit stop' at AK. The fact that it was almost 4PM probably explains why everyone leaving AK was looking at us so strangely...
Honestly, some folks have no sense of adventure.....
We DID get to ride EE and the line was surprisingly short - only about a 15-minute wait...EE was amazing!! (unfortunately, we wanted to ride it again after going on Dinosaur twice, but we couldn't, because there was lightning in the distance and all outside rides were shut down) We quickly headed to "It's Tough to Be a Bug" [I never get tired of this campy show.....!] and finally made our way back to AKL, where we did, indeed, get our rooms - the 2 std rooms were #4021 and #4023 and our room was #3032:
This was the view from the balcony:
By 8PM, we were ready to return to Epcot for our 8:50 ressies at Le Cellier - unfortunately, I forgot my pass and dining key in the room, so I had to go back to the room to get it, causing us to miss our bus! Nothing to worry about, we were seated at the best table in Le Cellier by 9:10PM, where we proceeded to have one of the best meals of our vacation, including that wonderful Cheese soup, pretzel breadsticks, filet mignon, and, of course, Chocolate 'Moose'!! We didn't intend on being the last folks outta there - I was concerned that they would give us the key and tell us to 'lock up the place'....walking through Epcot with not another soul in sight was kinda eerie and surreal
until, seemingly JUST FOR US, the fountain came to life, with the volume of the music suddendly turned up:
All in all, I'd say it was a fantastic finish to a 'shaky-start-of-a-day'.....
[...next installment - Page 6]
.
trip!!! Can't wait to hear more!
i LOVE that show. victoria is so funny to watch. i love how she hates that the boys are so wrapped up in girls!
