.....except for maybe DH's forgetfulness.
OK. I am at work shhhhh! I know I am going to get interrupted anytime re: a patient that we are taking to surgery today. Don't worry - I am not neglecting him. Just waiting for calls to get him scheduled!
I woke at my usual 6:30am time on Tuesday. But, I could not bring myself to get out of bed because I was stiff everywhere - but mostly my feet!
Boy, they were still aching! The only thing that managed to get me going was the need to make coffee. I am a real caffiene addict
and I will get a seriously bad headache if I go more than 24 hours without drinking coffee. I only drink one cup a day, but I MUST HAVE IT!
One of the things I like about having a balcony is being able to sit on it and drink coffee. However, I did not want to drink coffee on this balcony because it faced the bus stop and I knew the "bus people" would be lining up soon. I asked my DH if he wanted to sit outside and watch the "bus people", but he declined. Please don't think I am making fun of the bus. I like the bus. I take the bus a lot, but I know that when people are waiting for a bus and they want to get somewhere fast, they have to look at anything that will entertain them. Doing this takes their mind off how many minutes they have been waiting for the dang bus to arrive. Unfortunately, the thought that I was about to be someone's entertainment, in my running clothes, drinking my coffee, just did not appeal to me. Nah - I just couldn't do it! I can't be someone's "I'm bored and I can't wait to get to the park" entertainment. So I stayed inside.
I gulped my coffee and announced, "I'm going for a run. Want to come?" DH declined, more because he is old and would rather run on a treadmill then because he wore his
only pair of running shorts to the pool yesterday and they still weren't dry. (Insert gnome picture here)
Now thanks to my friends here on the DIS boards, I happened to know that there is a path through the golf course that connects SSR to OKW. I have never been on this pathway and I was very curious to see if I could find it. I DID!
So that was my run - from the paddock to the registration area of SSR past the Tree House Villas to OKW. I only ran about 1 1/4 miles to get to the entrance of OKW. It was a really nice run and the first time I had seen OKW up close. Well, I actually didn't see too much of OKW. But one thing I noticed was that the first floor porches on OKW are about a foot off the ground. I liked this. I would like to stay at OKW on one of my future trips!
The other thing I noticed about OKW was that some of the roof shingles and porch awnings looked faded. Granted, it was a bit overcast outside and everything looks better in the sun. But, just like the fading umbrellas at the Congress Park pool, I couldn't help but notice this!
I did pass the tree house villas, but the entrance is behind a locked fence, so there was no opportunity for up close viewing. I didn't really see too much going on back there and I really wonder what this section will look like when its done. I didn't have my camera, so I have no pics to share. I was hoping to get back there before I left, but I never did.
When I returned to my room I showered and quickly got dressed because today we were going to Epcot. I really wanted to go to DS to ride TSM, but I knew if I waited to go to Epcot on 12/16, there was an am EMH. I generally avoid am EMH's because I don't like getting to the park at 8am. I rather relax with my morning coffee and go for a run. That is impossible to do and get to a park by 8am. So, I figured today would be the best Epcot day.
Unlike the AAA parking at HS, I love the AAA parking at Epcot. It will always be worth buying tickets at AAA just to get the parking pass (plus I can use my AAA Visa rebates to buy tickets)! Just like with our MK arrival, we timed our Epcot arrival to just seconds after opening. Perfect - we didn't get too jammed up with people and we were able to walk directly to Soarin without tripping over too many stroller wheels.
Our FP return time for Soarin was 9:45. I guess a lot of people must have gone directly to the ride, but we opted to hop a boat and go live with the land. I love this ride. But what I liked most about it this time was watching this little girl in the row ahead of us. This was clearly her first time and she was enjoying every minute of this new discovery. She especially liked the Mickey pumpkin. It was so cute and I was really feeling the magic through her eyes!
After the land, I tried to talk DH into signing up for a Behind the Seeds tour. I thought DH would want to do this because he is really into gardening. Nah - he wasn't interested. That surprised me. I broached the subject one more time as we were exiting Soarin, but he still wasn't feelin' it! Whatev! as my DS's would say.
After the land, we bided our time by watching the Circle of Life film. It was freezing cold in the theatre, but it definately passed the time in a cute way. When the film was done, it was time to hop on Soarin.
Soarin was fun as usual, except that I kept being distracted by the black spots on the film. At first, I thought they were birds (so did DH). Then I realized they were in every scene. OK, so they were
Not birds! I kept forcing myself NOT to look at the black spots, but I couldn't help it. They were so darn distracting. They finally disappeared when we got to the night time scenes - imagine that!
When we left Soarin, I grabbed two more FP's, silently hoping that the black spots would not be visible when we went back and got seated on a different glider. Was I right????? Well, you are just going to have to keep reading to find out!