2 Guys and a Gaggle of Cheerleaders!

[BigTiggerGuy]

OK......got your attention with the title, huh? Get your mind out of the gutter...it's not like that. However, there were definitely gaggles of cheerleaders/dancers all over the place during our trip so it made navigating a bit interesting. Here is how it all began..........
Sunday, Feb 4th. Worked until 11pm the night before and had a 7:20am flight scheduled out of Atlantic City. Luckily, we are only about 20 minutes from the airport. Out the door with bags in hand, wearing only shorts and sweatshirts(it's only about 24 degrees but who cares- it will be warm in Florida-little did we know.....) Once at the airport it was a quick checkin and zip through security. Once on the plane I naturally got next to the guy who wants to "talk" even though I have my IPod on and my eyes are closed. I'm usually a pretty sociable guy(have to be in my job) but at 7:00am I just want to sleep. Anyway, the talking begins and so does the flight......................
10am we land in Orlando. Amazingly fast trip from the plane onto the DME bus. We are on our way to the Caribbean Beach by 10:35am. Upon arrival we head to the front desk. Now I work at a hotel so I know there will not be any rooms available....just want to get our park tickets and head to the Haunted Mansion! We had Jenny check us in. Um, Jenny was still "earning her ears" so she was a bit confused. She entered my address three times into the system and swiped my credit card twice. Still, nothing seemed to be working. Finally, the supervisor steps in and heads over to another computer to do something with the reservation. To Jenny's credit, she began making small talk. "Are you heading to the parks?" "Are you planning to go to Pleasure Island?" etc. As I said, I work in the hospitality industry and I constantly try to drill this "small talk trick" into our employees heads....with no luck. Jenny was a sweetheart and making the small talk with us definitely helped pass the time until the supervisor returned. Naturally, our room wasn't ready but we got our park tickets and headed to the bus stop to go to the Magic Kingdom......................
That was when I first heard the chanting coming from around the corner. It started out soft but then started to grow. Something about having spirit and wondering about mine Then I saw them......the first Gaggle of Cheerleaders. There had to be about 30 of them. Cheering and running and giggling and talking on cell phones. Right away I decided to play it safe......I turned to my friend and said, "whichever bus they get on, we are going to a different park." Of course they got on the Magic Kingdom bus thus crushing my hopes of being on the Haunted Mansion within the next 60 minutes. Instead, we went to Epcot.
So we arrive at Epcot and head right to the gate. Lo and behold there is not a single person entering the park.....seriously, not one person in line. I couldn't believe it. We head to the turnstyle and put in our keycard. Nothing happens. We try again. Nothing happens. The attendant looks at it and says, these aren't your park tickets. I explain that Jenny was supposed to put them on there for us at checkin. He says, "Sorry, she made a mistake. You have to go to Guest Relations." So off to Guest Relations where Justin checked out the cards. Upon some investigation it turns out that Jenny(she of the unearned ears) and the supervisor never loaded the park tickets onto the keys. Justin quickly fixed the situation and sent us on our way.
Once in the park we headed straight to "The Living Seas with Nemo". I hadn't been on the new ride yet and I'm a total Nemo geek. Loved the ride...very cute. From there we wandered around Epcot hitting rides as we passed- there was hardly anyone in the park. Then I heard it again.....a Gaggle of Cheerleaders asking if we had spirit Could this be? Had the Gaggle followed us or simply multiplied like that little mogwaii thing in "Gremlins." They had in fact multiplied. There was about 60 of them marching in a group(this must be what it looks like when a Britney Spears concert lets out) towards us. We quick cut left and went on Mission:Space. The nauseating head rush was a nice diversion from the constant cheering..............
By this time we headed back to the Caribbean Beach and went to our room. Located in Trinidad South it was very quiet and quite nice. Also, I had been left my first towel animal ever. It was a small bunny holding a pen! We had a 7pm reservation at California Grill and it was now about 5pm. We cleaned up, changed our clothes and headed to the Grill around 6pm. We had planned on having cocktails for about an hour but found out we had messed up our reservation time and we were actually scheduled for 8pm. Oh well, what's another hour of Captain and Cokes?
At 8pm the hostess took us to our table(right by the window! ) and we sat down to dinner. Just then, Wishes started so we put down the menus and watched the show. What an awesome view! Amazing! We placed our orders(they have a new cheese sampler appetizer that I highly recommend) and enjoyed a nice leisurely dinner.
After dinner, I realized it was an EMH night at the Magic Kingdom so we decided to head over and hit the Haunted Mansion- I know, I know. I'm obsessed. But it's my favorite ride....especially at night! Very low crowds since the temp had dropped into the 40's. Right on Haunted Mansion and then a quick spin on Pirates of the Caribbean(love the new changes!) At this point, it was about 10:30pm and we were done. Back to the resort and off to bed.
Next chapter, The Segway Tour!

 

[disneyaddicted]

Hey there bigtiggerguy,

yup, the title caught my eye, I am the mother of a cheerleader (not a cheer mom, there is a difference) I am waiting for your next installment... I want to know how you survived a week with a gaggle of cheerleaders when I go nuts with one cheerleader in the car.

 

[mvazul]

Great report so far. Looking forward to reading more!!

 

[DiZneEChIcK]

Hi BigTiggerGuy,

I am in the NJ as well. How were the crowds during your trip? We are looking at going next year this time and were curious of the crowd sizes.

Thanks!

 

[BigTiggerGuy]

Crowds were minimal......of course, there was the standard wait for Soarin, Test Track and Everest but just about everything else was walkon. No problem getting ADR's or finding spots at the bars! I would definitely go again at this time......just be mindful of the weather. Sunday and Monday were pretty cold. We wore jeans and sweatshirts all day. Tuesday thru Thursday warmed up and we usually work shorts with sweatshirts.

 

[Mcbruns]

Thanks for posting.
We were there the weekend before you and all I can say is Brrrrr . . .
We knew we were taking a chance with January.

 

[BigTiggerGuy]

OK, so we get up around 7am on Monday and head to Epcot for our 8:30am Segway Tour. It's kind of cold out so we have on jeans and sweatshirts....man I wish I had brought gloves- I could have used them! Anyway, we head to the turnstile to check in and then it's over to Guest Services. After checking in with them we wait outside for the rest of the tour group. There was supposed to be 10 total but all in all we ended up with 6.
Our guide, Lamonte, picks us up and we head to Innoventions. They sit us in a small room(with our helmets on for some reason----kind of felt foolish) and we watch a brief movie about the Segway. Then Lamonte demonstrates how to get on and off and turn. Then we head out to the practice are inside of Innoventions. We practice getting on and off, moving forward and backwards, turning around, going around cones and up and down ramps. All in all it's about 30 minutes and I felt really comfortable by that time(I can't say the same for everyone in the group ) I was amazed at how sensitive they are....even the slightest movement will cause the Segway to turn. Anyway, it was time to head out into the World! We moved out single file like a bunch of ducklings and headed over to World Showcase. It was pretty cool since the park had just opened up and there was nobody in World Showcase. We rode through each country doing various obstacles like weaving around columns in Italy and heading in and out of buildings in Morocco. Very cool. At Italy, we had a "freestyle" break where you could pretty much ride around on your own(in a contained area) or get pictures taken on the Segway. Keep in mind that it was COLD!!!! My hands were freezing but I loved every minute of it! We finished going through all of the countries and then headed back to Innoventions. All in all I think the tour was about 2 hours. Well worth the money and I will definitely do it again. Also, you get a little Segway pin! It was so funny riding back to Innoventions and hearing everyone asking where the "Segway Ride" was in Epcot.
After the tour we decided to hit everything in Epcot that we hadn't done yet. The park was pretty dead so we managed to walk on to just about everything. By about 3pm we decided to try a practice round of "Drinking Around the World" since we would be doing the full on version on Wednesday with some friends. We headed to England to have a few Guinness at the pub. On the way we again heard the chanting.......it grew louder as you approached England. I thought maybe it was a Revolutionary War re-enactment and the British were coming. But no.....it was another Gaggle of Cheerleaders As we approaced the Rose and Crown there had to be about 25 of them outside the door. Quickly realizing that they were no where near 21 years of age, we parted them like the Red Sea and bellied up to the bar. We had a few pints while the Gaggle continued to cheer outside the bar It's amazing how after a few pints I actually found myself saying the cheers along with them....they just seemed to stick in my head. My friend, growing nervous for me, suggested we head back to get changed for dinner. Good idea........
After a quick change in the room it was off to Le Cellier for dinner. Awesome meal! I had the Cheddar Cheese Soup and the filet follwed by the creme brulee sampler for dessert. Of course, being in Canada, this was all accompanied by some Labatts. By now, it was about 10pm and we were pretty beat. Back to the hotel and off to sleep.

Tomorrow: Conquering Everst and "Cousin" Topher at 50's Prime Time Cafe!