Hypermommy
Dreams of being a local on Castaway Cay
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2006
- Messages
- 2,002
Hi all, This is my first attempt at a trip report. Hope it's not too boring. I tried to post it over in completed trip reports but I am apparently not allowed to post in there, so I'll put it here. Ready? Here we go.....
This trip report actually starts a couple of weeks before the actual trip. See, the family was supposed to go to Disney World for a birthday trip for my two sons. Unfortunately, my eldest has hit that magical teenaged attitude in which he knows everything and no one else knows anything and he's going to do what he wants to do. Well, what he didn't want to do was his schoolwork, homework and staying out of trouble at school. So Dad and I decided he wasn't going to Disney for the weekend. It's not as mean as it sounds -- we've been lucky enough to go several times this year. And Dad even was thinking about bringing him down on Friday night... but then the boy got in trouble at school again on Friday so no dice. And dad was ticked becuase he was really looking forward to the trip. When I got home, I checked the calendar and found that we had a free weekend coming up in a couple of weeks -- so we decided to go, just Dad and I.
Once the trip was planned I started getting really excited. Dad and I hadn't been on a trip by ourselves in 13 years! We got a room at the All Stars for Friday and Saturday nights. And becuase we were still guests of the resort on Sunday morning, we got the Sunday EMHs at Magic Kingdom even though we stayed in a separate hotel. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Somehow between Scouts and football practice (I'll be so glad when football season is over) and getting laundry done I managed to get us packed for WDW and the kids packed for their weekend with friends of ours. Friday morning I was raring to go. Woke the DH up at 5am as requested. Of course, by that time I'd been up for an hour. And I was excited and ready to go. First spat -- he wanted time to wake up and watch sports on ESPN - a morning ritual. I kept asking him things about leaving and such and he was just wanting to relax for a moment and get in the shower. Finally we left. It was maybe 6:15. I was aiming for 6:00 but this was fine. And there we were on the road. We got down there in about 4 and a half hours. We had to stop a couple of times looking for cheap shades for DH's glasses and D8 tapes. Didn't want to get those at Disney becuase I can just imagine what they would cost. We decided to try out Western Way. Found the exit to, I believe, 429 off the Turnpike. It was magnificent!!! No traffic at all. That's one thing I don't like about I4. I love driving on the highway and traffic doesn't bother me, but it's nice not to have it. And not to have all those hotels and billboards and such in the way is great. So 429 is excellent and before you know it there's a sign for WDW. We take the exit and almost as soon as we get off the highway, there's the welcome arch! Ahhhhhhh.... I'm back home in WDW.
We got to the All Star Sports and we had the most magical CM checking us in. DH doesn't care for displays of emotion or something. Or maybe I was just too loud. Anyway, I was thoroughly excited and told the CM that it was our 2nd Honeymoon. She gave us anniversary buttons and told us our room was ready. Got first floor just like we wanted. She was just wonderful. I called the front desk later to let them know how wonderful she was. They said they have some type of CM recognition program so I'm glad I help put a good mark on her record. So we got our stuff in the room and now it was time to head to Epcot. And here it is no later than noon when we get in the park.
We got our bag checked and got through the turnstile and ahhhhhh, not only am I in WDW, but I'm in my favorite park. Life is really good. We blasted right through FutureWorld. We would NEVER have been able to do that with the kids, but they weren't there!
So we went straight to World Showcase and started partaking of the Food and Wine fest. The first stop we made was at the Argentina booth (at least I think that was first -- I've kind of lost track it was all so good) I do remember when were at Argentina we got some Grilled Beef Sirloin with Chimichurri and some Pinot Noir. Now, I'm not much of a wine drinker, but this stuff was good. And the beef was delicious!!! I do remember stopping by Canada and getting some of that cheese soup everyone talks about. Yummy, yummy, yummy!!! DH got some Maple Glazed Salmon and said it was very good too. Off to England we were.
England was great fun. The first thing we did was stop in the Rose & Crown for a half yard of Bass because I wanted one of those bone shaped cups. Loved that and we went through some of the shops. Found our name at the heraldry shop. May have to get that one day but not this time.... this time most of our money went for the festival. Called Mom from the back of England becuase that's become something of a tradition -- me calling mom with a bad British accent. We happened upon the World Showcase Players as they were starting their show about the Holy Grail. The audience members they got to participate couldn't have been more fun. King Arthur was some older man (maybe 70'ish) and he got his whole body into his "ha cha cha, baby!" lines shaking his old-man-butt and having a great time. The guy they got to play Galahad responded with some of his own jokes and the improv guys worked them right into the routine as if they were meant to be there. By that time the half yard was gone and it was time to get another and head towards France.
I'm really into pin trading and was lucky enough to find a guy on eBay that sold 10 of the same pins for $20. So I had several pins to trade. Here we were heading to France and it was time to trade more pins. This time I was just buzzed enough not to have many inhibitions and I remembered enough French from high school and college to be able to conduct two pin trades in French. It was great fun!!! I believe DH had the Sparkling Pomegranate Kir and didn't care for it that much.
Not long after that we realized we're a couple of old farts and that we wanted to go back to the room for a spell. So we hopped on the bus and back to the All Stars it was. When we got back to the room I decided to head to the pool for a bit. Without the kids there I got to do exactly what I wanted which was head over to the deepest section, fold my arms on the wetstep, lay my head down and let my legs just float. It was so relaxing. After a while I decided to go get another beer at the poolside bar. Talked to some folks there and we were all having a great time.
Went back to the room and watched a bit of TV until DH was ready to head back to the park. And back we go!
The first thing we did was stop by Innoventions. I made sure we went by the Segway Experience so I could ride the Segway. This is the third time I've done it and I love those things. When the CM is walking backwards to make sure we don't fall, I asked him how fast he could walk backwards. He kind of shrugged so I took off. And then on the way back up the path, I swerved back and forth. Worried the CM until he realized I was doing it on purpose. That's so much fun and I can't wait until I get to do the 2 hour tour!!!
This time we decided to go to the Living Seas pavilion. Ooops, The Seas with Nemo and Friends pavilion. I really love what they've done with this place. They've put a couple of things in there for kids, which is something Epcot is still sorely lacking. And once you've got them in there they'll more than likely explore the rest of the place including all the learning. I was really looking forward to seeing the new Finding Nemo ride (lucky passholders that we are) but unfortunately, it was having technical difficulties so no dice that night. However, I was able to get DH into Turtle Talk with Crush. It was so much fun. I know I'm going to love the fact that every show is just a bit different. This is going to be one of my new favorite attractions. DH and and I were both properly impressed with the technology. Then it was time to head back to World Showcase. We started in Mexico this time but the lines were so long we didn't get too much food. You know, at this point, I can't even remember if we watched Illuminations on Friday night. But I do remember getting some more food during the EMHs. And I remember the announcement coming over the loudspeakers before they burned the rest of the gas out of the globe. I love the way they say it's a special treat for us.... but they also make sure to let everyone know that it's on purpose and controlled. That's a good thing because it was one of the best explosions of the night.
At that point we decided we wanted to do Test Track so we headed that way. No more fast passes available at this time of night so we were in line about 30 minutes. Actually, I was kind of glad about that becuase it gave me time to look at the stuff in the queue, something I hadn't done in quite some time. Very interesting facts there. While in line, a little girl in front of me was admiring the three princesses pin I had on my lanyard. She was so cute and so polite I decided to give it to her. What they hey, I only paid $2 and a trade for it. So I can spread the magic a bit. Boy, you should have seen her little eyes light up. She didn't even want to wear it right away but wanted to save it for when she had breakfast with the princesses. This time we lagged in the back of all the rest of the folks after we left the pre-show room and I paid attention to the arial shots there. I never paid any attention to the path of the Test Track track, but this time I did and I knew to look down at the parking lot on the loop and enjoy the fact that even the painting on the parking lot is themed!!!!! Dang, but they sure are great on the attention to detail thing!!!!!!
Stopped by MouseGear on the way out because I wanted some magnets and a mousepad. Found an excellent mousepad that's 3D looking (although smooth) -- it was great!!!! While I was looking for that, DH found me the most fun Epcot shirt. It's got Epcot written where the pocket would be but each letter is representative of a different attraction in the park. And even Nemo is represented!!! This is definitely one of my favorite shirts. And when we got to the counter, we found that becuase of what we'd spent, we were eligible to buy a great rug for $15. It shows Mickey and all four park icons. It's really pretty!!!
At that time it was time to head back to the hotel and crash.
The next morning we took it easy and slept in. Why not... there's no kids to wake us up! We finally got up and I went to get some coffee. And we just putzed around the room for a while. DH went to the gift shop and found a Stitch football for our youngest and a basketball for our eldest. We got that and he got me another shirt and lo and behold we'd reached another magic limit so he got me a Tinkerbell holiday watch for $10. We put the stuff back in the room and headed back over to Epcot.
The first thing we did is the new Nemo ride and it was EXCELLENT!!! I LOVE the way they've incorporated the animated fish with the real fish. But I think my favorite part of the ride was riding the EAC with Crush and Squirt (oooh, bad me, I can't remember for sure if that's his son's name).
We got fastpasses for Soarin' and walked around WS again for a bit. Got all kinds of great food including the lobster roll that DH was dying for. Ugh... the line at that stand was awful. They only had one cashier and I think they had a contest for which was the slowest CM and this guy won. But we finally got it.
At some point during Saturday, we saw Figment. We almost passed him by but then DH caught a glimpse and led me over that way. I thought he wanted to see his jumping water, but he really wanted to let me get a picture with Figment. This was great becuase the boys never let us do characters anymore. Of course, when we go back in December, they're going to whether they like it or not! But I got a kiss from Figment and it was magical!!!
Believe it or not, we once again left the park to go back too the hotel for a rest. This was great being able to do this!!
When we got back to the park we went and did Soarin' Yep.. it's just as much fun as I remember it!! Even more so this time. We made sure to sit in the front and I just let myself go and enjoyed the feeling of flying. About that time it was time to head over to the lagoon so I wouldn't miss my favorite part of Illuminations -- when they blow out the torches at the beginning of the show. We found a good place to stand and DH loved the show and was very happy that they'd gotten the different nations back into the act.
Time to head back to the hotel room.
Sunday morning we set an early wakeup call and we put it on speaker phone when it came in. Hey, just becuase the kids aren't there doesn't mean we can't have a great time. And I love Stitch and Mickey and to have them together waking us up is magnificent!!! We loaded up the car (beucase we were going to save about half the cost of the hotel by staying off site for the last night) and about the time we were finished they hung the statement on the door. Time to go!
We headed over to MK and were there for the park opening. DH filmed it and I've been watching it all week. I even got some of the pixie dust they threw out. It'll be great for my scrapbook -- if I ever get this trip scrapped I'm at least 2 or 3 trips behind at this point. MK was great! We started off in Tomorrowland and did Space Mountain two or three times back to back. DH discovered how much fun it was to keep his shades on during the ride. Me -- I couldn't quit screaming and laughing. I could hear the guys in the car behind me laughing every time becuase I would scream at every dip or turn. But I didn't care. I was having great fun and didn't mind at all that someone else was getting extra enjoyment from my reactions.
Guess what we didn't have to do? The racecars! No kids... no waiting in that interminable line for racecars!!!!
We did Snow White's Scary Adventures. I don't remember that ride. I think we decided it was too much for our then 4 year old son the last time we were here and now that they're older, they won't consider much in Fantasyland. We did find the Dumbo ride vehicle outside of the ride and I was able to get some pictures in it. The line for Peter Pan was too long (we were quite picky on what we'd stand in line for) but we did Small World. I asked DH to tape it but he wouldn't becuase he didn't want to subject himself to that song forever. Too bad! I taped it.
After that we headed over to the Haunted Masion. And loved every moment of it. I made sure to look for the hidden Mickey on the table and did find it. And DH even got tape of the ghost that hitchhiked home with us.
About that time it was time for us old farts to go back to the hotel room again. We drover over to the offsite hotel and got there around 2:30'ish. I hadn't paid enough attention to the check in rules and check in wasn't until 4pm. I sat down in the lobby to watch TV. DH went to check the hotel next door. He came back to let us know we could get right into the room there but I reminded him we'd already paid Priceline for the room and I didn't think we could get a refund. I was just about to call Priceline when the desk clerk said our room was ready. Okay.
We got in the room and I decided I was too tired to get my swimsuit on for a swim (isn't that just lazy). So I continued watching the Dragonheart movie I'd started in the lobby. It was actually quite good. By the time that was over it was time to head back to the park.
We rode Pirates at some point during the eveing and DH loved the Davy Jones effect. We got our picture with Mickey, but for some reason it didn't end up on our photopass. Oh well... I know to check next time so we can make sure it's there. We rode Jungle Cruise becuase I wanted to make sure Dad could tell the kids that he'd seen the back side of water. The skipper was great and really enjoyed her job. Honestly, I've only had a bad skipper one time on Jungle Cruise. It's got to be tough going around and around that attraction and telling the same jokes for hours on end. I count myself truly thankful that there are people like the CM was had this time that realize that while it might be the 100th time for them, it's the first for someone. One little kid got to drive the boat through the ruins and you should have seen how seriously this kid was taking it. Now that was truly magical!
We decided to go to Pecos Bill's to get something to eat. We found a great table outside about an hour before Spectromagic was due to start. I felt kind of sorry for this one CM who's job it was to tell everyone that they couldn't sit where the fence posts were. I made sure to go thank him and let him know that those of us in the restaurant truly appreciate it. He mentioned that it was more of a safety hazard. I told him that may be true, but we really appreciated him keeping our view clear. He asked where we were sitting and when I showed him he suggested that we get closer to the wall. We did -- we had one stool for our food and drinks and we were sitting there next to it. We had a great view of the parade and got some great tape that I'm watching as I type.
Then it was off towards the castle for Wishes. We found the best spot we were going to get considering that we didn't stake it out 3 hours ahead of time and DH got some great video. And guess what! It was Hallowishes!!! I didin't find out until the following week that they were going to do Hallowishes the rest of the month of October. It was great to see!!!!!!
We thoroughly enjoyed our EMHs that night. Yep, even though we weren't staying on property that night, we were still counted as resort guests becuase we'd started the morning in a resort. So we got EMHs. We rode Big Thunder Mountain and a few other things, including another ride or two on Space Mountain. Then it was time to head back to the car. I was actually surprised to see how many people were on the tram back to the parking lot. But we got to our lonely little car sitting there in the middle of the parking lot with no other car around and headed back to the hotel. I was so happy to get to my bed!
The next morning it was up and out and back home. We had to get out early so we could get back in time that the kids didn't miss too much school. We decided to go back on property and get back on Western Way and take 429 back out rather than deal with I4 traffic. When we left Disney World property, I was ready to cry. But it's okay... we're going back in December so this is just a vacation to reality before I can go back to the Neverland in which I really belong.
This trip report actually starts a couple of weeks before the actual trip. See, the family was supposed to go to Disney World for a birthday trip for my two sons. Unfortunately, my eldest has hit that magical teenaged attitude in which he knows everything and no one else knows anything and he's going to do what he wants to do. Well, what he didn't want to do was his schoolwork, homework and staying out of trouble at school. So Dad and I decided he wasn't going to Disney for the weekend. It's not as mean as it sounds -- we've been lucky enough to go several times this year. And Dad even was thinking about bringing him down on Friday night... but then the boy got in trouble at school again on Friday so no dice. And dad was ticked becuase he was really looking forward to the trip. When I got home, I checked the calendar and found that we had a free weekend coming up in a couple of weeks -- so we decided to go, just Dad and I.
Once the trip was planned I started getting really excited. Dad and I hadn't been on a trip by ourselves in 13 years! We got a room at the All Stars for Friday and Saturday nights. And becuase we were still guests of the resort on Sunday morning, we got the Sunday EMHs at Magic Kingdom even though we stayed in a separate hotel. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Somehow between Scouts and football practice (I'll be so glad when football season is over) and getting laundry done I managed to get us packed for WDW and the kids packed for their weekend with friends of ours. Friday morning I was raring to go. Woke the DH up at 5am as requested. Of course, by that time I'd been up for an hour. And I was excited and ready to go. First spat -- he wanted time to wake up and watch sports on ESPN - a morning ritual. I kept asking him things about leaving and such and he was just wanting to relax for a moment and get in the shower. Finally we left. It was maybe 6:15. I was aiming for 6:00 but this was fine. And there we were on the road. We got down there in about 4 and a half hours. We had to stop a couple of times looking for cheap shades for DH's glasses and D8 tapes. Didn't want to get those at Disney becuase I can just imagine what they would cost. We decided to try out Western Way. Found the exit to, I believe, 429 off the Turnpike. It was magnificent!!! No traffic at all. That's one thing I don't like about I4. I love driving on the highway and traffic doesn't bother me, but it's nice not to have it. And not to have all those hotels and billboards and such in the way is great. So 429 is excellent and before you know it there's a sign for WDW. We take the exit and almost as soon as we get off the highway, there's the welcome arch! Ahhhhhhh.... I'm back home in WDW.
We got to the All Star Sports and we had the most magical CM checking us in. DH doesn't care for displays of emotion or something. Or maybe I was just too loud. Anyway, I was thoroughly excited and told the CM that it was our 2nd Honeymoon. She gave us anniversary buttons and told us our room was ready. Got first floor just like we wanted. She was just wonderful. I called the front desk later to let them know how wonderful she was. They said they have some type of CM recognition program so I'm glad I help put a good mark on her record. So we got our stuff in the room and now it was time to head to Epcot. And here it is no later than noon when we get in the park.
We got our bag checked and got through the turnstile and ahhhhhh, not only am I in WDW, but I'm in my favorite park. Life is really good. We blasted right through FutureWorld. We would NEVER have been able to do that with the kids, but they weren't there!
So we went straight to World Showcase and started partaking of the Food and Wine fest. The first stop we made was at the Argentina booth (at least I think that was first -- I've kind of lost track it was all so good) I do remember when were at Argentina we got some Grilled Beef Sirloin with Chimichurri and some Pinot Noir. Now, I'm not much of a wine drinker, but this stuff was good. And the beef was delicious!!! I do remember stopping by Canada and getting some of that cheese soup everyone talks about. Yummy, yummy, yummy!!! DH got some Maple Glazed Salmon and said it was very good too. Off to England we were.England was great fun. The first thing we did was stop in the Rose & Crown for a half yard of Bass because I wanted one of those bone shaped cups. Loved that and we went through some of the shops. Found our name at the heraldry shop. May have to get that one day but not this time.... this time most of our money went for the festival. Called Mom from the back of England becuase that's become something of a tradition -- me calling mom with a bad British accent. We happened upon the World Showcase Players as they were starting their show about the Holy Grail. The audience members they got to participate couldn't have been more fun. King Arthur was some older man (maybe 70'ish) and he got his whole body into his "ha cha cha, baby!" lines shaking his old-man-butt and having a great time. The guy they got to play Galahad responded with some of his own jokes and the improv guys worked them right into the routine as if they were meant to be there. By that time the half yard was gone and it was time to get another and head towards France.
I'm really into pin trading and was lucky enough to find a guy on eBay that sold 10 of the same pins for $20. So I had several pins to trade. Here we were heading to France and it was time to trade more pins. This time I was just buzzed enough not to have many inhibitions and I remembered enough French from high school and college to be able to conduct two pin trades in French. It was great fun!!! I believe DH had the Sparkling Pomegranate Kir and didn't care for it that much.
Not long after that we realized we're a couple of old farts and that we wanted to go back to the room for a spell. So we hopped on the bus and back to the All Stars it was. When we got back to the room I decided to head to the pool for a bit. Without the kids there I got to do exactly what I wanted which was head over to the deepest section, fold my arms on the wetstep, lay my head down and let my legs just float. It was so relaxing. After a while I decided to go get another beer at the poolside bar. Talked to some folks there and we were all having a great time.
Went back to the room and watched a bit of TV until DH was ready to head back to the park. And back we go!
The first thing we did was stop by Innoventions. I made sure we went by the Segway Experience so I could ride the Segway. This is the third time I've done it and I love those things. When the CM is walking backwards to make sure we don't fall, I asked him how fast he could walk backwards. He kind of shrugged so I took off. And then on the way back up the path, I swerved back and forth. Worried the CM until he realized I was doing it on purpose. That's so much fun and I can't wait until I get to do the 2 hour tour!!!
This time we decided to go to the Living Seas pavilion. Ooops, The Seas with Nemo and Friends pavilion. I really love what they've done with this place. They've put a couple of things in there for kids, which is something Epcot is still sorely lacking. And once you've got them in there they'll more than likely explore the rest of the place including all the learning. I was really looking forward to seeing the new Finding Nemo ride (lucky passholders that we are) but unfortunately, it was having technical difficulties so no dice that night. However, I was able to get DH into Turtle Talk with Crush. It was so much fun. I know I'm going to love the fact that every show is just a bit different. This is going to be one of my new favorite attractions. DH and and I were both properly impressed with the technology. Then it was time to head back to World Showcase. We started in Mexico this time but the lines were so long we didn't get too much food. You know, at this point, I can't even remember if we watched Illuminations on Friday night. But I do remember getting some more food during the EMHs. And I remember the announcement coming over the loudspeakers before they burned the rest of the gas out of the globe. I love the way they say it's a special treat for us.... but they also make sure to let everyone know that it's on purpose and controlled. That's a good thing because it was one of the best explosions of the night.
At that point we decided we wanted to do Test Track so we headed that way. No more fast passes available at this time of night so we were in line about 30 minutes. Actually, I was kind of glad about that becuase it gave me time to look at the stuff in the queue, something I hadn't done in quite some time. Very interesting facts there. While in line, a little girl in front of me was admiring the three princesses pin I had on my lanyard. She was so cute and so polite I decided to give it to her. What they hey, I only paid $2 and a trade for it. So I can spread the magic a bit. Boy, you should have seen her little eyes light up. She didn't even want to wear it right away but wanted to save it for when she had breakfast with the princesses. This time we lagged in the back of all the rest of the folks after we left the pre-show room and I paid attention to the arial shots there. I never paid any attention to the path of the Test Track track, but this time I did and I knew to look down at the parking lot on the loop and enjoy the fact that even the painting on the parking lot is themed!!!!! Dang, but they sure are great on the attention to detail thing!!!!!!
Stopped by MouseGear on the way out because I wanted some magnets and a mousepad. Found an excellent mousepad that's 3D looking (although smooth) -- it was great!!!! While I was looking for that, DH found me the most fun Epcot shirt. It's got Epcot written where the pocket would be but each letter is representative of a different attraction in the park. And even Nemo is represented!!! This is definitely one of my favorite shirts. And when we got to the counter, we found that becuase of what we'd spent, we were eligible to buy a great rug for $15. It shows Mickey and all four park icons. It's really pretty!!!
At that time it was time to head back to the hotel and crash.
The next morning we took it easy and slept in. Why not... there's no kids to wake us up!
We finally got up and I went to get some coffee. And we just putzed around the room for a while. DH went to the gift shop and found a Stitch football for our youngest and a basketball for our eldest. We got that and he got me another shirt and lo and behold we'd reached another magic limit so he got me a Tinkerbell holiday watch for $10. We put the stuff back in the room and headed back over to Epcot. The first thing we did is the new Nemo ride and it was EXCELLENT!!! I LOVE the way they've incorporated the animated fish with the real fish. But I think my favorite part of the ride was riding the EAC with Crush and Squirt (oooh, bad me, I can't remember for sure if that's his son's name).
We got fastpasses for Soarin' and walked around WS again for a bit. Got all kinds of great food including the lobster roll that DH was dying for. Ugh... the line at that stand was awful. They only had one cashier and I think they had a contest for which was the slowest CM and this guy won. But we finally got it.
At some point during Saturday, we saw Figment. We almost passed him by but then DH caught a glimpse and led me over that way. I thought he wanted to see his jumping water, but he really wanted to let me get a picture with Figment. This was great becuase the boys never let us do characters anymore. Of course, when we go back in December, they're going to whether they like it or not! But I got a kiss from Figment and it was magical!!!
Believe it or not, we once again left the park to go back too the hotel for a rest. This was great being able to do this!!
When we got back to the park we went and did Soarin' Yep.. it's just as much fun as I remember it!! Even more so this time. We made sure to sit in the front and I just let myself go and enjoyed the feeling of flying. About that time it was time to head over to the lagoon so I wouldn't miss my favorite part of Illuminations -- when they blow out the torches at the beginning of the show. We found a good place to stand and DH loved the show and was very happy that they'd gotten the different nations back into the act.
Time to head back to the hotel room.
Sunday morning we set an early wakeup call and we put it on speaker phone when it came in. Hey, just becuase the kids aren't there doesn't mean we can't have a great time. And I love Stitch and Mickey and to have them together waking us up is magnificent!!! We loaded up the car (beucase we were going to save about half the cost of the hotel by staying off site for the last night) and about the time we were finished they hung the statement on the door. Time to go!
We headed over to MK and were there for the park opening. DH filmed it and I've been watching it all week. I even got some of the pixie dust they threw out. It'll be great for my scrapbook -- if I ever get this trip scrapped
I'm at least 2 or 3 trips behind at this point. MK was great! We started off in Tomorrowland and did Space Mountain two or three times back to back. DH discovered how much fun it was to keep his shades on during the ride. Me -- I couldn't quit screaming and laughing. I could hear the guys in the car behind me laughing every time becuase I would scream at every dip or turn. But I didn't care. I was having great fun and didn't mind at all that someone else was getting extra enjoyment from my reactions.Guess what we didn't have to do? The racecars! No kids... no waiting in that interminable line for racecars!!!!
We did Snow White's Scary Adventures. I don't remember that ride. I think we decided it was too much for our then 4 year old son the last time we were here and now that they're older, they won't consider much in Fantasyland. We did find the Dumbo ride vehicle outside of the ride and I was able to get some pictures in it. The line for Peter Pan was too long (we were quite picky on what we'd stand in line for) but we did Small World. I asked DH to tape it but he wouldn't becuase he didn't want to subject himself to that song forever. Too bad! I taped it.
After that we headed over to the Haunted Masion. And loved every moment of it. I made sure to look for the hidden Mickey on the table and did find it. And DH even got tape of the ghost that hitchhiked home with us.
About that time it was time for us old farts to go back to the hotel room again. We drover over to the offsite hotel and got there around 2:30'ish. I hadn't paid enough attention to the check in rules and check in wasn't until 4pm. I sat down in the lobby to watch TV. DH went to check the hotel next door. He came back to let us know we could get right into the room there but I reminded him we'd already paid Priceline for the room and I didn't think we could get a refund. I was just about to call Priceline when the desk clerk said our room was ready. Okay.
We got in the room and I decided I was too tired to get my swimsuit on for a swim (isn't that just lazy). So I continued watching the Dragonheart movie I'd started in the lobby. It was actually quite good. By the time that was over it was time to head back to the park.
We rode Pirates at some point during the eveing and DH loved the Davy Jones effect. We got our picture with Mickey, but for some reason it didn't end up on our photopass. Oh well... I know to check next time so we can make sure it's there. We rode Jungle Cruise becuase I wanted to make sure Dad could tell the kids that he'd seen the back side of water. The skipper was great and really enjoyed her job. Honestly, I've only had a bad skipper one time on Jungle Cruise. It's got to be tough going around and around that attraction and telling the same jokes for hours on end. I count myself truly thankful that there are people like the CM was had this time that realize that while it might be the 100th time for them, it's the first for someone. One little kid got to drive the boat through the ruins and you should have seen how seriously this kid was taking it. Now that was truly magical!
We decided to go to Pecos Bill's to get something to eat. We found a great table outside about an hour before Spectromagic was due to start. I felt kind of sorry for this one CM who's job it was to tell everyone that they couldn't sit where the fence posts were. I made sure to go thank him and let him know that those of us in the restaurant truly appreciate it. He mentioned that it was more of a safety hazard. I told him that may be true, but we really appreciated him keeping our view clear. He asked where we were sitting and when I showed him he suggested that we get closer to the wall. We did -- we had one stool for our food and drinks and we were sitting there next to it. We had a great view of the parade and got some great tape that I'm watching as I type.
Then it was off towards the castle for Wishes. We found the best spot we were going to get considering that we didn't stake it out 3 hours ahead of time and DH got some great video. And guess what! It was Hallowishes!!! I didin't find out until the following week that they were going to do Hallowishes the rest of the month of October. It was great to see!!!!!!
We thoroughly enjoyed our EMHs that night. Yep, even though we weren't staying on property that night, we were still counted as resort guests becuase we'd started the morning in a resort. So we got EMHs. We rode Big Thunder Mountain and a few other things, including another ride or two on Space Mountain. Then it was time to head back to the car. I was actually surprised to see how many people were on the tram back to the parking lot. But we got to our lonely little car sitting there in the middle of the parking lot with no other car around and headed back to the hotel. I was so happy to get to my bed!
The next morning it was up and out and back home. We had to get out early so we could get back in time that the kids didn't miss too much school. We decided to go back on property and get back on Western Way and take 429 back out rather than deal with I4 traffic. When we left Disney World property, I was ready to cry. But it's okay... we're going back in December so this is just a vacation to reality before I can go back to the Neverland in which I really belong.
The only problem is...it is making me even more excited for our no kids trip. 
Thankfully our trip is in only 28 days!! 
