Goofmeister
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2003
- Messages
- 213
Cast:
Sam (30) - the Planner, (1985,1987,2000) Trip # 4
Angie (30) - Eeyore nut and researcher, (2000) Trip # 2
Samantha (3.75) (2000) Trip # 2
November 28, 2002
I as the man was relegated to checking in. With my wife by my side I could demonstrate my manly ability to correctly say,
Reservation for Goofmeister.
Ooooh! Aaaah! ...Hey, whered she go? Wheres my daughter? Hello! This is a family vacation; everyone has to suffer through check-in together.
Apparently, while I was struggling to understand why we were stuck in Fantasia (room 5928) after being assured and reassured that a preferred building is any building near the pool and lobby, my wife took Samantha to explore. I was also told that they were oversold for the two buildings we requested by fax and on our reservations. Therefore, we couldnt have them even at the preferred rate.
Why is Fantasia so preferred? Many of the Toy Story and 101 Dalmatians rooms are closer to the pool and lobby than many of the Fantasia rooms. It makes no sense to have an upgrade option like this at this hotel. Well, except that I was suckered into paying $10 extra per night for preferred.
The I-told-you-so from my wife was a little hard to take. I swore that I would never be duped again by preferred view. In the end, we liked the location of the room. It was as close to the parking lot, as it was to the bus stops. And it was quiet.
As I was finishing up the check-in seminar my wife and daughter reappear. There is a pretty good view of the Fantasia swimming pool from the backside of the lobby. When Samantha saw the pool, complete with water shooting sorcerer Mickey, she asked her Mommy What is that? with wide-eyed wonder. Of course she also wanted to go swimming. Now I know that there must have been a pixie or a fairy nearby.
Even though we had been here before, Samantha remembered little, and I dont think she was as excited yet about the vacation as my wife or me. However, the genuine look of awe, and her unabashed excitement were really a major part of why we went to Disney. Ive read many trip reports, and the arguments for and against bringing pre-schoolers, toddlers, and infants to Disney. While I respect the opinions of others, I disagree with those who are annoyed by children at WDW, or think they should wait until they are older to fully appreciate it. Will Samantha remember this trip or our first trip when she was almost two? I could care less. If she does, that would be wonderful. Her mom and I however, will never forget. Lighten up! Ok, enough of that.
Our room is already ready. Time to unpack the car. Last time we were here, I completely missed that you can borrow luggage carts (with your room key or credit card?) to haul stuff to and from your car. That was a miserable experience, back and forth and back and forth with the bags. I was sure to get a cart this time. However, they gave me a dire warning about returning it in an hour or well be charged $200 automatically. This freaked me out. It took us about 45 minutes to unload the car and transport our junk to the room.
I was panting and sweating when I showed up to return the cart. Then there were no CMs. The clock is ticking and where were all the people? When a CM showed up, she helped the people who were ahead of me! First! Of all the bad luck, having to wait my turn. Didnt she know that there was money on the line? I didnt care that the family was checking out and that they were having trouble finding or moving the luggage in the luggage room. I just wanted my receipt torn up, now! I know they probably dont actually charge you at the one-hour mark, but I wouldnt know until it was too late. A few excruciating minutes later I returned the cart without penalty.
All that exhausting lugging of the luggage made us hungry. To the food court! Angie had a chicken sandwich and a salad. It was quesadillas for me, and grilled cheese for Samantha. Since we accidentally forgot our refillable mugs on purpose, we bought new mugs. We were worried about a rumored new barcode scanning mug system thingy. So we decided to leave the old ones behind accidentally on purpose. The mugs make nice souvenirs even if they are a little cabinet space consuming.
After lunch, Samantha and I headed to the playground while Mom snuck over to the gift shop to buy a surprise autograph book, and a character friendly mega-pen. Honestly, the pen is too large for any human to use except in a costumed fist. Its even bigger than the dreaded large pencils they made me use in the 1st grade. Do they still make Big Chief tablets? The playground was a hit. I got some good pictures, and some video of Samantha playing in the sand, and making some new friends. We wandered over to the Toy Story buildings to pose with RC, Woody and Buzz. We explored the rest of the resort, then rested in our room until 5pm.
Our plan was to check in, eat lunch, rest, exchange our AP vouchers for honest to goodness APs, Chef Mickeys for Thanksgiving (and traditional first) dinner at WDW, then maybe a little monorail touring - so far, so good.
We headed out to exchange our passes, stomping up and down the sorcerers hat and the fire hydrant staircases on our way. We decided on EPCOT by the tried and true whichever-bus-shows-up-first method. Samantha declared This is great on our bus ride over.
The AP exchange went smoothly. My pass had Goofy on it. Angie showed it to Samantha who said Its Daddy! Everyones a comedian. Angie thought it was hilarious and whenever we saw Goofy or a picture of Goofy shed say, Look theres Daddy.
After some laughs at my expense, we decided to take the express monorail to the TTC. Transfer to the resort monorail to travel to the Contemporary for our PS at Chef Mickeys. I was hoping that we would loop over Future World on our way to the TTC. It was obvious that I didnt know what I was doing because we sped away from EPCOT without looping Spaceship Earth.
While walking to the resort monorail, I spied the ferry to the MK. Weve never been on the ferry and thought it would be fun. If you ever have the chance to take it to the MK at night, I would take that chance like it was the last lifeboat on the Titanic. You dont really notice the castle at first. I think the launch is at an angle, but when the boat turns Bam! There is the castle lit up in all its soft glowing glory.
The castle was slowly changing colors and growing larger as we approached the dock. Of course that is what Angie told us. Samantha and I had only glimpses of it as we huddled behind the bridge for protection from the wind. It was neat, and well worth the cold and wind. Plus you get some great views of the Polynesian and the Grand Floridian.
We decided to take the monorail from the MK to the Contemporary. Although we couldve walked, it was cold and the ride was nice and it is so cool to ride the monorail into a hotel.
We got a great view of Chef Mickeys, and pointed this out to Samantha from the platform. We shopped a little, and Samantha bought a princess hat, Eeyore ribbon wand, and a silver glitter Mickey icon headband. We decided to check in about a half-hour early for our PS, and were seated right away across from the buffet.
We had a great Thanksgiving dinner with delicious pecan pie. Dale and Mickey came by, and we caught Donald holding court. Samantha was very cute with the autograph book, and really liked getting it ready for the characters. I like the festive atmosphere, the napkin waving, and the very good character interaction. The food is good, but it is hard to get your food, eat, take pictures and video, and interact with the characters at the same time. However, this is our traditional way to kick off our WDW vacation, and we always have had a great time.
We decided to head over to the MK for Fantasy in the Sky Fireworks. It was clear by this point that Samantha and I were not dressed for the weather. We used this excuse to purchase new sweatshirts before we left the Contemporary. My wife was looking for an Eeyore watch. She is crazy about him and was trying to find just the right one. I slyly deflected her attempts by suggesting that wed find something better at Downtown Disney. Little did she know what I had planned for her on her birthday in a few days.
We took the monorail back to the MK, and expected a lot of people on Thanksgiving night. However, the park was empty. Samantha had fallen asleep, but woke up with a gasp at Tinkerbells flight. She was loudly calling for Cinderella to come out of her castle - very sweet. Then after every explosion she screamed (in successfully louder and higher pitched screams) WOW.
After the fireworks we rode Its a Small World, and our first (and probably last) trip to The Haunted Mansion. Angie and Samantha did not like this ride. Samantha was a little spooked, but she was very brave. The little flashlight she had helped. Angie doesnt like creepy stuff anyway. I really liked this ride when I was a teenager, but it seemed more grotesque than I remembered.
After the HM we were in a great spot to watch Spectromagic. Angie grabbed us delicious popcorn and sodas to chase the spooks away. No one was even near us for the parade. The closest people were twenty feet away! It was really fun when a couple of the seven dwarves stopped to spend time with Samantha. The look on her face, and her excitement was very cool. Pour out the magic tonight! I felt like we were in one of the commercials for the parks. Angie really liked this parade. I thought some of the white-faced characters were a little bizarre, and I missed the Main Street Electrical Parade. I liked Spectromagic, but I was nostalgic about MSEP.
We decided to ride Dumbo (Samantha had a lot of fun, Lets go ride another one!), and the Mad Teacups (Angie sat out as she was already feeling nauseous). Then onto our first ever trip on Buzz Lightyear (Sam: 37400, Angie: 32800, Samantha: 2300). I rode by myself and was a little lonely, but I had fun trying to catch the girls on video, shoot, and steer simultaneously. We stayed for the goodnight kiss and slowly worked our way back to ASMo. We were all pretty cold and tired after the long day, but we were excited at how empty the park was, and how much fun wed already had.
Tips Learned: The express monorail does not loop through FW from EPCOT. Preferred view at ASM is the Fantasia buildings. Take the Ferry from the TTC to MK at night. Have more than one movie to watch on a twenty-hour drive.
Part 4.
Sam (30) - the Planner, (1985,1987,2000) Trip # 4
Angie (30) - Eeyore nut and researcher, (2000) Trip # 2
Samantha (3.75) (2000) Trip # 2
November 28, 2002
I as the man was relegated to checking in. With my wife by my side I could demonstrate my manly ability to correctly say,
Reservation for Goofmeister.
Ooooh! Aaaah! ...Hey, whered she go? Wheres my daughter? Hello! This is a family vacation; everyone has to suffer through check-in together.
Apparently, while I was struggling to understand why we were stuck in Fantasia (room 5928) after being assured and reassured that a preferred building is any building near the pool and lobby, my wife took Samantha to explore. I was also told that they were oversold for the two buildings we requested by fax and on our reservations. Therefore, we couldnt have them even at the preferred rate.
Why is Fantasia so preferred? Many of the Toy Story and 101 Dalmatians rooms are closer to the pool and lobby than many of the Fantasia rooms. It makes no sense to have an upgrade option like this at this hotel. Well, except that I was suckered into paying $10 extra per night for preferred.
The I-told-you-so from my wife was a little hard to take. I swore that I would never be duped again by preferred view. In the end, we liked the location of the room. It was as close to the parking lot, as it was to the bus stops. And it was quiet.
As I was finishing up the check-in seminar my wife and daughter reappear. There is a pretty good view of the Fantasia swimming pool from the backside of the lobby. When Samantha saw the pool, complete with water shooting sorcerer Mickey, she asked her Mommy What is that? with wide-eyed wonder. Of course she also wanted to go swimming. Now I know that there must have been a pixie or a fairy nearby.
Even though we had been here before, Samantha remembered little, and I dont think she was as excited yet about the vacation as my wife or me. However, the genuine look of awe, and her unabashed excitement were really a major part of why we went to Disney. Ive read many trip reports, and the arguments for and against bringing pre-schoolers, toddlers, and infants to Disney. While I respect the opinions of others, I disagree with those who are annoyed by children at WDW, or think they should wait until they are older to fully appreciate it. Will Samantha remember this trip or our first trip when she was almost two? I could care less. If she does, that would be wonderful. Her mom and I however, will never forget. Lighten up! Ok, enough of that.
Our room is already ready. Time to unpack the car. Last time we were here, I completely missed that you can borrow luggage carts (with your room key or credit card?) to haul stuff to and from your car. That was a miserable experience, back and forth and back and forth with the bags. I was sure to get a cart this time. However, they gave me a dire warning about returning it in an hour or well be charged $200 automatically. This freaked me out. It took us about 45 minutes to unload the car and transport our junk to the room.
I was panting and sweating when I showed up to return the cart. Then there were no CMs. The clock is ticking and where were all the people? When a CM showed up, she helped the people who were ahead of me! First! Of all the bad luck, having to wait my turn. Didnt she know that there was money on the line? I didnt care that the family was checking out and that they were having trouble finding or moving the luggage in the luggage room. I just wanted my receipt torn up, now! I know they probably dont actually charge you at the one-hour mark, but I wouldnt know until it was too late. A few excruciating minutes later I returned the cart without penalty.
All that exhausting lugging of the luggage made us hungry. To the food court! Angie had a chicken sandwich and a salad. It was quesadillas for me, and grilled cheese for Samantha. Since we accidentally forgot our refillable mugs on purpose, we bought new mugs. We were worried about a rumored new barcode scanning mug system thingy. So we decided to leave the old ones behind accidentally on purpose. The mugs make nice souvenirs even if they are a little cabinet space consuming.
After lunch, Samantha and I headed to the playground while Mom snuck over to the gift shop to buy a surprise autograph book, and a character friendly mega-pen. Honestly, the pen is too large for any human to use except in a costumed fist. Its even bigger than the dreaded large pencils they made me use in the 1st grade. Do they still make Big Chief tablets? The playground was a hit. I got some good pictures, and some video of Samantha playing in the sand, and making some new friends. We wandered over to the Toy Story buildings to pose with RC, Woody and Buzz. We explored the rest of the resort, then rested in our room until 5pm.
Our plan was to check in, eat lunch, rest, exchange our AP vouchers for honest to goodness APs, Chef Mickeys for Thanksgiving (and traditional first) dinner at WDW, then maybe a little monorail touring - so far, so good.
We headed out to exchange our passes, stomping up and down the sorcerers hat and the fire hydrant staircases on our way. We decided on EPCOT by the tried and true whichever-bus-shows-up-first method. Samantha declared This is great on our bus ride over.
The AP exchange went smoothly. My pass had Goofy on it. Angie showed it to Samantha who said Its Daddy! Everyones a comedian. Angie thought it was hilarious and whenever we saw Goofy or a picture of Goofy shed say, Look theres Daddy.
After some laughs at my expense, we decided to take the express monorail to the TTC. Transfer to the resort monorail to travel to the Contemporary for our PS at Chef Mickeys. I was hoping that we would loop over Future World on our way to the TTC. It was obvious that I didnt know what I was doing because we sped away from EPCOT without looping Spaceship Earth.
While walking to the resort monorail, I spied the ferry to the MK. Weve never been on the ferry and thought it would be fun. If you ever have the chance to take it to the MK at night, I would take that chance like it was the last lifeboat on the Titanic. You dont really notice the castle at first. I think the launch is at an angle, but when the boat turns Bam! There is the castle lit up in all its soft glowing glory.
The castle was slowly changing colors and growing larger as we approached the dock. Of course that is what Angie told us. Samantha and I had only glimpses of it as we huddled behind the bridge for protection from the wind. It was neat, and well worth the cold and wind. Plus you get some great views of the Polynesian and the Grand Floridian.
We decided to take the monorail from the MK to the Contemporary. Although we couldve walked, it was cold and the ride was nice and it is so cool to ride the monorail into a hotel.
We got a great view of Chef Mickeys, and pointed this out to Samantha from the platform. We shopped a little, and Samantha bought a princess hat, Eeyore ribbon wand, and a silver glitter Mickey icon headband. We decided to check in about a half-hour early for our PS, and were seated right away across from the buffet.
We had a great Thanksgiving dinner with delicious pecan pie. Dale and Mickey came by, and we caught Donald holding court. Samantha was very cute with the autograph book, and really liked getting it ready for the characters. I like the festive atmosphere, the napkin waving, and the very good character interaction. The food is good, but it is hard to get your food, eat, take pictures and video, and interact with the characters at the same time. However, this is our traditional way to kick off our WDW vacation, and we always have had a great time.
We decided to head over to the MK for Fantasy in the Sky Fireworks. It was clear by this point that Samantha and I were not dressed for the weather. We used this excuse to purchase new sweatshirts before we left the Contemporary. My wife was looking for an Eeyore watch. She is crazy about him and was trying to find just the right one. I slyly deflected her attempts by suggesting that wed find something better at Downtown Disney. Little did she know what I had planned for her on her birthday in a few days.
We took the monorail back to the MK, and expected a lot of people on Thanksgiving night. However, the park was empty. Samantha had fallen asleep, but woke up with a gasp at Tinkerbells flight. She was loudly calling for Cinderella to come out of her castle - very sweet. Then after every explosion she screamed (in successfully louder and higher pitched screams) WOW.
After the fireworks we rode Its a Small World, and our first (and probably last) trip to The Haunted Mansion. Angie and Samantha did not like this ride. Samantha was a little spooked, but she was very brave. The little flashlight she had helped. Angie doesnt like creepy stuff anyway. I really liked this ride when I was a teenager, but it seemed more grotesque than I remembered.
After the HM we were in a great spot to watch Spectromagic. Angie grabbed us delicious popcorn and sodas to chase the spooks away. No one was even near us for the parade. The closest people were twenty feet away! It was really fun when a couple of the seven dwarves stopped to spend time with Samantha. The look on her face, and her excitement was very cool. Pour out the magic tonight! I felt like we were in one of the commercials for the parks. Angie really liked this parade. I thought some of the white-faced characters were a little bizarre, and I missed the Main Street Electrical Parade. I liked Spectromagic, but I was nostalgic about MSEP.
We decided to ride Dumbo (Samantha had a lot of fun, Lets go ride another one!), and the Mad Teacups (Angie sat out as she was already feeling nauseous). Then onto our first ever trip on Buzz Lightyear (Sam: 37400, Angie: 32800, Samantha: 2300). I rode by myself and was a little lonely, but I had fun trying to catch the girls on video, shoot, and steer simultaneously. We stayed for the goodnight kiss and slowly worked our way back to ASMo. We were all pretty cold and tired after the long day, but we were excited at how empty the park was, and how much fun wed already had.
Tips Learned: The express monorail does not loop through FW from EPCOT. Preferred view at ASM is the Fantasia buildings. Take the Ferry from the TTC to MK at night. Have more than one movie to watch on a twenty-hour drive.
Part 4.
