A nice average family man, his overplanning wife, their little princess and ....

[budbeerlady]

Getting to the airport was easy, take a left at the hotel entrance, follow the road right into the airport. I think it only took us 15min (stop lights again!) to get to the economy parking lot. $12 a day sounds good to me and look a bus is coming right now to pick us up. It's 6am and life is looking good, no wait and a quick ride to the airport.

Now everytime I get to an airport the signs are easy (realitively) to follow and 9 times out of 10 when you walk in the ticket desk is right in front of you, you just need to walk down to the right airline to check your bags. Not this time, it was to the right, up to escalators, to the right again. Dont get mad at me people, I your lost tour guide is trying to read as well as you are. A nice security man points us in the right general direction. There is no one in the Airtran line!!!!

Now the ticket prices had dropped and other things combined I had $200 credit to use by July on Airtran. (I had thought of going to WDW with DD on free airfare ) But it was DF-n-L's 1st flight ever. So I asked how much to upgrade all of us? $300, can I use my $200 credit I have on the paper here? A couple of phone calls and it was done. Everyone agreed for $20 we each throw in that it was a great deal! Pixie dust is flying my way, we are flying 1st class!!!!!

There wasnt much of a security line, we breezed through it. Gotta love Crocs, they are so easy to slip in and out of! Upgrading took a little time so by the time we got to the gate and went to the bathroom it was time to board. I was so excited, we had never flow 1st class before!

The Airtran staff was wonderful, DD got to check out the cockpit and talk to the pilot. She had another little girl who was her age in 1st class, so the two of them sat in empty seats and played most of the way down. It was worth the $60 just to have her occupied for the flight! She loved the attention and the food and drinks. Since I had ME when we arrived I had 2 screwdrivers on the way down. I am deathly afraid to fly and hey if they are free (and it has o.j. in it right?) why not? I had mentianed to the stewardess that it was DF-n-ls 1st flight. She was right over to talk to him, told him a couple of pointers and brought him a drink as the other passengers loaded. And then another, and well lets just say he drank his upgrade money and a little bit more. (Again an omen but I chalked it up to nerves! ) It was a nice flight (what a way to travel!!!) and around 10:45 we were in Orlando. Took the little tram to concourse B and down to Magical Express. Things are going great, the long line moves fast and we went right out to the AKL bus and headed out!

 

[budbeerlady]

Magical express stopped at Pop and about 1/2 the bus got off. Then CSR (doesnt appeal to me, especially after seeing it) and finally AKL. It really doesnt take that long but I wonder why disney doesnt do it in reverse. Then the value (and Mod) people would see the deluxe and think about staying there and thus spend more money. Doesnt really matter, just wondered why? Pop looked cool to me, I am very happy to be staying there in Oct for our budget girls only trip, but anyway back to AKL!

Now people get off the bus and stand around waiting for their carryons, etc. Dh gets the bags and I go to check us in, why wait for all your stuff and you dont need everyone at the desk? We are checked in after 10 min but the room isnt ready yet. We do some juggeling to grab a few things out of the carry on and check the bag with bell services. Lets head to MK?

The first afternoon is always MK (it is disney to me. I love Epcot and AK but Mk is disney to me) We browse around, if a ride is short we ride it but nothing scheduled. Hmm, the troops are hungry (and they have to go to the bathroom.) So I lead the way to Columbia Harbor house, we have been here 5 min and already straggeling is a problem. (My normal walk is maybe on the fast side, I dont lolly gag through life. I have places to go and things to do. Lolly-gag on the way out when its busy and your tired.) It is almost 12 and I can envision the long lunch line forming. When we finally get there, the lines are quite long. It seems no matter what line you wait in here you seem to be in the walkway of someone else. Either them getting in or out of the door, or people trying to get to the bathroom.

Not to be mean but I told them (and believe) that it is faster if we split up into a 2 and a 3. That way we both got our food at about the same time. If you go after me you are getting your food after atleast another family and me with the 2 sided lines. DD and Dh tried to find a table while I ordered.

We were all on the dining plan for this trip. I got the veggie chilli and the 1/2 light house sandwich. (Very tasty but I have a dining review so why bother repeating it all here. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1301861) DD and Dh split chicken strips. A good place to eat but I would arrive around 11:30 if given the chance.

The 1st thing we do is ride the pabble wheel boat.

I don't see how I could have missed the thing last year but I didnt remember it. (I told Dh it must have been off being refurbished, we couldnt remember it and its a big boat!) No wait and we were off, it was a nice ride and a fun way to part of the park. Then the magic carpets

and yada, yada. Walk the swiss family tree house, corny but I like it.

A few rides and it was time to get on the monorail to transfer to Epcot for our 6:20 Coral Reef. I was really looking foward to trying dinner here.

DD just loves riding the monorail throught the contemporary! I love Epcot, I could watch the fountain and people all afternoon. We ended up spending more time at Epcot than anywhere else. We had great seats at Coral Reef, the 1st tier up. DD loved watching the divers in the tank, I could watch the sting rays all night.

After a lovely meal ( no complaints from me!) it was the bus back to AKL to find out our room numbers. I know you can call from the phone but there was no line so a nice cm told us where to go. But where is Dh and DF-n-L? Oh, in the store buying a 6 pack each which wouldnt be a big deal. Dh likes to sit on our deck an have a couple after a long day. But take your having a couple off my balcony, its 8:30 at the bus stop tomarrow am and I am tired! I dont like wandering around in my pj's in front of others and DD wont sleep if there is activity.

On a good note the water from Staples, the box I sent UPS and a wonderful suprise basket from Baskets by Sarah were all waiting in the room DD was so excited that Tinkerbell left her something! I highly recommend Sarah! http://www.memoriesbysarah.com/baskets.html

 

[budbeerlady]

I am the type of person as I have aged, that if I say I will be at your house at 8:30 unless something really drastic happens I will be there at 8:29. So be ready to hit the bus stop at 8:30 seems relatively easy to understand, or so I thought.

We were up and rolling around 7:30. By the time DD finds her Tinkerbell items and gets dressed, yada yada... it's now 8:10 and I am going to jump into the shower. Dh says that the inlaws want some breakfast (are you kidding me?!??!?!? I dont get it.) So I yell whatever I have to shower, go and try be back here at 8:45 so we can grab the bus. Its Epcot day and I want to ride Soarin twice this morning and then catch Crush. Hey, they are going to Mara how long can it take? At 9:00 I beep his phone and they are just getting seated? Fine, I hit the gift shop and go out to the rock to see the animals for the first time. 9:30 I beep him again, they are trying to eat fast and they will be coming..... WTH???

10:00 we meet up. I am less than trilled, everymorning had better not go like this... We get to Epcot and I grab the tickets for a fast pass to soarin, I will meet them inside living seas I tell them to get in line for Crush so we can try to salvage the plan and see things without such lines. I make it to the fast pass and back out, heading into the que for Crush. Hmm, they are not there? I wait a bit more, hmmmmmm. I head outside, maybe he thought I ment in front of living seas? Oh, here they come. They are tired and walking slow today. (I had to resist the urge to hurl myself into the path of a monorail! Please tell me it will get better!) What, there is a new nemo ride, can we ride Nemo DM-n-L asks. Later, its not worth it, we need to get in line for Turtle talk with Crush. But this doesnt have a line, yada yada. Fine! Against my better judgement we ride the silly nemo ride. It just isnt worth it, its little kid cute but otherwise miss it if you wish.

We leave there and head to turtle talk, where they just let the next show in. Hmm, the 10min we wasted on Nemo and I would have been in Crush with no wait. Now we get to wait for the next show, the line is short and I know we will get in. It is just the point of the thing! Then its complaining in line, how long, do we have to stand here, do we have to see this? (Monorail is looking like a good quick death at this point) DD is planning what she wants to ask Crush.

I am at this point kissing the hope of seeing the dolphin show good bye. We have never seen it and I thought it would at worst be interesting to see once. The doors open (I swear it was a 18 min wait but maybe because I was mad) and we file in. DD sits up front with the kids and was so excited when Crush picked her to ask a question out of all the kids with their hands up. What does she ask him?

"Have you ever been to the Bermuda triangle?" I love whoever is Crush, he did a really good job of answering her! I am sure that caught him off guard but it was our first Crush experience so I dont know what other kids ask him. After this it was off to Imagination with Figment. DD loves Figment and it is cute with hardly ever a wait.

Then its time for our fastpass return to Soarin. I love Soarin, I love the feel of the whole thing. Our family is always in the first seated row, I was hoping for another row to see if it is different in any way but that will be the next trip. From there we head to Living with the Land, the que looks long but it loads fast. While in line I ask Dh for the reciept from breakfast so I can keep them and keep track of our credits. 12 credits left, that doesnt seem right. We only used 2cs yesterday and I didnt eat today. I look it over again "BOMA!!!" Oh yes, they wanted to eat there (it looked good as they were walking past to Mara) I had even said the night before if you want to go to Boma be down there around 7:15 and pay cash as it isnt worth the TS credit. Lovely, now I get to buy dinner the last night at Biergarten with cash now for Dh and DD as we will be credits short.

NOthing seemed to go well today, I had had it in so many ways. Then the father in law starts in on "Do we have to go fishing Wed. morning? It's so early." (I think he had a death wish that day, I could have spit fire! ) I bought Dh and DF-n-L a fishing trip at 7am Wed leaving from the Contempory. DH was excited to go. It isnt cheap ($235 for 2 hours) and I was also very excited to see them go and have fun. Luckily after living seas we split up. DF-n-L wanted to go try some beers in the world showcase and we had more rides to conquer. Body wars, since DD had never been in the pavillion. It was so empty, we walked right on Body wars.We let dd play on a few things, it was sad to see it downhill.

We took the time for the character connection, much shorter lines than the magic kingdom...
Here is a couple of characters: .

Then Spaceship earth..... Its a classic. I was hungry and it wasnt right to drag DD and Dh through a meal they arent eating so we headed back to the hotel so she could swim with Dh while I got lunch at Mara. And I took a nap to change my attitude. It was Le cellier for dinner and then illuminations. I was really looking forward to Le Cellier, but anyway. It just contiuned my bad day but illuminations were great!

 

[budbeerlady]

Given the failures of getting everyone out of the door yesterday I deceided we would shoot for 10am. And holy cow, we made it! It was Magic Kingdom day.

After the obligatory bathroom stops we were off to buzz lightyear ranger spin, DD loves this ride and could do it all day. Somehow, dh always gets a huge score and beats us all. We rode it twice in a row, gotta love the lack of a line! Then DD wanted to ride the astro orbiter, I dont do heights (its eyes shut on any rollercoaster) so Dh and the rest of the family got in line. Who new what would happen next would become the humor point for the rest of the trip. I rode the people mover thingy, its cute and gave me something to do besides sit and wait for them to come off the ride. I got done about the same time as them when I see DM-n-L rushing toward the bathroom. Dh is cracking up.

It seems DM-N-L and DF-n-L got stuck in their rocket, they could barely put the belt (as I understand the story it sounds like there must be a lap belt) and they started laughing about it. Then they couldnt move the lever for the rocket as they were squished in. And then of course at the end they couldnt get out, she laughed so hard she had an accident. Gotta wear that rubber underware to WDW these days.....It was down hill from there. To giver her pants a little dry walking time we took the short cut path to toontown.

Goofy's barnstormer was next! DD loves this ride and would ride it non-stop like most things in the park if we let her. Its a cute little coaster and about my speed. We learned on this ride NOT to sit behind DM-n-L on rides. She is now put in the back of our group. She was with DF-n-L in a row behind DD and I , Dh was behind them in the coaster. Sometime during the ride she yelled or somehow opened her mouth. Spit got on Dh's face and grossed him out! or maybe this new smiley is more appropriate!

It was time for tamer things.... Its a small world! Dh bowed out of this one, I think the spit was a bit much for him. (Actually he hates small world. Last year something happened and we were stuck in the final room forever, it was a bit much and we couldnt wait to get out of there. ) But you cannot go to WDW and not ride small world.

Then Haunted Mansion, last year DD was to scard to try it. It is more corny than scarey.

Snack time had hit, so we got 2 buckets of popcorn. (I have no idea what Dh did with my popcorn bucket, I had wanted to take it home but it never ended up in our luggage.) DF-n-L got a pretzel that he declared too salty and it was off to Mickey's Philharmonic. Somehow we never did this last year, we loved it. It was more fun watching DD watch the show, very well done! (Actually we didnt eat our popcorn during the show but it would have been a nice touch.)

Pirates of the Carribean was next, I like the updates. DD loves the store almost as much as the ride. It does have some cool stuff and we let her get a little hooked sword. Now some of the group has had enough rides.... and think its beer time. NO beer in the magic kingdom folks, no beer here, keep moving, nothing to drink here.... Okay, you wore me down and now I need a drink too. I guess we can head out to the Poly on the way to 1900 Park Fare dinner. We have a 4:30 adr so we can caught the 6pm wishes back at the park.

We are heading for the monorail when a great idea stikes me. I dont see anyone waiting toward the front of the platform.... Could we ride up front? I ask very nicely and the next monorail that comes.... has someone up front already. I am willing to wait, let's see what the next one holds. The troops are complaining, he wants a beer, its hot and he is thirsty. (I come here once a year, last year the front was always taken, you can wait 5 min for this.)(Breath thru your nose, keep your mouth shut, repeat 5x's!) Oh goody, its here and there is no one up front. But wait it only holds 4, we are a 5 person group. The inlaws hop in the next car and we are off. It was so cool to look down at the track, and as you enter the contemporary..... Very cool!!!!

We get to the Poly at 3:15, I want to leave at 4 to head to the GF. DD has to change into her dress and I want a couple of pictures with the gingerbread house. I had a tasty Chocolate Covered Cherry, with a cherry in it to drink. It was wonderful but I have to NOT order items that dont have a price listed.... $9! But it was good and strong, who knew I would need it to endure the next couple of hours!

So 4pm rolls around and DD and I get up to go. "What go, I only had a couple of beers......" you can get more at 4:30 at 1900 Park Fare. I am getting a bit unsympathetic. I didnt imagine this trip as the "where can I get a beer trip. "

And it begins again, the slow walking and the need for a bathroom. (But I am sure in no way was it connected to the consumption of beer, must just be an ugly coincidence....) Well you cannot go untill you get inside the hotel and down the steps over there. DD gets changed... they need more stalls at 1900 park fare. 2 or 3 (cannot remember how many) isnt enough for the volume that need to use it! I also check us in for dinner, while we are waiting for f-n-L to get to and use the bathroom. DD looks so cute, we do the pictures in front of the tree and the gingerbread house.