swankybeth
<font color=teal>Loves bubble tea!<br><font color=
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2000
- Messages
- 3,098
Cast--Me, Beth, 20 and my boyfriend Saverio, 23
Tuesday, June 5
I'd been looking forward to this day for a couple of months! This is the day I had an anniversary surprise planned for Saverio from Gifts of a Lifetime. He had no idea what was in store...
I was very excited, so I woke up even before the wake up call time of 6 am. We got ready and headed down to the bus stop. We were there by 6:50. We had an early breakfast at 1900 Park Fare (7:30 am) and were determined to get there on time. They told us at Guest Services that at exactly 7 am a bus comes to take you to the Ticket and Transportation Center. That didn't sound right to me, but I thought they would know better than me. At 7:05 a bus showed up that said Magic Kingdom on it. We decided to take that and just take the monorail to the Grand Floridian. There was another family getting on who had ressies for Chef Mickey's, so the super nice bus driver decided to drop us off at the hotels. He dropped off the family at the Contemporary and then took us to the Grand Floridian for our breakfast. He drove us through some cool backstage areas. We got to see Magic Kingdom from the back, and also where they set off fireworks! We got to 1900 Park Fare in time, and even had to wait a couple of minutes in a line to check in.
We were seated at a pretty crappy table, right by the door where everyone walks in. I felt like I was on display for everyone when they came in. Oh well, didn't matter, I was HUNGRY! Went up and got some freshly made omelettes, and all was well.
Ate tons of stuff, got pictures with Alice in Wonderland, Gepetto, Pinocchio, Mary Poppins, and the Mad Hatter. Service really could've been better, but it was nothing major, more a matter of our waitress forgetting everything we asked for....Total cost was $41.
We then went upstairs to check out Citricos' menu (we would be eating there Saturday night) and then hopped on the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. Got to the MK by 8:50 and waited by the Plaza Pavillion for rope drop. It was a much better spot than the Tomorrowland bridge, because EVERYONE was over there, and just a handful of people were where we waited. We hurried over to Space Mountain with the rest of the crowd. I waited in line while Saverio got us fastpasses for a second ride. We waited about 10 minutes in the standby line. The ride was fun, as usual. We then headed over to Buzz Lightyear and got fastpasses. We rode the ride once in the standby line (5 minute wait). Saverio kicked my butt, like he always does! He has a tip to get a lot of points: when you're in the first part, there is a robot on the left side. Hit his hand and you get like 25,000 points. Just a few hits and you really rack up points. Of course, I can never do it...
It was almost our fastpass return time for our second Buzz ride, so we waited a couple of minutes and then used our fastpasses. Got my butt kicked again! 
We didn't feel like riding Space Mountain again, so we headed over to Fantasyland. We got fastpasses for Pooh and then headed over to Cinderella's Carousel. Now here is where the Gifts of a Lifetime anniversary event begins! I was doing a puzzle event, which means that I wrote a love letter for Saverio and Jane cut it up into 11 puzzle pieces and her pixies were going to surprise him with pieces as we toured the park. When he got all 11 pieces, he had to put the puzzle together. Then, Jane would present him with a framed version of the letter and some chocolates. Jane and I had agreed to meet at Cinderella's Carousel and she told me that she would be wearing a green shirt. Well, we get over to the Carousel and the only person wearing green is this lady with her husband and kid sitting on a bench. That couldn't be her....Where is she??...I started panicking while riding the carousel, thinking I missed her.
Not to worry, it *was* her!!! While we were standing in front of Peter Pan's Flight, deciding if we felt like waiting 35 minutes to ride it (we didn't), a girl ran up to Saverio and asked, "Is your name Saverio?". Very confused, he said, "Yeah...?". She said, "Someone told me to give this to you. Bye!" and handed him a puzzle piece wrapped in a pretty cellophane bag. It had a tag on it explaining that someone is trying to give him a message and that he has to put all the pieces together to figure out who. We then rode It's a Small World. He kept bugging me for clues, and I just kept playing dumb. "I don't know who that girl is. How would *I* know what's going on?"
As we were exiting our boat, someone asked Saverio if he dropped something [she had dropped another piece on the empty row behind us]. He said, "No", and kept walking! I hurriedly picked up the piece and thanked the woman.
We then went over to Peter Pan's Flight to pick up fastpasses (our Pooh return time just started) and Saverio was looking out for the pixies like a madman!! He was so funny! He was really determined to see one before they saw him. He kept asking me, "Who ARE these people?" We rode Pooh using our fastpasses. When we came off the ride, waiting in the giftshop was Jane with another piece. She smacked him in the arm with the piece and admonished him not to open up the pieces or he wouldn't get anymore!! He was so surprised!! He kept saying, "How do they know? How did they see me?" They're pixies!! They see everything!
We took the path from Fantasyland over to Liberty Sqaure to do Haunted Mansion. It was a walk-on. After we exited the stretch room, a guy using a creepy voice said, "Take this with you on the ride." Of course it was another piece!! Upon exiting the ride, another pixie was waiting for Saverio and handed him a piece. As we were taking the path back to Fantasyland, we saw Jane fanning herself with what looked like a park map or something. It was a puzzle piece wrapped in wrapping paper!! She handed it to Saverio and asked him where we were headed next. He said, "Nope. You gotta find us." He so desperately wanted to lose them! Silly guy! You can't outsmart a pixie!
I had to use the bathroom, so Saverio waited outside for me. While I was in there, a pixie came up behind Saverio and said, "Girls take so long in there" and tossed him a piece. We rode Peter Pan. As we were exiting, the same girl who started giving him the pieces was waiting there. "Long time no see" she said, as she gave him a piece. We went over to the Mad Tea Party to ride it, but the wait was 20 minutes. *So* not worth it, so we went over to Toontown Fair to see which characters were over there. As we were walking, Saverio received another piece. We got to the character greeting place (forgot the name) and decided to do one of the trails. As we got up there, we saw the line was HUGE and we didn't want to wait. We walked back into the store area and the pixies chastised us for trying to be tricky!! Saverio received his last two pieces, and as a punishment for trying to trick the pixies, he had to put his puzzle together on the floor of Minnie's gazebo! (We were originally supposed to put it together at a table.) He put it together and Jane said, "It might be hard to read like that, so we made it easier" and handed him the framed version. It was framed in a beautiful wood frame. Saverio read the letter and said, "That's so sweet!". Jane said, "If you think *that's* sweet...." and handed him a box of assorted Disney chocolates! The puzzle event was a lot of fun, and Saverio really enjoyed his surprise. As so many people have already said, Jane and her pixies are wonderful!! I would not hesitate to use them again for another event.
It was hot and now we had a huge picture frame thingie to carry, so we decided to leave the MK. Went back to the hotel for some rest. We went to the Mara for some lunch. I got fish and chips and Saverio got a grilled chicken sandwich ($14.61). Food was pretty good. We dropped off our mugs at the room and headed over to MGM.
When we first entered the park we saw Kuzco hanging out, along with a bunch of other characters. I had really wanted to see Kuzco, so I was very excited! We got our picture taken with him and then headed over to Tower of Terror and Rock 'n' Roller Coaster to check the waits. The waits were insane, and the return time for Rock 'n' Roller Coaster was at the same time as our dinner, so we got a fastpass for Tower of Terror. We headed over to Millionaire and waited about 15 minutes for the next show. Fun, as usual. Didn't even make it into the top ten, though.
Did our Tower of Terror fastpasses, got more Tower of Terror fastpasses, walked around MGM for awhile, and then headed over to Mama Melrose for dinner. We did the Fantasmic dinner package, otherwise I don't know if I would have eaten here. We were glad we did, because we enjoyed our dinner. For some reason, we always have a tough time finding good food in MGM. We've tried Brown Derby, 50's PrimeTime, and Sci Fi Dine In before and didn't really have a good meal at any of them. I'd only go back to Sci Fi for some shakes and fries, maybe. Total cost of dinner was $34. We'd probably return if we were doing the package again.
At this time a Millionaire show was just about to start, so we doubted we'd make it in. We tried anyway, and just made it in. There was already a player in the hotseat, she was carried over from the previous show. Her name was Barbera, we'd seen her in the hot seat the day earlier also! Now she was up to 64,000. She got up to 500,000 and then lost. As you know, the audience plays along too, and I remarked to Saverio, "Hey, look, I got all the questions right", but thought nothing of it. It came time to list the top ten (I thought I might be up there, because the questions were really hard and I happened to answer them all correctly). They went all the way from ten up to two and I didn't see my seat number. Then the hot seat number flashed. It was 614. My number!! Oh my god. I am *very* shy and didn't even want to go up at first.
Saverio had to push me to get up!
I went into the hot seat. I got up to 250,000 and decided to walk because I was unsure of the answer. Turns out my guess was right, but oh well. I walked away with a bunch of pins, a pin lanyard, a shirt, cd rom, and a hat. As they were taking down my information in the back area, Barbera from the last show came to congratulate me. Turns out that she's practically addicted to the game and has been in the hot seat a bunch of times. She's *really* good and it would not surprise me at all if she wins the trip to NY. Apparently everyone thought I did really well. I answered my questions very quickly. Not because I'm some sort of genius or trying to brag, but I was VERY nervous. I was shaking the whole time I was in the seat. I didn't even want to look up and see myself on those huge screens. I was so embarrassed! It was so cool being in the hot seat! Anyway, it was Tower of Terror time now! We used our fastpasses, and as we were walking through the line, some kids screamed out, "Hey, Beth! Congratulations! You even made in time for Tower of Terror!". I felt like a little celebrity! We rode Tower of Terror. So much fun! It was about time to get seated for Fantasmic, so we grabbed a couple of Minnie strawberry bars ($5) and went to the theatre. As we were waiting for the show to begin, we saw the fireworks from Illuminations. It was really cool! I never realized how close we were to Epcot! The show was good, but it was so sticky hot, that I started wishing the show would end already and couldn't really appreciate it. I could not imagine waiting for over an hour like many people did. I guess I really cannot handle hot temps! Caught the bus back to Animal Kingdom Lodge and called it a night. A pretty cool day, if you ask me!
Beth
Tuesday, June 5
I'd been looking forward to this day for a couple of months! This is the day I had an anniversary surprise planned for Saverio from Gifts of a Lifetime. He had no idea what was in store...
I was very excited, so I woke up even before the wake up call time of 6 am. We got ready and headed down to the bus stop. We were there by 6:50. We had an early breakfast at 1900 Park Fare (7:30 am) and were determined to get there on time. They told us at Guest Services that at exactly 7 am a bus comes to take you to the Ticket and Transportation Center. That didn't sound right to me, but I thought they would know better than me. At 7:05 a bus showed up that said Magic Kingdom on it. We decided to take that and just take the monorail to the Grand Floridian. There was another family getting on who had ressies for Chef Mickey's, so the super nice bus driver decided to drop us off at the hotels. He dropped off the family at the Contemporary and then took us to the Grand Floridian for our breakfast. He drove us through some cool backstage areas. We got to see Magic Kingdom from the back, and also where they set off fireworks! We got to 1900 Park Fare in time, and even had to wait a couple of minutes in a line to check in.
We were seated at a pretty crappy table, right by the door where everyone walks in. I felt like I was on display for everyone when they came in. Oh well, didn't matter, I was HUNGRY! Went up and got some freshly made omelettes, and all was well.
Ate tons of stuff, got pictures with Alice in Wonderland, Gepetto, Pinocchio, Mary Poppins, and the Mad Hatter. Service really could've been better, but it was nothing major, more a matter of our waitress forgetting everything we asked for....Total cost was $41.We then went upstairs to check out Citricos' menu (we would be eating there Saturday night) and then hopped on the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. Got to the MK by 8:50 and waited by the Plaza Pavillion for rope drop. It was a much better spot than the Tomorrowland bridge, because EVERYONE was over there, and just a handful of people were where we waited. We hurried over to Space Mountain with the rest of the crowd. I waited in line while Saverio got us fastpasses for a second ride. We waited about 10 minutes in the standby line. The ride was fun, as usual. We then headed over to Buzz Lightyear and got fastpasses. We rode the ride once in the standby line (5 minute wait). Saverio kicked my butt, like he always does! He has a tip to get a lot of points: when you're in the first part, there is a robot on the left side. Hit his hand and you get like 25,000 points. Just a few hits and you really rack up points. Of course, I can never do it...
It was almost our fastpass return time for our second Buzz ride, so we waited a couple of minutes and then used our fastpasses. Got my butt kicked again! We didn't feel like riding Space Mountain again, so we headed over to Fantasyland. We got fastpasses for Pooh and then headed over to Cinderella's Carousel. Now here is where the Gifts of a Lifetime anniversary event begins! I was doing a puzzle event, which means that I wrote a love letter for Saverio and Jane cut it up into 11 puzzle pieces and her pixies were going to surprise him with pieces as we toured the park. When he got all 11 pieces, he had to put the puzzle together. Then, Jane would present him with a framed version of the letter and some chocolates. Jane and I had agreed to meet at Cinderella's Carousel and she told me that she would be wearing a green shirt. Well, we get over to the Carousel and the only person wearing green is this lady with her husband and kid sitting on a bench. That couldn't be her....Where is she??...I started panicking while riding the carousel, thinking I missed her.
Not to worry, it *was* her!!! While we were standing in front of Peter Pan's Flight, deciding if we felt like waiting 35 minutes to ride it (we didn't), a girl ran up to Saverio and asked, "Is your name Saverio?". Very confused, he said, "Yeah...?". She said, "Someone told me to give this to you. Bye!" and handed him a puzzle piece wrapped in a pretty cellophane bag. It had a tag on it explaining that someone is trying to give him a message and that he has to put all the pieces together to figure out who. We then rode It's a Small World. He kept bugging me for clues, and I just kept playing dumb. "I don't know who that girl is. How would *I* know what's going on?"
As we were exiting our boat, someone asked Saverio if he dropped something [she had dropped another piece on the empty row behind us]. He said, "No", and kept walking! I hurriedly picked up the piece and thanked the woman. We then went over to Peter Pan's Flight to pick up fastpasses (our Pooh return time just started) and Saverio was looking out for the pixies like a madman!! He was so funny! He was really determined to see one before they saw him. He kept asking me, "Who ARE these people?" We rode Pooh using our fastpasses. When we came off the ride, waiting in the giftshop was Jane with another piece. She smacked him in the arm with the piece and admonished him not to open up the pieces or he wouldn't get anymore!! He was so surprised!! He kept saying, "How do they know? How did they see me?" They're pixies!! They see everything!
We took the path from Fantasyland over to Liberty Sqaure to do Haunted Mansion. It was a walk-on. After we exited the stretch room, a guy using a creepy voice said, "Take this with you on the ride." Of course it was another piece!! Upon exiting the ride, another pixie was waiting for Saverio and handed him a piece. As we were taking the path back to Fantasyland, we saw Jane fanning herself with what looked like a park map or something. It was a puzzle piece wrapped in wrapping paper!! She handed it to Saverio and asked him where we were headed next. He said, "Nope. You gotta find us." He so desperately wanted to lose them! Silly guy! You can't outsmart a pixie!
I had to use the bathroom, so Saverio waited outside for me. While I was in there, a pixie came up behind Saverio and said, "Girls take so long in there" and tossed him a piece. We rode Peter Pan. As we were exiting, the same girl who started giving him the pieces was waiting there. "Long time no see" she said, as she gave him a piece. We went over to the Mad Tea Party to ride it, but the wait was 20 minutes. *So* not worth it, so we went over to Toontown Fair to see which characters were over there. As we were walking, Saverio received another piece. We got to the character greeting place (forgot the name) and decided to do one of the trails. As we got up there, we saw the line was HUGE and we didn't want to wait. We walked back into the store area and the pixies chastised us for trying to be tricky!! Saverio received his last two pieces, and as a punishment for trying to trick the pixies, he had to put his puzzle together on the floor of Minnie's gazebo! (We were originally supposed to put it together at a table.) He put it together and Jane said, "It might be hard to read like that, so we made it easier" and handed him the framed version. It was framed in a beautiful wood frame. Saverio read the letter and said, "That's so sweet!". Jane said, "If you think *that's* sweet...." and handed him a box of assorted Disney chocolates! The puzzle event was a lot of fun, and Saverio really enjoyed his surprise. As so many people have already said, Jane and her pixies are wonderful!! I would not hesitate to use them again for another event.
It was hot and now we had a huge picture frame thingie to carry, so we decided to leave the MK. Went back to the hotel for some rest. We went to the Mara for some lunch. I got fish and chips and Saverio got a grilled chicken sandwich ($14.61). Food was pretty good. We dropped off our mugs at the room and headed over to MGM.
When we first entered the park we saw Kuzco hanging out, along with a bunch of other characters. I had really wanted to see Kuzco, so I was very excited! We got our picture taken with him and then headed over to Tower of Terror and Rock 'n' Roller Coaster to check the waits. The waits were insane, and the return time for Rock 'n' Roller Coaster was at the same time as our dinner, so we got a fastpass for Tower of Terror. We headed over to Millionaire and waited about 15 minutes for the next show. Fun, as usual. Didn't even make it into the top ten, though.
Did our Tower of Terror fastpasses, got more Tower of Terror fastpasses, walked around MGM for awhile, and then headed over to Mama Melrose for dinner. We did the Fantasmic dinner package, otherwise I don't know if I would have eaten here. We were glad we did, because we enjoyed our dinner. For some reason, we always have a tough time finding good food in MGM. We've tried Brown Derby, 50's PrimeTime, and Sci Fi Dine In before and didn't really have a good meal at any of them. I'd only go back to Sci Fi for some shakes and fries, maybe. Total cost of dinner was $34. We'd probably return if we were doing the package again. At this time a Millionaire show was just about to start, so we doubted we'd make it in. We tried anyway, and just made it in. There was already a player in the hotseat, she was carried over from the previous show. Her name was Barbera, we'd seen her in the hot seat the day earlier also! Now she was up to 64,000. She got up to 500,000 and then lost. As you know, the audience plays along too, and I remarked to Saverio, "Hey, look, I got all the questions right", but thought nothing of it. It came time to list the top ten (I thought I might be up there, because the questions were really hard and I happened to answer them all correctly). They went all the way from ten up to two and I didn't see my seat number. Then the hot seat number flashed. It was 614. My number!! Oh my god. I am *very* shy and didn't even want to go up at first.
Saverio had to push me to get up! I went into the hot seat. I got up to 250,000 and decided to walk because I was unsure of the answer. Turns out my guess was right, but oh well. I walked away with a bunch of pins, a pin lanyard, a shirt, cd rom, and a hat. As they were taking down my information in the back area, Barbera from the last show came to congratulate me. Turns out that she's practically addicted to the game and has been in the hot seat a bunch of times. She's *really* good and it would not surprise me at all if she wins the trip to NY. Apparently everyone thought I did really well. I answered my questions very quickly. Not because I'm some sort of genius or trying to brag, but I was VERY nervous. I was shaking the whole time I was in the seat. I didn't even want to look up and see myself on those huge screens. I was so embarrassed! It was so cool being in the hot seat! Anyway, it was Tower of Terror time now! We used our fastpasses, and as we were walking through the line, some kids screamed out, "Hey, Beth! Congratulations! You even made in time for Tower of Terror!". I felt like a little celebrity! We rode Tower of Terror. So much fun! It was about time to get seated for Fantasmic, so we grabbed a couple of Minnie strawberry bars ($5) and went to the theatre. As we were waiting for the show to begin, we saw the fireworks from Illuminations. It was really cool! I never realized how close we were to Epcot! The show was good, but it was so sticky hot, that I started wishing the show would end already and couldn't really appreciate it. I could not imagine waiting for over an hour like many people did. I guess I really cannot handle hot temps! Caught the bus back to Animal Kingdom Lodge and called it a night. A pretty cool day, if you ask me!
Beth
