Brother and Sister take on the world! LOTS of pictures!

[Piecey]

So. Here I am. My trip is over and I'm left with a folder of digital pictures and an empty screen on the DIS to document my trip and make all you guys feel so jealous you can't experience the world with the likes of me lmao

To start, I must make my warnings.
I might ramble. I have a tendency to do this. Most people tune out the first ten minutes of any story I tell them because it's useless garbage. (Sorta like this intro.. )
But.. if you can stand my ramblings, I promise to finish this report to the best of my ability and include a couple pictures and videos here and there.

To begin.. you must meet the cast. Unfortunately that adorable little critter in my signature had to stay home.. meaning we are left with....

Me. I'm 19. My parents named me Patsy. And I work a lot. A lot, a lot. And I go to college. So I'm busy. I prefer it that way, because it makes going to WDW seem so much better

Then there is Gregger. Gregger is my brother. He's 22. He's a recent WVU graduate and enjoys the World just as much as me.
This is the 2nd Annual Week Before Christmas WDW Trip for us.

Now, for the visuals.
This is me.

This is him.

(I took this of him while we were riding in Everest. Pay no attention to those trees in the background!)

Now that I've introduced us, I have to get going. I hope you find us interesting and come back for my next installment entitled:
"One must stretch the truth to catch the plane."

 

[swkmom]

Can't wait to read more of your trip report! Where in WV are you from?...I live in South Charleston.

 

[disgram]

got me interested!!!! Looking forward to your report!!

 

[Piecey]

Can't wait to read more of your trip report! Where in WV are you from?...I live in South Charleston.

I live in Williamstown.
...Parkersburg

 

[tiggerbell]

Let the leaning commence!

 

[Piecey]

Alright, to help everyone understand this next part I need to give a little background information.

We almost missed our flight last year. I was a ball of nerves. My brother likes to remind me that we didn't miss the flight, but we almost did. I'm a worry-wart and almost is too close to me! We left for the airport (about an hours drive) at 5 for out 7:05 flight. I was NOT cutting it that close this year!

So this year, everytime he asked me what time our flight was I fudged the truth and gave him a different time or said "Oh 7-ish or so"... and we left on time, were on the plane on time, and were on the way to Disney without me suffering any heart failure!


We board the plane. It's half empty, so the flight was most excellent.
We arrived in Orlando and got a little turned around looking for Magical Express- they moved it! After trekking across the airport we finally got there and boarded our coach.

We had stayed in the 70s last year and loved it, but this year our special request for the 70s somehow got lost.
She tells us that they have a room ready for us in the 50s but we'd have to wait on the 70s. I confer with my brother and he says "Lets wait on a room. We liked it there."
Well. This makes the worry-wart in me come out.
I had my brand new laptop with us and I don't like the thoughts of handing it over to someone. But I did. So we take our luggage to Luggage Services, sign it away and decide to hop on the first bus that comes around the corner.. Magic Kingdom, YAY! Nothing like getting this trip off to a great start!

We head over there, grab some fastpasses to our favorite ride-- Space Mountain! I've managed to forget all the worrying and stress I'd brought with me and we decided to grab a snack before our 5PM Concourse Steakhouse ADR. We decide on Figaro Fries-- yummy, yummy, yummy! And relax outside Ariel's Grotto watching Fantasyland. It was a great way to start the trip.

After that we hopped on the railroad and decided to do a loop around the park. This is Greggers-- totally exhausted from not having slept last night and having a sister that never stops moving..

After that we use our fastpasses and Greg is completely exhausted. He wants to go back to the hotel and rest and clean up for dinner. It's 3 so we know our room will be ready. We head back and what is there waiting on us? Our luggage. Our magical express luggage only. I give luggage services a call beause I was nervous about my laptop.
And...
They have no record of our stuff being given to luggage services.
She takes our claim number and checks the entire list. Nothing.

Finally. After about ten minutes on hold she locates it on the list of people due to check out of POP that day.
They found it! I'm happy. She assures me that they'll bring it right down.
A half hour later we don't have it.
So I wait. I call again and says "We'll get it to you right now!~" I look at the clock and realize we're never going to make dinner if I waited but also know I'd be too nervous to go to dinner without knowing my laptop was okay. So I call and reschedule for 7:30.
And then I fall asleep..
I wake up an hour and a half later and it's not there. So I call and she sighs and says " Is this room 0123 again?"
.."Yes. My stuff hasn't come."
"I know. I forgot. We'll get it to you."

Another half hour later there is a knock on the door. Yay! It's luggage services. They hand me ... Greg's backpack.. both our coats.. and then... my carry-on bag.. and wish me a good day. Wait. Halt. WHAT?

I explain to him there should be a laptop. He says "No. This is it."
I assure him it's not. I point to the card that I have saying I checked 5 bags. He count and says..
"I think she counted the coats seperately."..Yes. She did. Two coats, Two bags.

I spend the next twenty minutes sitting on my hands. I kid you not. I was petrified. I'm a worrier. It's what I do.
He finally shows up and says "It wasn't where it should have been."
....
Now. I fear I might get flamed for this but I work in customer service, am majoring in travel and tourism and seriously believe that people should be alerted whenever their employees are rude, discourteous or just don't do their jobs.. I was very frustrated, hungry and I'd been in a state of panic for a couple hours. It was not a magical way to begin my vacation. Yes, I'm a worry-wart but I'd of been fine if the whole ordeal hadn't started with them not even being able to find my stuff.

So I make my way to Concierge, explain the situation to him and he is upset as well. He wants me to explain this to the luggage manager. So away we go and I'm introduced to the luggage manager of POP Century. I reiterate my story to him and he assures me he would have been as worried as me. If it had just been a pillow, whatever. But a laptop? That I can't let go and he agrees that something of that expense shouldn't have been handled that poorly. He apologizes, promises to look into it and away I go. I'm satisified because he seemed to have genuine concern and I thought he'd really make sure it didn't happen again.

Then some magic happens. ...
A cast member shows up at our door about ten minutes later with 6 Priority Entrance tickets for our time we lost waiting. I was very shocked that he did this and really appreciated the gesture. So I woke up the Gregger and we made our way off to the Concourse Steakhouse!

Next: Concourse Dining

 

[tinawv]

Hi Patsy we are neighbors. I live in Vienna, WV, and I am also a WDW lover (my family uses the word freak in lieu of lover ). I just can't seem to get enough of WDW, and would go there twice a year if I could afford it. Heck, who am I kidding I would live there if they would let me.

Looking forward to reading more about your trip.

 

[Piecey]

Hi Patsy we are neighbors. I live in Vienna, WV, and I am also a WDW lover (my family uses the word freak in lieu of lover ). I just can't seem to get enough of WDW, and would go there twice a year if I could afford it. Heck, who am I kidding I would live there if they would let me.

Looking forward to reading more about your trip.

Awesome!! Crazy small world.
I go through Vienna every day. I work in Belpre.

 

[Piecey]

Sorry this reply has taken so long. I had surgery in January and haven't really been able to write. I did go back up and edit out some of my useless rambling though..

On to the Concourse Steakhouse!!!!!

Gregger and I hopped on a bus to head over to MK, amazed just as we were last year, at how vast the property is and how long it takes to get to some of the parks! (Like MK from Pop!)
We were finally relaxed, rested and ready to thoroughly enjoy ourselves in the world. On our walk from the bus station to the monorails, we took in all the beautiful christmas decorations. If you haven't gone for Christmas, you really really need to go!
Here are a couple pictures we took earlier in the MK of the decorations (last year I ended up with all these pictures of places and things and none of us, so I made Greg get in every picture this year and the only way he'd do it was to LEAN!)

And.. if it weren't for the crane, I think this would be my favoritest picture ever. Stupid crane!

So, to help you fully understand Greggers excitement..
Last year, our trip was completely on my tab. I was a freshman in college and hated having spare time so I worked two jobs both semesters on top of school. I ended up with a couple grand for our trip. It didn't bother me to pay for it, but it bothered my brother that I was paying for it all. So we only ate Table Service at Sci-Fi, Nine Dragons and CRT (I REALLY wanted to eat there, haha) because he was trying to not spend my money. This year, though, he had money. And I told him about the dining plan.
My brother went flip crazy for the dining plan. All that food for a mere 37.99 a day? What? Was I crazy? Of COURSE we were going to be on the dining plan.
Then he found out he could also eat my meals and that was like a party I'd never seen before.

So off we were to the Concourse Steakhouse for our first take on the DDP..
We checked in and wandered around the Contemporary. Sorry for any Contemporary fans, but we really couldn't understand the appeal of this place. We were underimpressed with the gift shops and ended up just sitting in a couple of chairs while we waited, bored and having trouble understanding how, other than the monorail, this place was a deluxe.
After about a twenty minute wait we were seated and boy, were we hungry!

For Greggers appetizer, he ordered the Honey Sesame Chicken Wings. Gregger is, indeed, a wing man.

I, however, am not. So it was the Caesar Salad for me!

Both were excellent. I really loved the Caesar dressing and Greg said the wings were amazing.
We ended up waiting 30-45 minutes before our entree made it out and by the time it got there we were so hungry I forgot to take a picture.
I had the filet mignon (excellent!) and Greggers had the NY Strip.
Luckily, though I remembered about halfway through dessert to take some pictures...

This is my Triple Chocolate Cake

which wasn't very good. I'm pretty picky when it comes to some things and this just didn't do anything for me. The part that is missing is all I ended up eating of it.
I was incredibly jealous of Greg's Seasonal rolleyes: ) Cheesecake..

Can you guess what season it is? BUTTERFINGER SEASON! WOOHOO! ​

After an amazing meal (and a whopping bill of $110- all taken care of by the magical DDP) we were out the door with a new hop to our step. That was probably the best meal either of us had had in months.. .. and we were both energized and ready to hit up MK EMH!

 

[tiggerbell]

Glad you're back! Hope all is going well from the surgery - I also had surgery in January (who else do you know who got carpel tunnel in her ANKLE??? ) and was not able to sit at a computer for a few weeks - who knew that'd be a problem???

LOVED the Butterfinger Season joke!!! That's hysterical!

 

[Bee]

I am here and reading.. Enjoying every word. Hope you are recovering well!!