puffkin
DVC Owner- SSR & AKV
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2001
- Messages
- 9,848
Cast:
Woody- planner, 23-year Accountant/Disney nut- 4th trip
Buzz- 25 year old fiancé and Billing Coordinator/night college student- 3rd trip
Dates: July 19th July 26th, 2003
Friday July 18th and Saturday July 19th:
The realization that we were going back to WDW finally hit home on Friday. I had taken off work that day in order to get ready for our trip. This is the first year that Buzz and I have a house and puppy to prepare for vacation, as well as ourselves. I spent the day cleaning the entire house, doing 4 loads of laundry and preparing Murphys stuff for the house/dog sitter. Buzz worked a half day and then came home and cut the lawn. When the laundry was finished, we packed everything up and got ready to leave. It was a pretty stressful day, but I like coming home to a clean house.
Last year, we stayed in the Holiday Inn near Philadelphia International Airport the night before our flight and it worked out really well. We decided to do the same this year since we had an early flight. So we said good bye to Murphy and left the house around 7 pm for the drive to Philadelphia. We were there and checked into our room by 9 pm. Staying at the hotel the night before is nice because it allows you to start your vacation a little earlier and relieves some of the stress and rushing around in the morning. Also, I sleep really well in hotels, so it guarantees that I will get a good nights rest. You also cant beat the price of $84, which includes parking for up to two weeks.
The alarm went off at 4 am and of course we popped right out of bed. We showered and packed up the few things we had gotten out of the suitcases. We made it down to the shuttle stop by 4:45 am and waited for the 5 am shuttle. I knew from last year that the shuttles fill up pretty fast in the mornings, so I wanted to make sure that we gave ourselves plenty of time. We didnt get on the first shuttle, but another one pulled up a couple of minutes later and we were off to PHL.
We used the US Airways E-Ticket kiosks to check in and breezed through security with no problems. We made it to the gate about an hour before boarding. I nibbled on a pop-tart from home and then bought some orange juice and water for the flight. Our flight was overbooked, and I volunteered to get bumped to the next flight, but they were only looking for single passengers at that point, and Buzz and I didnt want to split up.
We boarded and took off right on time at 6:50 am and had a very uneventful flight to Orlando. I suffer from ear pressure problems when flying, so Buzz and I both tried Earplanes for the first time. I had some pressure discomfort when we were in the air, but when we took them out after landing, I could hear! This was the first year that I didnt spend the entire day with closed ears. I think Buzz enjoyed them because he didnt have to listen to me talking during the plane ride.
Our Tiffany Towncar driver, Jack, was waiting at the bottom of the escalator for us. After retrieving our bags we were on our way. I love using the town car service. I feel like a celebrity at the airport. Tiffany Towncar was great as usual. We stopped at the Kash N Karry for the grocery stop, and the driver even gave us his discount card. We spent about $35 on soda, Gatorade, snacks, breakfast items, and water. We pulled into Port Orleans Riverside around 10:30 am. I mentioned to Buzz that we had already been to the grocery store and were at the resort because we used a towncar. The other people on our flight were probably just leaving the airport now!
We stored our bags with luggage services and then checked in. There was only one person in front of me, and check in went quickly. We had booked our room using the AP rate, but the CM did not even ask to see our passes. I had faxed in a room request earlier in the week requesting Alligator Bayou buildings 14, 15, or 16. The CM said that buildings 14 and 15 were both full, but a room in 18 would be ready later that day. I was concerned because this is a smoking building, but she said that only half of it is smoking now and that our room was in the non-smoking part. We decided to take that room, so we got our cards and headed off to lunch.
It was just before 11 am, so the food court was still serving breakfast. We were starving, so we both ordered the French Toast and egg combos. Buzz also had a fruit and yogurt cup and our total came to $11. We brought our POR mugs from last year and used them. The new mugs had purple lids, but our lids had green lids. We used them all week and no one ever said anything. I saw plenty of other people using the old POR mugs as well, so I didnt feel too guilty.
After quick calls home to let the families know we made it here safely, I headed to guest services to buy our e-ride tickets for Tuesday night. We havent been too impressed with e-rides during our past two June trips, but I knew that it probably would be nice since it was so hot and crowded. I also loaded up on park maps and times schedules. We stashed our mugs with our luggage, lotioned up, and headed to the bus stop.
We waited 5 minutes for a bus to the Magic Kingdom. It is amazing how quickly you adjust to Disney life. We exchanged our AP vouchers for activated annual passes at the guest services window, and then headed into the park. It was very crowded, and more people were entering by the minute. I know that Saturday is the worst day to do the Magic Kingdom, but I have to start and end my trips in front of the castle! The characters were out in the town square. I noticed Brer Bear and Brer Fox, Pinocchio, Max and Balou. We stopped and watched the street performers in the horse-drawn trolley on Main Street before heading to Tomorrowland.
We grabbed fast passes for Buzz Lightyear since the return time was only 30 minutes later and noticed that Buzz himself was signing autographs and taking pictures right outside. We then headed over to one of my favorite attractions, the Carousel of Progress. I was very disappointed last year because the attraction had been closed, so I wanted to make sure we got on it this year. We started laughing when we got to the 1940s scene because the kitchen cabinets our just like the ones in our house.
After the always enjoyable Carousel of Progress, we did the Tomorrowland Transit Authority until our Buzz return time. We waited about 5 minutes for this, so as you can see, the park was pretty crowded, but not completely unmanageable. After the TTA, we grabbed a fast pass for Space Mountain before heading to Buzz Lightyear. We are both pretty terrible at this ride, but somehow I managed to hit some target and I ended up beating Buzz 74,600 to 60,500. Those scores are pretty low, but I was just happy to beat Buzz. Dont worry though; he got his revenge later in the week!
We had seen the Pirates of the Caribbean movie the prior weekend, and we both really enjoyed it, so Buzz wanted to ride the attraction. So, we headed over to Adventureland and rode with no wait. I was surprised that there wasnt more interest in this ride and pirate stuff in general due to the release of the movie. I had tried a Dole Whip several years ago and didnt care for it, but after all the praise for them here on the DIS, I decided to try it again. I got the pineapple float ($3) and enjoyed it much more this year. I wouldnt say it is my favorite snack in WDW, but it was very good.
On our way out of Adventureland, I got my picture taken with Jafar and Timon and Rafiki. The Genie was also out, but his line was pretty long. We still had some time until our Space Mountain fast pass, so we walked through some of the shops on Main Street. We watched the penny crank movies of golf and boxing in the sports shop. Buzz also noticed an old fashioned baseball game there so we played that for 10 cents each. I love those little extra touches that Disney throws in. Most people probably walk right by them, but they are really neat and worth a few seconds to try out.
Anyway, we headed over to Space Mountain to use our fast pass and ended up waiting about 20 minutes in the fast pass line. Unfortunately, this was a trend that would continue when using fast passes for this trip. It was a little after 3 pm by this point, so we decided to beat the parade crowds to the bus stop. Main Street was very congested with the parade coming through, but we made it to the bus stop before it got real crowded. We ended up waiting about 15 minutes for a bus back to POR.
When we returned to the resort, I called the front desk and got our room number (#1838) and we headed to our room. Building 18 was at a good location, almost as good as Building 15 (where we stayed last year). We were right at the quiet pool and just a short walk from the food court and main bus stop. Even though the CM assured us our room was non-smoking, it wasnt posted anywhere and the room slightly smelled like smoke. There were also ashtrays along the walkways outside the room. The smell wasnt strong, so we decided to tough it out. I believe that our room used to be smoking, and some of the smell still lingered. The room was in decent shape and clean. I did notice that some areas were a bit shabby, but hopefully the refurb will fix that up in the next year.
Luggage services brought our luggage up about 15 minutes after we called, and we unpacked quickly. While we were unpacking, a thunderstorm rolled through around 4:45, but only last about 30 minutes. We left our room around 6:00 to head to our dinner reservation at Ohanas. We waited about 5 minutes for a bus to the Magic Kingdom, and then transferred to the monorail to the Polynesian. We checked in for our PS at 6:55 pm for our 7:00 pm PS and we were seated right at 7:00 pm.
Some of the items on the family style feast were rice, salad, banana bread, wings, shrimp wontons, pork, shrimp, chicken, and beef skewers, and pineapples and caramel dipping sauce. The meal was nice, but I wouldnt need to do this every trip. Total cost for the two of us was $60 with tip.
We were stuffed, but on a mission to play miniature golf. We had been meaning to play on the last two trips, but we never made it. So, we waddled to the Transportation and Ticket Center and hopped on the Epcot monorail. The plan was to walk through Epcot to the International Gateway, but from the monorail, it looked like people were going into Mission Space, so of course we headed over.
We got there at 8:50 pm and there was no line whatsoever. We walked right into the preshow movie, which basically explains the premise of the attraction. We were placed into our pods, but I cant remember which jobs we were assigned. The motion of the ride, though unusual, did not really bother either of us. We both kept our heads back and looked straight ahead though. The take off was awesome seemed very realistic, but I thought the rest of the ride was only ok. I guess with all the hype surrounding this ride, I was expecting a lot more. I still enjoyed the ride, but I think it is being hyped a little too much.
Anyway, the shop and interactive exhibits at the end were closing when we got off the ride, so we walked around the edge of the World Showcase while Illuminations was playing and headed out the International Gateway. We walked along the Boardwalk to the Swan, and then found the path to Fantasia Gardens. The course was busy, but not packed, so we chose the Gardens course, which is the one with the Fantasia characters. We used our AP discount, so for the two of us, our total cost was $10.40. We ended up getting behind two large parties with lots of little kids. They did not offer to let us play through, and it was getting late, so we ended up skipping two holes to get by them.
I thought the course was nice and well done, but it was a little easy for two adults. Also, it seemed like it could use some repair. The turf was very ratty and pulling away from the walls or had holes in it in some places. We both took par on the holes we skipped, and Buzz ended up beating me by one stroke, ugh! The Fairways Course looked really neat, so we vowed to come back later in the week to try that one.
We tried to find the Swan bus stop to catch a bus to Downtown Disney, but we couldnt find it so we walked down to the Boardwalk Inn. We waited about 5 minutes for a bus to Downtown Disney, and then waited about 10 minutes for a bus to Port Orleans. While we were waiting for the POR bus, the whole stop watched a teenager make a fool out herself trying to walk to a bench because she was so drunk. She kept falling over and her boyfriend had to keep picking her back up. They couldnt have been older than 15 or 16, which makes me wonder how she got that much alcohol.
Anyway, we got back to the resort, showered and were in bed by 12:20 am. It was a very exhausting and busy day, but we had lots of fun. I promise that we slowed down the rest of the week. Stay tuned for Day 2 of Buzz and Woodys Summer Escape.
Best and Worst of the Day:
Best
Woody- Getting the opportunity to ride Mission Space
Buzz- Arriving and knowing that we were on vacation
Worst
Woody- The difficulty trying to get back to POR from Fantasia Gardens
Buzz- Having to wait at miniature golf
Woody- planner, 23-year Accountant/Disney nut- 4th trip
Buzz- 25 year old fiancé and Billing Coordinator/night college student- 3rd trip
Dates: July 19th July 26th, 2003
Friday July 18th and Saturday July 19th:
The realization that we were going back to WDW finally hit home on Friday. I had taken off work that day in order to get ready for our trip. This is the first year that Buzz and I have a house and puppy to prepare for vacation, as well as ourselves. I spent the day cleaning the entire house, doing 4 loads of laundry and preparing Murphys stuff for the house/dog sitter. Buzz worked a half day and then came home and cut the lawn. When the laundry was finished, we packed everything up and got ready to leave. It was a pretty stressful day, but I like coming home to a clean house.
Last year, we stayed in the Holiday Inn near Philadelphia International Airport the night before our flight and it worked out really well. We decided to do the same this year since we had an early flight. So we said good bye to Murphy and left the house around 7 pm for the drive to Philadelphia. We were there and checked into our room by 9 pm. Staying at the hotel the night before is nice because it allows you to start your vacation a little earlier and relieves some of the stress and rushing around in the morning. Also, I sleep really well in hotels, so it guarantees that I will get a good nights rest. You also cant beat the price of $84, which includes parking for up to two weeks.
The alarm went off at 4 am and of course we popped right out of bed. We showered and packed up the few things we had gotten out of the suitcases. We made it down to the shuttle stop by 4:45 am and waited for the 5 am shuttle. I knew from last year that the shuttles fill up pretty fast in the mornings, so I wanted to make sure that we gave ourselves plenty of time. We didnt get on the first shuttle, but another one pulled up a couple of minutes later and we were off to PHL.
We used the US Airways E-Ticket kiosks to check in and breezed through security with no problems. We made it to the gate about an hour before boarding. I nibbled on a pop-tart from home and then bought some orange juice and water for the flight. Our flight was overbooked, and I volunteered to get bumped to the next flight, but they were only looking for single passengers at that point, and Buzz and I didnt want to split up.
We boarded and took off right on time at 6:50 am and had a very uneventful flight to Orlando. I suffer from ear pressure problems when flying, so Buzz and I both tried Earplanes for the first time. I had some pressure discomfort when we were in the air, but when we took them out after landing, I could hear! This was the first year that I didnt spend the entire day with closed ears. I think Buzz enjoyed them because he didnt have to listen to me talking during the plane ride.
Our Tiffany Towncar driver, Jack, was waiting at the bottom of the escalator for us. After retrieving our bags we were on our way. I love using the town car service. I feel like a celebrity at the airport. Tiffany Towncar was great as usual. We stopped at the Kash N Karry for the grocery stop, and the driver even gave us his discount card. We spent about $35 on soda, Gatorade, snacks, breakfast items, and water. We pulled into Port Orleans Riverside around 10:30 am. I mentioned to Buzz that we had already been to the grocery store and were at the resort because we used a towncar. The other people on our flight were probably just leaving the airport now!
We stored our bags with luggage services and then checked in. There was only one person in front of me, and check in went quickly. We had booked our room using the AP rate, but the CM did not even ask to see our passes. I had faxed in a room request earlier in the week requesting Alligator Bayou buildings 14, 15, or 16. The CM said that buildings 14 and 15 were both full, but a room in 18 would be ready later that day. I was concerned because this is a smoking building, but she said that only half of it is smoking now and that our room was in the non-smoking part. We decided to take that room, so we got our cards and headed off to lunch.
It was just before 11 am, so the food court was still serving breakfast. We were starving, so we both ordered the French Toast and egg combos. Buzz also had a fruit and yogurt cup and our total came to $11. We brought our POR mugs from last year and used them. The new mugs had purple lids, but our lids had green lids. We used them all week and no one ever said anything. I saw plenty of other people using the old POR mugs as well, so I didnt feel too guilty.
After quick calls home to let the families know we made it here safely, I headed to guest services to buy our e-ride tickets for Tuesday night. We havent been too impressed with e-rides during our past two June trips, but I knew that it probably would be nice since it was so hot and crowded. I also loaded up on park maps and times schedules. We stashed our mugs with our luggage, lotioned up, and headed to the bus stop.
We waited 5 minutes for a bus to the Magic Kingdom. It is amazing how quickly you adjust to Disney life. We exchanged our AP vouchers for activated annual passes at the guest services window, and then headed into the park. It was very crowded, and more people were entering by the minute. I know that Saturday is the worst day to do the Magic Kingdom, but I have to start and end my trips in front of the castle! The characters were out in the town square. I noticed Brer Bear and Brer Fox, Pinocchio, Max and Balou. We stopped and watched the street performers in the horse-drawn trolley on Main Street before heading to Tomorrowland.
We grabbed fast passes for Buzz Lightyear since the return time was only 30 minutes later and noticed that Buzz himself was signing autographs and taking pictures right outside. We then headed over to one of my favorite attractions, the Carousel of Progress. I was very disappointed last year because the attraction had been closed, so I wanted to make sure we got on it this year. We started laughing when we got to the 1940s scene because the kitchen cabinets our just like the ones in our house.
After the always enjoyable Carousel of Progress, we did the Tomorrowland Transit Authority until our Buzz return time. We waited about 5 minutes for this, so as you can see, the park was pretty crowded, but not completely unmanageable. After the TTA, we grabbed a fast pass for Space Mountain before heading to Buzz Lightyear. We are both pretty terrible at this ride, but somehow I managed to hit some target and I ended up beating Buzz 74,600 to 60,500. Those scores are pretty low, but I was just happy to beat Buzz. Dont worry though; he got his revenge later in the week!
We had seen the Pirates of the Caribbean movie the prior weekend, and we both really enjoyed it, so Buzz wanted to ride the attraction. So, we headed over to Adventureland and rode with no wait. I was surprised that there wasnt more interest in this ride and pirate stuff in general due to the release of the movie. I had tried a Dole Whip several years ago and didnt care for it, but after all the praise for them here on the DIS, I decided to try it again. I got the pineapple float ($3) and enjoyed it much more this year. I wouldnt say it is my favorite snack in WDW, but it was very good.
On our way out of Adventureland, I got my picture taken with Jafar and Timon and Rafiki. The Genie was also out, but his line was pretty long. We still had some time until our Space Mountain fast pass, so we walked through some of the shops on Main Street. We watched the penny crank movies of golf and boxing in the sports shop. Buzz also noticed an old fashioned baseball game there so we played that for 10 cents each. I love those little extra touches that Disney throws in. Most people probably walk right by them, but they are really neat and worth a few seconds to try out.
Anyway, we headed over to Space Mountain to use our fast pass and ended up waiting about 20 minutes in the fast pass line. Unfortunately, this was a trend that would continue when using fast passes for this trip. It was a little after 3 pm by this point, so we decided to beat the parade crowds to the bus stop. Main Street was very congested with the parade coming through, but we made it to the bus stop before it got real crowded. We ended up waiting about 15 minutes for a bus back to POR.
When we returned to the resort, I called the front desk and got our room number (#1838) and we headed to our room. Building 18 was at a good location, almost as good as Building 15 (where we stayed last year). We were right at the quiet pool and just a short walk from the food court and main bus stop. Even though the CM assured us our room was non-smoking, it wasnt posted anywhere and the room slightly smelled like smoke. There were also ashtrays along the walkways outside the room. The smell wasnt strong, so we decided to tough it out. I believe that our room used to be smoking, and some of the smell still lingered. The room was in decent shape and clean. I did notice that some areas were a bit shabby, but hopefully the refurb will fix that up in the next year.
Luggage services brought our luggage up about 15 minutes after we called, and we unpacked quickly. While we were unpacking, a thunderstorm rolled through around 4:45, but only last about 30 minutes. We left our room around 6:00 to head to our dinner reservation at Ohanas. We waited about 5 minutes for a bus to the Magic Kingdom, and then transferred to the monorail to the Polynesian. We checked in for our PS at 6:55 pm for our 7:00 pm PS and we were seated right at 7:00 pm.
Some of the items on the family style feast were rice, salad, banana bread, wings, shrimp wontons, pork, shrimp, chicken, and beef skewers, and pineapples and caramel dipping sauce. The meal was nice, but I wouldnt need to do this every trip. Total cost for the two of us was $60 with tip.
We were stuffed, but on a mission to play miniature golf. We had been meaning to play on the last two trips, but we never made it. So, we waddled to the Transportation and Ticket Center and hopped on the Epcot monorail. The plan was to walk through Epcot to the International Gateway, but from the monorail, it looked like people were going into Mission Space, so of course we headed over.
We got there at 8:50 pm and there was no line whatsoever. We walked right into the preshow movie, which basically explains the premise of the attraction. We were placed into our pods, but I cant remember which jobs we were assigned. The motion of the ride, though unusual, did not really bother either of us. We both kept our heads back and looked straight ahead though. The take off was awesome seemed very realistic, but I thought the rest of the ride was only ok. I guess with all the hype surrounding this ride, I was expecting a lot more. I still enjoyed the ride, but I think it is being hyped a little too much.
Anyway, the shop and interactive exhibits at the end were closing when we got off the ride, so we walked around the edge of the World Showcase while Illuminations was playing and headed out the International Gateway. We walked along the Boardwalk to the Swan, and then found the path to Fantasia Gardens. The course was busy, but not packed, so we chose the Gardens course, which is the one with the Fantasia characters. We used our AP discount, so for the two of us, our total cost was $10.40. We ended up getting behind two large parties with lots of little kids. They did not offer to let us play through, and it was getting late, so we ended up skipping two holes to get by them.
I thought the course was nice and well done, but it was a little easy for two adults. Also, it seemed like it could use some repair. The turf was very ratty and pulling away from the walls or had holes in it in some places. We both took par on the holes we skipped, and Buzz ended up beating me by one stroke, ugh! The Fairways Course looked really neat, so we vowed to come back later in the week to try that one.
We tried to find the Swan bus stop to catch a bus to Downtown Disney, but we couldnt find it so we walked down to the Boardwalk Inn. We waited about 5 minutes for a bus to Downtown Disney, and then waited about 10 minutes for a bus to Port Orleans. While we were waiting for the POR bus, the whole stop watched a teenager make a fool out herself trying to walk to a bench because she was so drunk. She kept falling over and her boyfriend had to keep picking her back up. They couldnt have been older than 15 or 16, which makes me wonder how she got that much alcohol.
Anyway, we got back to the resort, showered and were in bed by 12:20 am. It was a very exhausting and busy day, but we had lots of fun. I promise that we slowed down the rest of the week. Stay tuned for Day 2 of Buzz and Woodys Summer Escape.
Best and Worst of the Day:
Best
Woody- Getting the opportunity to ride Mission Space
Buzz- Arriving and knowing that we were on vacation
Worst
Woody- The difficulty trying to get back to POR from Fantasia Gardens
Buzz- Having to wait at miniature golf
