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
Saturday July 26th:
I can barely believe it, but today is the last day of our vacation. I always hate packing up and leaving, but at least I know I will be back in just a few short months for our December vacation. I wanted to get an early start today so that we could make it to the Magic Kingdom by opening. The Mouse called at 7:15 a.m. and we rolled out of our comfy POR bed for the last time.
We got ready, and then set about the tedious chore of packing. I dont know how we manage to have plenty of room coming down, but no room when we go home. We didnt even buy that many souvenirs! We managed to squeeze everything in to our luggage and lugged our bags down to bell services. Since we wanted to get in the parks, we decided to take our own bags down instead of waiting for them to come get them. We returned to the room and made one final check before we headed out to the bus stop.
It was 8:40 a.m. by the time we made it to the bus stop. While we waited for a Magic Kingdom bus, three busses pulled up for MGM. The last one pulled away empty. The one family next to us was complaining loudly. They had gotten to the stop right when we had, and they couldnt understand why they had to wait so long. I thought that for as busy as WDW during our trip, the bus service had been very good. We didnt have long waits at all, and we rarely had to stand. Anyway, a MK bus pulled up after we had been there approximately 5 minutes. It had already been to the other POR stops, so it was pretty full. However, we noticed another MK bus had pulled up right behind it, and it was empty, so we got on that one instead. We werent packed in like sardines and it went straight to the park without stopping at the other stops. The lady who had been complaining got stuck standing on the first bus.
Anyway, we made it to the MK right at 9 a.m. I know that I am ridiculous, but the first and last park I have to visit on our vacations is the MK. I dont know what it is, but I need to see it one last time. Since we got there early, we headed straight to Fantasyland, which was quite empty. I finally got to ride Peter Pan, as well as Winnie the Pooh and Snow White. All of these rides were walk-ons. Suprisingly, the Magic Kingdom was not very crowded this morning.
I wanted to catch the 9:40 a.m. Cinderellas Surprise Celebration, so we headed up the Castle at 9:30. We ended up getting an excellent spot to view the show. If you are looking at the castle, there is a little pavilion to the right that has a few benches and some waterfountains. We sat on a bench in the shade and waited for the show to start. We had a great view because between us and the castle was a walkway that lead up to the castle. The walkway was closed and a CM was standing there blocking the entrance, so no one could stand in front of us. I really enjoyed the show, I think it is so much better than the afternoon parade.
After Cinderellas Surprise Celebration, we headed over to Frontierland to ride Splash Mountain. We have only ever ridden this during E-ride nights, so I wanted to give it a shot during the day. Splash had a short stand-by line, so we grabbed fast passes for Big Thunder Mountain before we rode Splash Mountain. Splash was a walk-on, which I was totally not expecting for a Saturday morning in July. I was a bit surprised when I saw that the loading area to this ride is outside. I had always thought it was inside a building when we rode at night.
Splash Mountain was fun as usual, and we both stayed pretty dry. We had some time to kill before our fast pass, so we headed over to the Tiki Birds and walked right in on the preshow. After the Tiki Birds, we saw Hook and Smee, so I got my picture taken with them. We then headed back to BTMRR and rode using our fast passes with no wait. We got towards the front of the train, which is my least favorite place to ride, but it was still fun. We then hopped on the WDW Railroad and rode from Frontierland to the Main Street Station.
We left the MK then to head over to Fort Wilderness for lunch. A boat was just getting ready to pull away, but the CM was nice and waited for us. I commented to Buzz about how many people were just arriving at the MK, and it was already 11:30. We had managed to do a ton of things in the short amount of time we had been there that morning. People were just pouring in from the Ferries and monorails. Buzz sometimes grumbles about getting to the parks so early in the morning, but today proved to him why it is important to do so.
We arrived at Fort Wilderness at 11:40 a.m., but the Trails End Buffet didnt open until noon, so we looked around the shop, then sat on some rockers and waited. This is one of the best deals on Disney property. The food is excellent and the price is decent. We both enjoyed our meals and left stuffed. I LOVE the cornbread they serve here. I at about 6 pieces! The total came to $21 with two sodas. We waddled back to the dock to return to the MK. We ended up having to wait only 2 minutes for a boat back.
It was amazing to see how many people were still arriving at the park. It was much more crowded than when we had left just a little while ago. Buzz was pretty tuckered out by now after a long week, so we headed over to the Hall of Presidents and waited less than 5 minutes for the next show. After the show, we headed over to the Frontierland Shooting arcade and shot a couple of rounds before heading over to the sports shop on Main Street to play the old fashioned baseball game Buzz had found earlier in the week.
We then headed over to Tomorrowland to see if the stand-by lines were reasonable, but it started to storm. We hopped on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority to wait out the storm, but it was still raining when we got off, so we headed over to the Carousel of Progress. This is one of my favorite attractions, so I didnt mind seeing it for the second time during this trip. The rain still hadnt let up, so we decided to put on our ponchos and head back to the resort. On the way out, we heard the announcement that the Share a Dream Come True parade had been cancelled due to the weather.
I said good bye to the castle on the way out because our vacation was unfortunately about to end. The bus stop was surprisingly empty considering the rain, but we ended up waiting about 15 minute for a bus. By the time we got back to POR (4 p.m.), it had stopped raining. We retrieved our luggage from luggage services and waited for our town car pick up. She arrived promptly at 4:30 p.m., loaded our bags, and we were off.
It is always depressing to leave Disney property, but I kept telling myself that we would be back in December. That helped a little, but I was still sad. We arrived at the airport in no time, and breezed through ticketing and security. When we got to our gate, we found out that our flight had been delayed 30 minutes because the plan had gotten stuck in Charlotte due to the weather. The plane ended up taking up at about 7:10 p.m., which was 40 minutes past the original departure time of 6:30 p.m., but we made up some time in the air.
We landed in Philadelphia around 9:40, claimed our bags, and waited for the shuttle to take us back to the Holiday Inn. The car was just where we had left it, and we were loaded up and headed home in no time. We pulled into our driveway at 11:45 p.m. and reality sank in that we were home. I was glad to see our puppy, Murphy, but I wasnt ready for our July escape to be over. It had been hot and crowded, but it had been just what Buzz and I needed. It was a break from the daily grind of life, a chance to get away and be together, a chance to have fun and act like a kid again. We didnt see everything, but we didnt have to because we were going back in a few months. All in all, our Summer Escape turned out to be a wonderful vacation!
Best and Worst of the Day:
Best
Woody- Getting so much accomplished at the Magic Kingdom in the morning
Buzz- Lunch at Trails End Buffet
Worst
Woody- having to leave
Buzz- vacation ending
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
Saturday July 26th:
I can barely believe it, but today is the last day of our vacation. I always hate packing up and leaving, but at least I know I will be back in just a few short months for our December vacation. I wanted to get an early start today so that we could make it to the Magic Kingdom by opening. The Mouse called at 7:15 a.m. and we rolled out of our comfy POR bed for the last time.
We got ready, and then set about the tedious chore of packing. I dont know how we manage to have plenty of room coming down, but no room when we go home. We didnt even buy that many souvenirs! We managed to squeeze everything in to our luggage and lugged our bags down to bell services. Since we wanted to get in the parks, we decided to take our own bags down instead of waiting for them to come get them. We returned to the room and made one final check before we headed out to the bus stop.
It was 8:40 a.m. by the time we made it to the bus stop. While we waited for a Magic Kingdom bus, three busses pulled up for MGM. The last one pulled away empty. The one family next to us was complaining loudly. They had gotten to the stop right when we had, and they couldnt understand why they had to wait so long. I thought that for as busy as WDW during our trip, the bus service had been very good. We didnt have long waits at all, and we rarely had to stand. Anyway, a MK bus pulled up after we had been there approximately 5 minutes. It had already been to the other POR stops, so it was pretty full. However, we noticed another MK bus had pulled up right behind it, and it was empty, so we got on that one instead. We werent packed in like sardines and it went straight to the park without stopping at the other stops. The lady who had been complaining got stuck standing on the first bus.
Anyway, we made it to the MK right at 9 a.m. I know that I am ridiculous, but the first and last park I have to visit on our vacations is the MK. I dont know what it is, but I need to see it one last time. Since we got there early, we headed straight to Fantasyland, which was quite empty. I finally got to ride Peter Pan, as well as Winnie the Pooh and Snow White. All of these rides were walk-ons. Suprisingly, the Magic Kingdom was not very crowded this morning.
I wanted to catch the 9:40 a.m. Cinderellas Surprise Celebration, so we headed up the Castle at 9:30. We ended up getting an excellent spot to view the show. If you are looking at the castle, there is a little pavilion to the right that has a few benches and some waterfountains. We sat on a bench in the shade and waited for the show to start. We had a great view because between us and the castle was a walkway that lead up to the castle. The walkway was closed and a CM was standing there blocking the entrance, so no one could stand in front of us. I really enjoyed the show, I think it is so much better than the afternoon parade.
After Cinderellas Surprise Celebration, we headed over to Frontierland to ride Splash Mountain. We have only ever ridden this during E-ride nights, so I wanted to give it a shot during the day. Splash had a short stand-by line, so we grabbed fast passes for Big Thunder Mountain before we rode Splash Mountain. Splash was a walk-on, which I was totally not expecting for a Saturday morning in July. I was a bit surprised when I saw that the loading area to this ride is outside. I had always thought it was inside a building when we rode at night.
Splash Mountain was fun as usual, and we both stayed pretty dry. We had some time to kill before our fast pass, so we headed over to the Tiki Birds and walked right in on the preshow. After the Tiki Birds, we saw Hook and Smee, so I got my picture taken with them. We then headed back to BTMRR and rode using our fast passes with no wait. We got towards the front of the train, which is my least favorite place to ride, but it was still fun. We then hopped on the WDW Railroad and rode from Frontierland to the Main Street Station.
We left the MK then to head over to Fort Wilderness for lunch. A boat was just getting ready to pull away, but the CM was nice and waited for us. I commented to Buzz about how many people were just arriving at the MK, and it was already 11:30. We had managed to do a ton of things in the short amount of time we had been there that morning. People were just pouring in from the Ferries and monorails. Buzz sometimes grumbles about getting to the parks so early in the morning, but today proved to him why it is important to do so.
We arrived at Fort Wilderness at 11:40 a.m., but the Trails End Buffet didnt open until noon, so we looked around the shop, then sat on some rockers and waited. This is one of the best deals on Disney property. The food is excellent and the price is decent. We both enjoyed our meals and left stuffed. I LOVE the cornbread they serve here. I at about 6 pieces! The total came to $21 with two sodas. We waddled back to the dock to return to the MK. We ended up having to wait only 2 minutes for a boat back.
It was amazing to see how many people were still arriving at the park. It was much more crowded than when we had left just a little while ago. Buzz was pretty tuckered out by now after a long week, so we headed over to the Hall of Presidents and waited less than 5 minutes for the next show. After the show, we headed over to the Frontierland Shooting arcade and shot a couple of rounds before heading over to the sports shop on Main Street to play the old fashioned baseball game Buzz had found earlier in the week.
We then headed over to Tomorrowland to see if the stand-by lines were reasonable, but it started to storm. We hopped on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority to wait out the storm, but it was still raining when we got off, so we headed over to the Carousel of Progress. This is one of my favorite attractions, so I didnt mind seeing it for the second time during this trip. The rain still hadnt let up, so we decided to put on our ponchos and head back to the resort. On the way out, we heard the announcement that the Share a Dream Come True parade had been cancelled due to the weather.
I said good bye to the castle on the way out because our vacation was unfortunately about to end. The bus stop was surprisingly empty considering the rain, but we ended up waiting about 15 minute for a bus. By the time we got back to POR (4 p.m.), it had stopped raining. We retrieved our luggage from luggage services and waited for our town car pick up. She arrived promptly at 4:30 p.m., loaded our bags, and we were off.
It is always depressing to leave Disney property, but I kept telling myself that we would be back in December. That helped a little, but I was still sad. We arrived at the airport in no time, and breezed through ticketing and security. When we got to our gate, we found out that our flight had been delayed 30 minutes because the plan had gotten stuck in Charlotte due to the weather. The plane ended up taking up at about 7:10 p.m., which was 40 minutes past the original departure time of 6:30 p.m., but we made up some time in the air.
We landed in Philadelphia around 9:40, claimed our bags, and waited for the shuttle to take us back to the Holiday Inn. The car was just where we had left it, and we were loaded up and headed home in no time. We pulled into our driveway at 11:45 p.m. and reality sank in that we were home. I was glad to see our puppy, Murphy, but I wasnt ready for our July escape to be over. It had been hot and crowded, but it had been just what Buzz and I needed. It was a break from the daily grind of life, a chance to get away and be together, a chance to have fun and act like a kid again. We didnt see everything, but we didnt have to because we were going back in a few months. All in all, our Summer Escape turned out to be a wonderful vacation!
Best and Worst of the Day:
Best
Woody- Getting so much accomplished at the Magic Kingdom in the morning
Buzz- Lunch at Trails End Buffet
Worst
Woody- having to leave
Buzz- vacation ending
