jsmla
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2001
- Messages
- 4,498
Who: Me, 45, on my first solo Disney trips
Where: Mostly the Magic Kingdom
When: Friday January 27, 2006
Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.
G. K. Chesterton
I'm awake very early this morning, 5:45. Why can't I manage 5:45 at home? It's all good though because today I want to be up early to check into Pop Century before I hit the parks. I bought a little bottle of chocolate milk on yesterday's gourmet shopping trip so this morning I have a breakfast of coffee, chocolate milk and a handful of Cool Ranch Doritos. (Did I mention that I'm 45 years old? Just didn't want anyone to think a 4 year old had been allowed to drive to Disney all alone
.) I promise myself to eat properly once I'm settled. Grilled chicken and veggies, promise.
It promises to be another beautiful day. I'm surprised that you can see so many stars out. I love driving around WDW in the early morning. Disney World is just about as different from home as it gets at 6:15 in the morning. 6:15 am at home means bumper-to-bumper traffic and a whole bunch of very cranky people. WDW is all wide, beautifully landscaped, empty roads and people who, if not exactly delirious with joy, (Give 'em a break, it's still dark out.) do not find it necessary to comment on my driving skills with surly hand gestures.
At 6:30 am Pop Century is a ghost town. Liz and I stayed here for a few nights last summer and it was always very busy then. When I say ghost town I mean it. It's so empty that it echoes. The only people in the reception area are me and a guy polishing the floors. Big, wide sweeps with a buffer the size of a tractor tire. There's no one at the check-in desk. After a few minutes a young lady pops out from the nether regions. She seems slightly surprised to find me there. I know how she feels. Guess they don't get too many pre-dawn check-ins. In true Disney style she quickly recovers from the shock of coming face to face with my "6:30 am look" (no make-up, hair shoved into a ponytail and covered with a feed store cap) and finds a very nice room for me, 5259 in the 60's building. It's extremely close to the main building and, best of all, it's ready now. This is really great, especially since Pop is fully booked for the week-end. The reservations are for DH and myself and I just leave it that way. Before this trip I'd never stayed in a hotel alone and I'm just a little wary of being in the system as a single female. After I get my key(s) I head over to Everything Pop for some badly needed coffee. I decided to buy a mug here since I won't have a fridge. DHScott and DDLiz both like to take coffee with them in the mornings and Disney mugs are perfect for this. DD is a little young to be so hooked but she got a head start. DH's entire family is addicted to coffee. They must be within reach of a pot at all times. MawMaw (DH's mom) was giving my kids coffee milk before they were two. I like a cup when I get up but between them DH and DD empty a 12 cup pot every morning. My niece (DB's kid) is three and has never had anything but water (bottled) or milk (organic) to drink. Mine were weaned on coffee, sugar and non-fat dairy creamer (generic).
Where was I? Oh yeah, the room. Room 5259 is on the second floor, very close to the blue yo-yo stairwell. It's small but very clean and fine for just me. DH would HATE it though. Pop Century is everything he dislikes about Disney combined. Crowded (usually), plasticky and decorated in a color scheme that SHOUTS (at least on the outside). DH is a funny one. He's perfectly happy sleeping on the ground in the freezing cold with only 1/10000 of an inch of tent between us and death by bear. He has no problem sleeping in church or during a performance of Les Miserables, but he cannot sleep in a cheap hotel. We once paid almost $150 to spend the night in a lodge atop the Smokies. For $150 dollars we got bunk beds and a kerosene lantern. No running water, shared toilets and you have to hike 6 miles up a mountain to get there. He thought this was wonderful. We sat around in the communal room (the only one with heat) with all the other crazies and swapped wilderness stories. I should say Scott swapped wilderness stories. I was in no mood to talk, besides I don't think I have any wilderness stories that the outdoorsy people would want to hear. For Scott this was $150 well spent. At WDW POFQ is about as low-rent as he's willing to go. The way I look at it Pop Century has central heat, flush toilets and hot water for your shower. And you can drive there. Compared to LeConte Lodge it's the bargain of the century.
I spend a little while puttering around in the room, putting stuff away and drinking my coffee. At 8:00 I refill my mug and head out for the Magic Kingdom. Another I-hate-being-alone moment. I really don't like riding the buses by myself. I feel uncomfortable and self-conscious. Goodness knows I wish I didn't but I can't help it. Thankfully it's a fairly quick trip. Everyone had a seat too. I'm a little surprised at this since last summer Liz and I almost always had to stand, especially at park opening and closing.
The crowds milling around waiting for the opening aren't at all bad. We're let onto Main St. right at 9:00. It's a crisp morning with more of yesterday's blue, blue sky. This is the first time that I've ever dawdled down Main St. first thing in the morning. We're usually too busy goosestepping for Tomorrowland to look around. Today I take my own sweet time. Stop to smell the cinnamon rolls. Did you know that the medallion on the castle changes? I didn't. It shows all of the castles in California, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Paris and WDW. Fancy. I cross the bridge into Tomorrowland. Don't think I've ever done this before either. The Plaza Pavilion entrance to Tomorrowland is 10 feet closer to Space Mt. than the bridge and my family absolutely must do everything in its power to be the first ones on Space Mt. I decide to get a FastPass and ride the TTA instead. I love the TTA but it's low on the priority list for everyone else in my family. The windows into the Buzz Lightyear ride are covered up. I'm disappointed that Buzz won't be open for my visit. I usually hate Buzz Lightyear but I think I would have enjoyed it this trip without all the excess baggage my family carries on board this ride. When we ride Buzz someone in our group inevitably ends up real mad. Scott and Liz are fiercely competitive by nature. DS Sam and I are not. As luck would have it Sam is, as far as I know, the undisputed Buzz Lightyear Champion of the World. He should be. He spends about 12 hours a day playing video games. He'd spend more but the unreasonable professors at LSU actually expect him to show up for class. Sam usually maxes out on points in the second room. This drives DH and DD crazy, especially when Sam gloats. (Sam's not the sharpest crayon in the box. Never, never gloat over DH and DD. You'll regret it.) Anyway, Buzz Lightyear is not on my happy ride list.
Into Fantasyland. This is much more my style. The crowds are still very low. I really wish DH were with me now. He can't stand crowds. Absolutely can't stand them. Combine this with the fact that the kids prefer the more obvious thrills to be found in Tomorrowland and Frontierland and you get very little Fantasyland time for Jennifer. No wait for Peter Pan so I hop on. Peter Pan is one of my favorite rides in all WDW. It's just a simple dark ride but I love it. My favorite scene is the flying over London part. Liz used to like to ride with me but last year her dance studio put on a Peter Pan ballet. The surest way to kill the fun in anything is to make a ballet out of it. Liz desperately wanted to be Tinkerbell. She usually gets a good part and, since Peter Pan was not an option, she expected to get Tinkerbell. Well, guess what. She got Wendy. Never mind that Wendy was the female lead with a variation and a pas de deux. Wendy's no Tinkerbell and everyone knows it. Peter Pan is now taboo at our house. If you think this is childish behavior for a 17 year old you're right. You also don't know anything about the dance world.
After Peter Pan I duck into the next showing of Mickey's Philharmagic. Is there anyone who doesn't like this show? I love everything about it. The music, the 3-D, the flow of the storyline. My favorite Disney movies are (in order) Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King and the Little Mermaid. It's like WDW made a movie just for me. Even Scott likes this one. Thank you Disney.
Back to Tomorrowland and Space Mountain. Not my favorite but, come on, how can you come to Disney World and not ride Space Mountain? It's 10:00 and there's still only a 15 minute wait. With my FastPass I walk straight on.
Time for Cinderellabration. I'm really looking forward to this. My family absolutely refuses to watch shows or parades. For them shows and parades mean prime thrill ride time. I like the shows more than most of the rides and today I get to turn up early, get a nice spot and watch the whole thing beginning to end. Wonderful! The only problem is that I'm a crier. I cry when I'm happy, sad, angry or frustrated. When I'm feeling sentimental I can cry buckets. I'd already had a good weep in Philharmagic and now here I am feeling like an idiot standing in a crowd watching a cheesy Disney stage show with tears running down my face. I should get me some sunglasses.
Cinderellabration ends, I mop up my face and head for the Hall of Presidents, another no-go for my family. Sam and Scott don't mind it too much. It's nice for a nap. Liz doesn't think much of it at all. American History is just one of the many things that needs to be left in school where it belongs. Education has no place on vacation. I like the Hall of Presidents, but then again, I like Barry Manilow.
11:30 am. I really need to eat. I haven't had a proper meal since Wednesday and now I'm going to have to take my allergy medication. I wasn't expecting to need it in January but I forgot that Disney blooms 365 days year. I have horrible allergies that can lead to an asthma attack if I don't watch it. Asthma attacks are scary looking and I left my inhaler in the room. I really don't want to attract an audience in Liberty Square with a full blown solo medical emergency. Off to lunch.
Outside of the World Showcase at Epcot we rarely eat counter service at Disney World. We either eat in our room or have table service. So, after nearly 30 trips I'm going to try Columbia Harbor House for the first time. It was early still and the restaurant was only half-full. CHH has a cozy feel with lots dark wood and a colonial/nautical theme to it. I had the combo with the ½ sandwich and cup of soup. I had the ham sandwich with the veggie chili. The chili needed a little spicing up but all in all it was fine. The only problem I had with it was that my meal was $7.13 without a beverage. To me that's a lot for half a sandwich and a few spoonsful of chili. Still, it was filling and the chili was served piping hot, nice on a coolish morning. I appreciated having the choice of something other than fried chicken strips, fried burgers and french fries. I didn't much like having lunch alone but I got out my Passporter and made a few notes in it while I ate. That helped to damp down the whole I'm all alone and everyone thinks I'm a big weirdo feeling I get in public places.
Fed and medicated, I'm ready for a little Haunted Mansion, another one of my favorites. Here I find my first line of the day, about 10 minutes and I miss Scott and Sam something terrible. They're great guys to stand in the HM line with. Scott and Sam pass the time making up little epitaphs ala the Haunted Mansion graveyard, only about people we know. Here's a gem of Sam's:
Here lies Aunt Peg
In Sweet Repose
She died as she lived
Picking her nose.
Well, at any rate it beats shuffling along alone, eyes downcast, avoiding all eye contact. (I really need to buy sunglasses.) And you're Ogden Nash I suppose.
The Benadryl is taking effect and I'm feeling a wee bit drowsy. It's really such a gorgeous day and the MK is delightfully uncrowded. I just hate to waste any time at all in a hotel room on a day like this. Over to Pirates of the Carribean. I definitely want to ride this one before it is redone. I'm getting to that age where I don't much care for change and Pirates has always been one of my favorite rides. Almost no line here and I get sat next to a young woman with the cutest little girl. She laughs and claps the whole way through the ride. She sings too, except she she doesn't know the words so we drift through Pirates to the refrain of Yo, yo, yo, yo. Pie nuts for me. Maybe it was the Benadryl kicking in but I thought this was hysterical.
Everything is a bit fuzzy from here on. I'm goofy from the Benadryl and decide I'd better head back to Pop. I don't remember all that much except that the Pop bus stop is a looooong way from the gates. It takes me ages to get there and ages for a bus to pull up. On the bright side only 4 of us made the journey back to the resort and everyone got a seat. I got three and lay down for a little nap. (I have a low tolerance for alcohol and antihistamines, okay.) I don't make a rule of sleeping on buses or anywhere in public really. Heaven knows what the other family thought. I hope they didn't notice the drool. I somehow get off the bus, find my room and fall into bed for a nice Benadryl sleep.
Good things:
Another BEAUTIFUL day
Very few crowds at the Magic Kingdom
Seeing Cinderellabration
Riding Peter Pan
Surviving my first solo lunch
Not so great things:
Riding the bus alone
Missing DH and DS at the Haunted Mansion
Allergies
Where: Mostly the Magic Kingdom
When: Friday January 27, 2006
Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.
G. K. Chesterton
I'm awake very early this morning, 5:45. Why can't I manage 5:45 at home? It's all good though because today I want to be up early to check into Pop Century before I hit the parks. I bought a little bottle of chocolate milk on yesterday's gourmet shopping trip so this morning I have a breakfast of coffee, chocolate milk and a handful of Cool Ranch Doritos. (Did I mention that I'm 45 years old? Just didn't want anyone to think a 4 year old had been allowed to drive to Disney all alone
.) I promise myself to eat properly once I'm settled. Grilled chicken and veggies, promise.It promises to be another beautiful day. I'm surprised that you can see so many stars out. I love driving around WDW in the early morning. Disney World is just about as different from home as it gets at 6:15 in the morning. 6:15 am at home means bumper-to-bumper traffic and a whole bunch of very cranky people. WDW is all wide, beautifully landscaped, empty roads and people who, if not exactly delirious with joy, (Give 'em a break, it's still dark out.) do not find it necessary to comment on my driving skills with surly hand gestures.
At 6:30 am Pop Century is a ghost town. Liz and I stayed here for a few nights last summer and it was always very busy then. When I say ghost town I mean it. It's so empty that it echoes. The only people in the reception area are me and a guy polishing the floors. Big, wide sweeps with a buffer the size of a tractor tire. There's no one at the check-in desk. After a few minutes a young lady pops out from the nether regions. She seems slightly surprised to find me there. I know how she feels. Guess they don't get too many pre-dawn check-ins. In true Disney style she quickly recovers from the shock of coming face to face with my "6:30 am look" (no make-up, hair shoved into a ponytail and covered with a feed store cap) and finds a very nice room for me, 5259 in the 60's building. It's extremely close to the main building and, best of all, it's ready now. This is really great, especially since Pop is fully booked for the week-end. The reservations are for DH and myself and I just leave it that way. Before this trip I'd never stayed in a hotel alone and I'm just a little wary of being in the system as a single female. After I get my key(s) I head over to Everything Pop for some badly needed coffee. I decided to buy a mug here since I won't have a fridge. DHScott and DDLiz both like to take coffee with them in the mornings and Disney mugs are perfect for this. DD is a little young to be so hooked but she got a head start. DH's entire family is addicted to coffee. They must be within reach of a pot at all times. MawMaw (DH's mom) was giving my kids coffee milk before they were two. I like a cup when I get up but between them DH and DD empty a 12 cup pot every morning. My niece (DB's kid) is three and has never had anything but water (bottled) or milk (organic) to drink. Mine were weaned on coffee, sugar and non-fat dairy creamer (generic).
Where was I? Oh yeah, the room. Room 5259 is on the second floor, very close to the blue yo-yo stairwell. It's small but very clean and fine for just me. DH would HATE it though. Pop Century is everything he dislikes about Disney combined. Crowded (usually), plasticky and decorated in a color scheme that SHOUTS (at least on the outside). DH is a funny one. He's perfectly happy sleeping on the ground in the freezing cold with only 1/10000 of an inch of tent between us and death by bear. He has no problem sleeping in church or during a performance of Les Miserables, but he cannot sleep in a cheap hotel. We once paid almost $150 to spend the night in a lodge atop the Smokies. For $150 dollars we got bunk beds and a kerosene lantern. No running water, shared toilets and you have to hike 6 miles up a mountain to get there. He thought this was wonderful. We sat around in the communal room (the only one with heat) with all the other crazies and swapped wilderness stories. I should say Scott swapped wilderness stories. I was in no mood to talk, besides I don't think I have any wilderness stories that the outdoorsy people would want to hear. For Scott this was $150 well spent. At WDW POFQ is about as low-rent as he's willing to go. The way I look at it Pop Century has central heat, flush toilets and hot water for your shower. And you can drive there. Compared to LeConte Lodge it's the bargain of the century.
I spend a little while puttering around in the room, putting stuff away and drinking my coffee. At 8:00 I refill my mug and head out for the Magic Kingdom. Another I-hate-being-alone moment. I really don't like riding the buses by myself. I feel uncomfortable and self-conscious. Goodness knows I wish I didn't but I can't help it. Thankfully it's a fairly quick trip. Everyone had a seat too. I'm a little surprised at this since last summer Liz and I almost always had to stand, especially at park opening and closing.
The crowds milling around waiting for the opening aren't at all bad. We're let onto Main St. right at 9:00. It's a crisp morning with more of yesterday's blue, blue sky. This is the first time that I've ever dawdled down Main St. first thing in the morning. We're usually too busy goosestepping for Tomorrowland to look around. Today I take my own sweet time. Stop to smell the cinnamon rolls. Did you know that the medallion on the castle changes? I didn't. It shows all of the castles in California, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Paris and WDW. Fancy. I cross the bridge into Tomorrowland. Don't think I've ever done this before either. The Plaza Pavilion entrance to Tomorrowland is 10 feet closer to Space Mt. than the bridge and my family absolutely must do everything in its power to be the first ones on Space Mt. I decide to get a FastPass and ride the TTA instead. I love the TTA but it's low on the priority list for everyone else in my family. The windows into the Buzz Lightyear ride are covered up. I'm disappointed that Buzz won't be open for my visit. I usually hate Buzz Lightyear but I think I would have enjoyed it this trip without all the excess baggage my family carries on board this ride. When we ride Buzz someone in our group inevitably ends up real mad. Scott and Liz are fiercely competitive by nature. DS Sam and I are not. As luck would have it Sam is, as far as I know, the undisputed Buzz Lightyear Champion of the World. He should be. He spends about 12 hours a day playing video games. He'd spend more but the unreasonable professors at LSU actually expect him to show up for class. Sam usually maxes out on points in the second room. This drives DH and DD crazy, especially when Sam gloats. (Sam's not the sharpest crayon in the box. Never, never gloat over DH and DD. You'll regret it.) Anyway, Buzz Lightyear is not on my happy ride list.
Into Fantasyland. This is much more my style. The crowds are still very low. I really wish DH were with me now. He can't stand crowds. Absolutely can't stand them. Combine this with the fact that the kids prefer the more obvious thrills to be found in Tomorrowland and Frontierland and you get very little Fantasyland time for Jennifer. No wait for Peter Pan so I hop on. Peter Pan is one of my favorite rides in all WDW. It's just a simple dark ride but I love it. My favorite scene is the flying over London part. Liz used to like to ride with me but last year her dance studio put on a Peter Pan ballet. The surest way to kill the fun in anything is to make a ballet out of it. Liz desperately wanted to be Tinkerbell. She usually gets a good part and, since Peter Pan was not an option, she expected to get Tinkerbell. Well, guess what. She got Wendy. Never mind that Wendy was the female lead with a variation and a pas de deux. Wendy's no Tinkerbell and everyone knows it. Peter Pan is now taboo at our house. If you think this is childish behavior for a 17 year old you're right. You also don't know anything about the dance world.
After Peter Pan I duck into the next showing of Mickey's Philharmagic. Is there anyone who doesn't like this show? I love everything about it. The music, the 3-D, the flow of the storyline. My favorite Disney movies are (in order) Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King and the Little Mermaid. It's like WDW made a movie just for me. Even Scott likes this one. Thank you Disney.
Back to Tomorrowland and Space Mountain. Not my favorite but, come on, how can you come to Disney World and not ride Space Mountain? It's 10:00 and there's still only a 15 minute wait. With my FastPass I walk straight on.
Time for Cinderellabration. I'm really looking forward to this. My family absolutely refuses to watch shows or parades. For them shows and parades mean prime thrill ride time. I like the shows more than most of the rides and today I get to turn up early, get a nice spot and watch the whole thing beginning to end. Wonderful! The only problem is that I'm a crier. I cry when I'm happy, sad, angry or frustrated. When I'm feeling sentimental I can cry buckets. I'd already had a good weep in Philharmagic and now here I am feeling like an idiot standing in a crowd watching a cheesy Disney stage show with tears running down my face. I should get me some sunglasses.
Cinderellabration ends, I mop up my face and head for the Hall of Presidents, another no-go for my family. Sam and Scott don't mind it too much. It's nice for a nap. Liz doesn't think much of it at all. American History is just one of the many things that needs to be left in school where it belongs. Education has no place on vacation. I like the Hall of Presidents, but then again, I like Barry Manilow.
11:30 am. I really need to eat. I haven't had a proper meal since Wednesday and now I'm going to have to take my allergy medication. I wasn't expecting to need it in January but I forgot that Disney blooms 365 days year. I have horrible allergies that can lead to an asthma attack if I don't watch it. Asthma attacks are scary looking and I left my inhaler in the room. I really don't want to attract an audience in Liberty Square with a full blown solo medical emergency. Off to lunch.
Outside of the World Showcase at Epcot we rarely eat counter service at Disney World. We either eat in our room or have table service. So, after nearly 30 trips I'm going to try Columbia Harbor House for the first time. It was early still and the restaurant was only half-full. CHH has a cozy feel with lots dark wood and a colonial/nautical theme to it. I had the combo with the ½ sandwich and cup of soup. I had the ham sandwich with the veggie chili. The chili needed a little spicing up but all in all it was fine. The only problem I had with it was that my meal was $7.13 without a beverage. To me that's a lot for half a sandwich and a few spoonsful of chili. Still, it was filling and the chili was served piping hot, nice on a coolish morning. I appreciated having the choice of something other than fried chicken strips, fried burgers and french fries. I didn't much like having lunch alone but I got out my Passporter and made a few notes in it while I ate. That helped to damp down the whole I'm all alone and everyone thinks I'm a big weirdo feeling I get in public places.
Fed and medicated, I'm ready for a little Haunted Mansion, another one of my favorites. Here I find my first line of the day, about 10 minutes and I miss Scott and Sam something terrible. They're great guys to stand in the HM line with. Scott and Sam pass the time making up little epitaphs ala the Haunted Mansion graveyard, only about people we know. Here's a gem of Sam's:
Here lies Aunt Peg
In Sweet Repose
She died as she lived
Picking her nose.
Well, at any rate it beats shuffling along alone, eyes downcast, avoiding all eye contact. (I really need to buy sunglasses.) And you're Ogden Nash I suppose.
The Benadryl is taking effect and I'm feeling a wee bit drowsy. It's really such a gorgeous day and the MK is delightfully uncrowded. I just hate to waste any time at all in a hotel room on a day like this. Over to Pirates of the Carribean. I definitely want to ride this one before it is redone. I'm getting to that age where I don't much care for change and Pirates has always been one of my favorite rides. Almost no line here and I get sat next to a young woman with the cutest little girl. She laughs and claps the whole way through the ride. She sings too, except she she doesn't know the words so we drift through Pirates to the refrain of Yo, yo, yo, yo. Pie nuts for me. Maybe it was the Benadryl kicking in but I thought this was hysterical.
Everything is a bit fuzzy from here on. I'm goofy from the Benadryl and decide I'd better head back to Pop. I don't remember all that much except that the Pop bus stop is a looooong way from the gates. It takes me ages to get there and ages for a bus to pull up. On the bright side only 4 of us made the journey back to the resort and everyone got a seat. I got three and lay down for a little nap. (I have a low tolerance for alcohol and antihistamines, okay.) I don't make a rule of sleeping on buses or anywhere in public really. Heaven knows what the other family thought. I hope they didn't notice the drool. I somehow get off the bus, find my room and fall into bed for a nice Benadryl sleep.
Good things:
Another BEAUTIFUL day
Very few crowds at the Magic Kingdom
Seeing Cinderellabration
Riding Peter Pan
Surviving my first solo lunch
Not so great things:
Riding the bus alone
Missing DH and DS at the Haunted Mansion
Allergies
