Caity's 1st Trip to the World! - Day 1

[Caitlin'sMommy]

The Cast-

Me, Mommy-25
DBF, Chad-21
DD, Caitlin-turning 3 2/27/05!

Background-
2/14-2/18 1st two nights at ASMo Dalmation Building, 2nd 2 nights at Contemporary Garden Wing North

Let me start this out by saying "you live and you learn". That was pretty much the motto for this trip. I haven't been there in over 10 years, Chad in over 15 years, and Caity has never been. Me being the precise planner had everything down to the second on what we were to be doing and when we were to be doing it; this lasted oh about 20 minutes before everything turned into "we'll get there when we get there" type touring. We left Harrisburg, PA via Delta airlines in a teeny tiny puddle jumper for our connection in Cincinnati. Now let me tell you for someone that hates flying, I thought I was going to die. I suppose I shall just have to move closer to the World so I won't have to anymore. We finally arrived in Orlando around 11:00 am or so.

We had booked a Lincoln Towncar Sedan for our transfer to ASMo (or so I thought!) since this was to be a small budget, 1st trip, see how Caity likes it type thing. Well here my lovely DBF upgraded it to the Cadillac Deville Limo in white for our transfer since it was Valentine's Day. Little did he know Happy Limo had a surprise for him also. They were out of Deville's and upgraded us to a Stretch Excursion Limo!! We couldn't believe it. So, the driver loads our bags and tells us how to use the TV's and what not and then hands me the roses Chad had requested for me. I was loving it. We settled in to watch Shrek 2 for our trip to the Movies.

We arrive around 11:30 and waited in line to Check in. While Chad was waiting I of course had to go find a Pal Mickey I was dieing to get. Found one in the hotel gift shop and bought it. This little mouse was so adorable. More on him in the next posts. We're up next and the guy tells us we owe 63 more dollars. Us being the neive (sp?) people we are pay it and say ok. We had booked with an AP discount and this was the 1st time for us, so we didn't really understand, but paid it anyhow. Then we were expecting to go to the parks until a room would be ready for us since check in is not until 3 pm or so. Well the guy that checks us in sees our address as Carlisle and knows about our Carlisle Car Shows, so he hooks us up with a room right away! We say great and go ahead and drop our bags off in the room and head to grab a bus for the Magic Kingdom.

(Stay tuned...have to head off to work)

 

[Luckymommyx2]

Sounds like you're off to a pretty good start. I love the Harrisburg airport...too bad SWA wouldn't fly there or else I'd use it all the time! They really need at least one or two non-stop flights to MCO from there.

Can't wait to hear how you liked AsMo and the Contemporary!

(PS...I used to go to the corvette show in Carlisle!)

 

[summersfam4]

Sounds like it's going well so far. I can't wait to hear more!

Kelly

 

[Caitlin'sMommy]

We get to the Magic Kingdom and there the train station is standing out among everything. I almost started crying I couldn't believe we were finally there. It was too good to be true. We headed thru the baggage searches and then up to the ticket window to trade my AP voucher for an actual pass. Headed for the entrance and then found out exactly how the finger scanning everyone was talking about actually worked. BTW- You do have to fingerscan for the MYW passes also. This finger scanning thing by the end of the vacation was just completely annoying me. Every single time I tried it it didn't work. Another thing I have to say about it is, if you have an AP or anything and you break your fingers or whatnot your finger isn't going to scan the same since it measures the bone structure in your fingers. Anyhow off the soap box I just really hated that thing.

So we get into the park and the first thing on my agenda is a haircut at the Main St Barbershop. I have waited forever to get my DD's 1st haircut just so we could get it done there. The lady was wonderful. She took lots of time with her and never once got upset with how much my DD moved around. She even french braided the two sides and it was soo cute. She then got her pixie dust and a certificate for her 1st haircut along with Mickey ears with First Haircut embroidered on the back and even gave me some of her hair for her scrapbook.

By now it was about time for the afternoon Share a Dream Come True Parade so we grabbed a spot outside the Barbershop where the parade would be ending and watched the parade. It was great, the characters in all the parades have a look about them that makes it seem as if they are looking only at you. Even Piglet came up and gave my DD a big hug.

After the parade was over we headed down Main St and still had about 2 hrs until our PS at the Crystal Palace for a character dinner with Pooh and Pals. So we walked through Adventureland and did the Tiki Room and Swiss Family Treehouse. I was surprised at how well my DD did with the dark and thundering in the Tiki Room and realized maybe she wouldn't be so bad to go to the 3-D shows.

We walked back towards the Crystal Palace and checked in a little early. We only waited about 5-10 min until we were seated. The food was alright nothing spectacular, but the characters really made the meal. Piglet and my DD were best of friends. Everytime the music would get loud, piglet would come find her and hold her hand as they went through the restaurant. We got tons of pictures with each of the characters and I was a little peeved I forgot to get the autograph book before we got there. But as we found out there would be plenty of opportunities to see Pooh, Eeyore, and Tigger. Piglet we never saw again.

After dinner we caught a bus back to the hotel and changed into jeans and sweatshirts. It was very nice high 70's all week with NO rain, but at night was very chilly. I was also surprised at how we never had longer than a 5 minute wait or so for a bus to ASMo or back to the parks from ASMo. I was worried with us being so far from the parks we would have a long wait but they were very prompt getting to the parks and back to the resort.

We headed back to MK for the Spectro parade and Wishes since it was the only day we would be there that they had a parade and the park was open later. Spectro was pretty good and it came out surpriseingly well on video. It just seemed like every parade was late starting by about 10 min. We then headed up to the bridge in Tomorrowland because I remembered being able to see Tinkerbell's flight from there when I was younger. We caught Tinkerbell and then Wishes started. We were very disappointed in the spot we picked for the fireworks. The bridge was great for Tinkerbell, but Wishes looked all wrong because we were on the side of the castle and not in front of it. We ended up leaving about 5 min into them and made it out of the park as they were ending and didn't have to wait in the crowds as everyone tried to leave. We caught a bus back to the hotel and DD fell asleep on the way there. We made it up to the room and almost didn't make it into bed before we passed out also. We had been awake since the day before since I work late night and we left as soon as I was done with work. However, in the parks with all the Disney magic I never realized how tired I was until I got on the bus.


Stay tuned for Day 2....Sorry it takes so long between finishing my DD is sick with severe ear infections that left blisters in her ears that may have been caused by the plane rides. She had a terrible time landing and was screaming and crying each time because they hurt so bad.



Luckymommy-my brother has a 77 Corvette and has always gone to the shows also, however since he joined the Air Force he has a tough time getting home to get there.

 

[Luckymommyx2]

Great trip report...can't wait to hear more.

A friend of mine that I always went with had one or two to take down every year but they were late 80's or early 90's. I never owned one and now with kids it seems a little further from reality! Does your brother still own his? Tell your brother that my family and I say "thank you" for everything he's doing protecting our country.