PrincessTToo
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 11, 2003
- Messages
- 159
PRESHOW Take a great rate on a flight to Orlando, add an annual pass, toss in Mission: Space, the Food and Wine Festival and MNSSHP and the result is another solo trip to WDW!
SHOW
My DH and DD (darling dog) dropped me off at 6:00 AM for the 7:00 AM Delta flight to Atlanta. This was my first time using a boarding pass that I printed online. And I had no problems getting through security with it. But the Delta employee checking me on to the flight looked at my boarding pass and said these are always interesting. I told her it would be worth any problems because I got 1000 Frequent Flier miles just for using it. Fortunately there were no problems with the boarding pass.
I had an hour stopover in Atlanta which is just the right amount of time for a leisurely trip through the airport. I stopped along the way to look at a very interesting Martin Luther King display. They displayed lots of photos and some of his personal items, including a book about Ghandi that MLK had underlined. I guess I am the type of person that can even have a good time in an airport!
It was an amazing difference between the flight from Minneapolis to Atlanta and the flight from Atlanta to Orlando. The flight to Atlanta was very quiet and full of sleeping adults. The flight to Orlando was full of children and had lots more energy. I think the flight attendants preferred the first flight but I liked the second flight more.
I got to Orlando at 12:45 PM. It took quite a while to get on the Mears van even though I had pre-booked it online. And even after we were in the van the driver waited to see if there were going to be any more passengers. Then he took us to the other terminal to finish filling up the van.
I finally got dropped off at the Best Western - Lake Buena Vista (BW-LBV) in DTD at 2:30 PM. I told the young man that I thought the newly redecorated lobby looked great. I think he appreciated my compliment because when I asked for a room up high he gave me a room on the 17th floor. There are only 18 floors in the BW-LBV so my room was indeed up high. The only problem was those wasp-looking bugs were out in full force on my balcony. I was only staying there one night so it wasnt a big deal for me.
I dropped off my bags in my room. I was going to put my camera in the safe but you need to run a credit card through the safe to activate it. That didnt make me very comfortable so I just hid my camera behind the television. And then I headed out to DTD.
The weather was sunny, warm, breezy and not very humid. Its a beautiful walk from any of the DTD hotels to DTD. I love the landscaping along the way and how the sidewalks curve.
My first stop in DTD was Wolfgang Pucks Café. I cant believe Ive never been there before. I had a cheese quesadilla, fresh vegetable chips and some Nestea. The quesadilla was wonderful and very large. It was nice and cool inside the café and they had a very nice outdoor patio too. And I saved a buck by using my Disney Club card!
After my usual Disney Club discounted spending spree at the World of Disney store (how many stretchy bracelets does one woman really need?), I slowly wandered back through the other stores and walked back to the hotel. I turned on the TV to see if BW-LBV had the Zippity-Doo-Dah channel but only found some Samantha Brown wannabe who appeared to have had way too much caffeine. She was going through the Top 7 Things to Do in WDW. Personally I could think of about 100 Top things to do in WDW but I just turned off the TV and read for a little while.
At about 5:45 PM I caught the bus to Epcot. SE (by tradition its always my first ride on any WDW visit) was a walk-on at 6:20 PM.
Then I walked over to Mission: Space. I went through the single riders line and barely had to wait half a minute. As soon as we got in our capsule and the console closed down on us, the doors re-opened and the console went back up. A CM came over to our capsule and told us that someone didnt like the ride and had made it known in no uncertain terms. We looked over at the capsule next to us and someone had thrown up. The CM was opening all capsules to tell them and to let them have some air. The delay gave me a chance to chat with the people in my capsule and to play with all the buttons and cool stuff on the console. It took several minutes to get the other capsule cleaned up so I assume that it doesnt happen very often or they would be more efficient.
One of the best pieces of advice I heard in line for M:S was dont panic when you cant breath. And when we finally lifted off I literally couldnt breath. But that part was over so fast that I didnt have a chance to panic. The first thing I noticed on the ride was that I had a hard time focusing on anything on the screen. It was like when Im in one of the 3D movies and it takes me a while to be able to bring the two separate images together.
I cant believe how short the ride is but I loved it nevertheless. I didnt think it had affected me until I turned around to talk to the other woman from our capsule as we were walking down the endless exit corridor. It felt like Id had two glasses of wine and I had to stop and steady myself. It took me about 45 minutes to get back to normal.
I stopped on the way out of M:S to send an Email postcard to my DH. I received a copy of it in my Email at home and it was really cute. They put a lot of work into that Email program. I was still a little dizzy after sending the Email so I didnt play the game they have in the exit area.
By then it was 7:15 PM and I was going to take a break in the Espresso Coffee & Pastries shop but it was closed and so was Ice Station Cool. So then I decided to try and walk as fast as I could to France to catch the 7:30 movie. I got slowed down in Canada because Off Kilter was playing. Im ashamed to say that Ive never seen them before and I didnt stop long to listen to them.
I have now decided that watching the France movie after riding M:S is not a good idea. The France movie has never affected me before but this time I really did not enjoy flying over the Alps! By the time my beloved France movie was over I had recovered enough from M:S to start looking for something to eat. Im not like most people. Im a vegetarian, alcohol gives me hot flashes and Im a Weight Watchers lifetime member. By the time I got to America I was so frustrated trying to find something I could eat that I gave up on Weight Watchers and got cheesecake and lemonade. Im sure normal people would love the Food and Wine Festival but it definitely didnt have much for me.
I sat in the American amphitheater to eat my goodies when they announced that Sister Sledge would be starting in 10 minutes. I hadnt really planned on seeing them but I had so enjoyed Paul Revere and the Raiders during my last trip that I decided to stay.
Sister Sledge started out great but it very quickly deteriorated. They spent a long time introducing the band who all went into very lengthy solos. I started laughing thinking about the line in Spinal Tap where they said now is not the time to do a freeform jazz session. Then they started to do Greatest Dancer and I went wow when some very drunk woman jumped up on stage to dance. I guess they had planned on inviting people up onstage but she jumped the gun. They brought up some middle-aged guy who was great but he went on forever. Then everybody had their kids go up there. The stage was full and the Sisters kept stopping to try and get the kids back from the edge of the stage.
I gave up when they brought out their wardrobe lady to sing Happy Birthday. I looked around and half the theater had already emptied out. I have never left early on anything in my life but this was too much for me and I left too. I think they managed to sing We Are Family before Illuminations started.
I finished walking around the WS to make sure I hadnt missed any good eats but still didnt see anything that I could, would or should eat. So I left and got on the DTD hotel bus just as Illuminations was ending.
One thing Ill say for DTD busses. They are always on time. ¼ after the hour and ¼ till the hour. And they are also usually very comfy but this bus had the old hard school bus type seats.
I got back to my room by 10:30 PM after stopping at the little shop in the lobby for some popcorn and pop. I finished my book and watched the local news and finally went to sleep around 12:30 AM.
BW-LBV is usually a very quiet hotel, but around 3:40 AM I woke with a start. I swear I heard someone in my room talking about hockey. I was totally confused and for a few seconds I was in a panic not knowing where I was. Minnesota is the state of hockey and I thought I was home and had missed my trip to WDW! Then I realized that I was in a hotel in Orlando and that someone in another room had probably turned on ESPN very loud for just a couple of seconds. I laughed myself back to sleep.
SHOW
My DH and DD (darling dog) dropped me off at 6:00 AM for the 7:00 AM Delta flight to Atlanta. This was my first time using a boarding pass that I printed online. And I had no problems getting through security with it. But the Delta employee checking me on to the flight looked at my boarding pass and said these are always interesting. I told her it would be worth any problems because I got 1000 Frequent Flier miles just for using it. Fortunately there were no problems with the boarding pass.
I had an hour stopover in Atlanta which is just the right amount of time for a leisurely trip through the airport. I stopped along the way to look at a very interesting Martin Luther King display. They displayed lots of photos and some of his personal items, including a book about Ghandi that MLK had underlined. I guess I am the type of person that can even have a good time in an airport!
It was an amazing difference between the flight from Minneapolis to Atlanta and the flight from Atlanta to Orlando. The flight to Atlanta was very quiet and full of sleeping adults. The flight to Orlando was full of children and had lots more energy. I think the flight attendants preferred the first flight but I liked the second flight more.
I got to Orlando at 12:45 PM. It took quite a while to get on the Mears van even though I had pre-booked it online. And even after we were in the van the driver waited to see if there were going to be any more passengers. Then he took us to the other terminal to finish filling up the van.
I finally got dropped off at the Best Western - Lake Buena Vista (BW-LBV) in DTD at 2:30 PM. I told the young man that I thought the newly redecorated lobby looked great. I think he appreciated my compliment because when I asked for a room up high he gave me a room on the 17th floor. There are only 18 floors in the BW-LBV so my room was indeed up high. The only problem was those wasp-looking bugs were out in full force on my balcony. I was only staying there one night so it wasnt a big deal for me.
I dropped off my bags in my room. I was going to put my camera in the safe but you need to run a credit card through the safe to activate it. That didnt make me very comfortable so I just hid my camera behind the television. And then I headed out to DTD.
The weather was sunny, warm, breezy and not very humid. Its a beautiful walk from any of the DTD hotels to DTD. I love the landscaping along the way and how the sidewalks curve.
My first stop in DTD was Wolfgang Pucks Café. I cant believe Ive never been there before. I had a cheese quesadilla, fresh vegetable chips and some Nestea. The quesadilla was wonderful and very large. It was nice and cool inside the café and they had a very nice outdoor patio too. And I saved a buck by using my Disney Club card!
After my usual Disney Club discounted spending spree at the World of Disney store (how many stretchy bracelets does one woman really need?), I slowly wandered back through the other stores and walked back to the hotel. I turned on the TV to see if BW-LBV had the Zippity-Doo-Dah channel but only found some Samantha Brown wannabe who appeared to have had way too much caffeine. She was going through the Top 7 Things to Do in WDW. Personally I could think of about 100 Top things to do in WDW but I just turned off the TV and read for a little while.
At about 5:45 PM I caught the bus to Epcot. SE (by tradition its always my first ride on any WDW visit) was a walk-on at 6:20 PM.
Then I walked over to Mission: Space. I went through the single riders line and barely had to wait half a minute. As soon as we got in our capsule and the console closed down on us, the doors re-opened and the console went back up. A CM came over to our capsule and told us that someone didnt like the ride and had made it known in no uncertain terms. We looked over at the capsule next to us and someone had thrown up. The CM was opening all capsules to tell them and to let them have some air. The delay gave me a chance to chat with the people in my capsule and to play with all the buttons and cool stuff on the console. It took several minutes to get the other capsule cleaned up so I assume that it doesnt happen very often or they would be more efficient.
One of the best pieces of advice I heard in line for M:S was dont panic when you cant breath. And when we finally lifted off I literally couldnt breath. But that part was over so fast that I didnt have a chance to panic. The first thing I noticed on the ride was that I had a hard time focusing on anything on the screen. It was like when Im in one of the 3D movies and it takes me a while to be able to bring the two separate images together.
I cant believe how short the ride is but I loved it nevertheless. I didnt think it had affected me until I turned around to talk to the other woman from our capsule as we were walking down the endless exit corridor. It felt like Id had two glasses of wine and I had to stop and steady myself. It took me about 45 minutes to get back to normal.
I stopped on the way out of M:S to send an Email postcard to my DH. I received a copy of it in my Email at home and it was really cute. They put a lot of work into that Email program. I was still a little dizzy after sending the Email so I didnt play the game they have in the exit area.
By then it was 7:15 PM and I was going to take a break in the Espresso Coffee & Pastries shop but it was closed and so was Ice Station Cool. So then I decided to try and walk as fast as I could to France to catch the 7:30 movie. I got slowed down in Canada because Off Kilter was playing. Im ashamed to say that Ive never seen them before and I didnt stop long to listen to them.
I have now decided that watching the France movie after riding M:S is not a good idea. The France movie has never affected me before but this time I really did not enjoy flying over the Alps! By the time my beloved France movie was over I had recovered enough from M:S to start looking for something to eat. Im not like most people. Im a vegetarian, alcohol gives me hot flashes and Im a Weight Watchers lifetime member. By the time I got to America I was so frustrated trying to find something I could eat that I gave up on Weight Watchers and got cheesecake and lemonade. Im sure normal people would love the Food and Wine Festival but it definitely didnt have much for me.
I sat in the American amphitheater to eat my goodies when they announced that Sister Sledge would be starting in 10 minutes. I hadnt really planned on seeing them but I had so enjoyed Paul Revere and the Raiders during my last trip that I decided to stay.
Sister Sledge started out great but it very quickly deteriorated. They spent a long time introducing the band who all went into very lengthy solos. I started laughing thinking about the line in Spinal Tap where they said now is not the time to do a freeform jazz session. Then they started to do Greatest Dancer and I went wow when some very drunk woman jumped up on stage to dance. I guess they had planned on inviting people up onstage but she jumped the gun. They brought up some middle-aged guy who was great but he went on forever. Then everybody had their kids go up there. The stage was full and the Sisters kept stopping to try and get the kids back from the edge of the stage.
I gave up when they brought out their wardrobe lady to sing Happy Birthday. I looked around and half the theater had already emptied out. I have never left early on anything in my life but this was too much for me and I left too. I think they managed to sing We Are Family before Illuminations started.
I finished walking around the WS to make sure I hadnt missed any good eats but still didnt see anything that I could, would or should eat. So I left and got on the DTD hotel bus just as Illuminations was ending.
One thing Ill say for DTD busses. They are always on time. ¼ after the hour and ¼ till the hour. And they are also usually very comfy but this bus had the old hard school bus type seats.
I got back to my room by 10:30 PM after stopping at the little shop in the lobby for some popcorn and pop. I finished my book and watched the local news and finally went to sleep around 12:30 AM.
BW-LBV is usually a very quiet hotel, but around 3:40 AM I woke with a start. I swear I heard someone in my room talking about hockey. I was totally confused and for a few seconds I was in a panic not knowing where I was. Minnesota is the state of hockey and I thought I was home and had missed my trip to WDW! Then I realized that I was in a hotel in Orlando and that someone in another room had probably turned on ESPN very loud for just a couple of seconds. I laughed myself back to sleep.
