The Incredible, The Amazing, the Snooty, the Ridiculous, and the Sublime:
Our magical trip to WDW September 18-23 2003
(Day One)!
Cast: Me: Ro, 32 Disney-ite from birth
DH:25, love of my life and joy to all who know him
DD, 7 1/2, part princess, part space ranger, part pirate
Dear Dad: Mostly pirate LOL and original Disney lover in the family, and the biggest kid of us all, I think.
Dateline: Michigan: Early morning came after a mostly sleepless night (I should say nights, I barely slept in the week before our trip) I was just so excited I kept waking up and looking at the clock. Finally conked out for good at about 2:30, and when the alarm rang at six I was up and at 'em.
My daughter woke up while I was blowing my hair dry and looked at me like "why the heck are you drying your hair before the sun is up." I hummed a few notes of the Mickey Mouse March in answer and she slowly, and groggily, grinned until her cheeks could go no higher. She ran off to dress.
We had finished packing the night before and took the bags to my parents,where we'd be picking dad up in the morning (Didn't want the whole neighborhood to see us packing up and leaving town for security's sake). So with our camera bag and my 'necessities' bag, we were off, out of the house, and on our way to get Dad.
Found Dad waiting by the front door, and my brother saw us off (he's 25, we had invited him to come but he declined this time, I think he regretted it for a moment when we were leaving). And we were off to the airport! Dad got pulled by security (again! Always happens) and off came his shoes. After a few moments, we were on our way. Quick b-fast at MickyD's and to the gate.
We flew on a 757, man, those things are like the corvette of aircraft. They go from zero to heaven knows what in no time, I swear we almost took off going straight up. I was very grateful we were going anywhere at all though, as most of the sleep I'd lost in the previous nights was wondering which direction Isabele would take. We were very, very fortunate, but I felt so bad for the folks in the carolinas.
My leg nerves and muscles did their usual "jumpy" thing the whole way, as soon as the cabin is pressurized my legs just start jumping and it feels all 'electrical' up and down my spine out to my hands arms and feet. It's very tiring and uncomfortable and I tried to focus on my crocheting to keep my mind off of it. In the end, the only distraction that helped was knowing that soon, my dad would be very, very surprised and my dream of staying at the Grand (have since I was 17) was really coming true
After a very blessedly smooth flight and landing, (and very pleased with our child's excellent behavoir!) we stepped into the gate at MCO. Excitement! Joy! Unbridled giggles!
The $64.000 question was whether or not our Mears towncar driver would be there, (they weren't our last 2 trips) but there he was! He took our bags from the carousel, and off we went. Half an hour after landing, we pulled up onto the grounds of the Grand Floridian, and I squealed with joy; the first of many that day.
When we got out, I told the bellman we were going to SL and he waved over a man with a clip board. Denny was there to sweep us off to the lodge concierge building, and my Dad was puzzled. I smiled at him and told him I'd made a few "last minute modifications" to our reservation, upgrading us to concierge.
He didn't realize all that entailed yet, but when we swept past the main front desk to the check in at Sugar Loaf, his eyes got continually bigger and he was very obviously shocked! The lovely (and soon to become my very favorite concierge Norma, but more on that later) checked us in. I kept trying to get my Dad to go get a snack so he wouldn't hear about the room cost, but he'd have none of it. Finally, she was about to tell me the balance on the room and I put my hand to my lips, eyes wide and said "lalalala, he can't hear that, lalalala" she laughed and winked, and then my dad started trying to give me money toward the room.
I had told him that we were 'taking care' of the room, (I had prepaid the towncar and so had already beat him to that LOL) I had predicted we'd have an 'exchange' over the bill, and just as I suspected, it was short, intense, but blew over quickly I said "I'm sorry, Miss." to Norma, and winked. "but I would like to ask that you tell Mr. XXX that his money is not accepted at this establishment." She laughed and repeated it, and my dad turned absolutely crimson!
This is a man who is used to taking everyone ELSE to Disney (and footing the bill) and I'd have none of it. I said "Dad, daughters get to have their fun, too." He said "I don't know what to say, what do I do with this?" and he gestured to the cash he had in his hand. I said "You can always buy us dinner if it'll make you feel better!" LOL. He just stood there, and finally he put the money away, and just shook his head. He didn't say another word until after we'd gotten into our room (it was ready) dropped off the bags and headed for the MK.
One of the concierge CM's walked us to our room, 6114. It was a whole 30 feet (maybe) from the concierge desk! LOL. I joked that I didn't know if I could handle the walk to the snack table, and everyone laughed. We opened the door, and...the predicted squeal of joy happened right on schedule.
I LOVED the decor of the room, it was simply beautiful. We had the "Cameo" room design in white and blue (my favorite decorating colors) and the room was spotless, gorgeous, and everything I dreamed it would be. We were so close to the quiet pool and the view was gorgeous! I loved everything from the blue paint to the white crown moldings to the beautiful yellow and blue pattern in the carpeting. Just breath taking! After freshening up and taking it all in for a few minutes, I left the envelope on the bed for the turndown CM, and we headed out the door.
We were all thirsty, so we all had yummy lemonade and grabbed a quick snack in the lounge. Then we stopped by the main building front desk to pick up my wheelchair (Care medical had delivered it there that morning.) Taking the load off my legs was a huge relief, (they were still feeling jumpy) and we hopped onto the monorail and were at the MK before I could even believe it!
Dad was still silent, with this grin plastered on his face. With the grin, I knew he wasn't mad, but I didn't know why he wasn't talking.
Finally I said "Dad, are you okay? and he said "I'm...speechless!" I swear he had tears in his eyes, and he was quite literally speechless most of the afternoon, the first time I've ever seen him that way in my life. He LOVED the room, the resort, and how easy it was to get everywhere. He was just in awe!
We arrived at MK at about 2:55 and... uh oh, I forgot. How could I forget? The parade!
We were stuck in the throngs waiting for the share a dream parade and so I told DH to just park me under an awning near a shop entrance and he took DD to the front (found an unoccupied spot, they didn't obstruct anyone's view). She was thrilled with the parade but personally I found it seemed rushed, nothing to write home about, but then I guess I was more worried about the lady who kept leaving her baby unattended in the stroller beside me while she went to the front of the crowd to take pictures!!! People are NUTS! I played peekaboo with the baby, kept him from crying while his mother got her pictures (she never said a word to me) and afterward, we cut through the shops to head down mainstreet. Best way to keep from getting too overheated.
As promised to our DD, first ride was Buzz. But we got a fast pass since there was a sizable crowd and headed over to the TTA. For some reason it wasn't working for a little while (a first in my WDW experiences!) and so we headed over to Adventureland to go on Pirates! DH wanted to look for POTC movie items in the store and was very disappointed; there were none. We found none on property at all, in fact, but he did manage to get some neat non-movie pirate stuff he liked later on.
After that, we headed to one of DD's favorites, Jungle Cruise. She was such a ham and talking so much to the guide that our guide told her to get up and come drive the boat! LOL It was hilarious ,my DD thought she was really driving the boat and that she was steering it so well to avoid the waterfall LOL. Priceless! At the end the guide had the whole group applaud their "guest skipper" and DD beamed from ear to ear. We went from there to Peter Pan,(longest wait of the trip probably, but only about 20 minutes!) Winnie the Pooh, and then back to tomorrowland for our Buzz FP. Went on TTA and then buzz again (line had dwindled) That's when my DD had a meltdown.
We saw Buzz Lightyear, and only one child in line. She ran up to the line and the CM did that "Arms up and in your face" thing again that we had experienced last year with Cinderella (they NEED to stop doing that!) and told DD that she couldn't get a hug.
Well, there went the waterworks. DD was sobbing, Buzz is her favorite non-princess character, and she was very sad. I told her that he had to go, but would be back another time, and reminded her we had dinner reservations and it was only our first day and maybe she'd see him later, but she was still crying when we got to CRT. I talked to her a little more, told her not to worry, we'd try again, and finally she settled down. Took more than half an hour to get her to stop crying. I HATE the way they handle (or mishandle) character interactions in the MK. It goes so much more smoothly at other parks, they really need to re-think their plan on that one. I think they should keep them in a tent and put up a sign and only let people in in increments the characters can handle between breaks. Or at least like they handled it at the Studios (more on that later!)
By then, we were all starving. We had a ressie at CRT but showed up an hour early and they swept us right in to our table.
The restaurant was literally empty, and so the waitstaff was standing up against the wall, talking to eachother. This wouldn't ever have happened if it'd had been busier, as it was every other time we've been there, and I it was irritating.
As it went on, I found it to totally ruin the mood of the restaurant, and I was even more annoyed when a VERY loud waitress was standing barely behind the scenes, talking about what she'd done the night before (the phrase "I was in the mood for some LOVIN"!" should never be uttered near guests!) and about how she couldn't get her car started that morning. Like I wanted to hear that! The chocolate smoothies were delicious, the prime rib was okay (not excellent like last time) but it was still fun to eat at the castle. But I must say that they slipped a bit in the rankings of my favorite restaurants on this trip *more later*!
On the way out, I let some of the servers know that they should be aware that their 'voices carry' in the dining room and that they should be careful what they discuss within earshot of guests. I also mentioned to the manager on the way out that it was "very poor show" to discuss your car/love life issues while guests are trying to have a magical dinner. He thanked me and said he would follow up with the staff. We collected our keepsake mugs and headed toward Main Street. I made a brief preliminary sweep of the shops as we headed to the front gates as DH wheeled me through them.
We were all pretty hot and tired so we headed somewhere that Dad could sit down and relax and DD really wanted to go: the game room at the CR. She had gotten a doll there with all our points on our last trip and set her sights on another: it was 2000 points!
Talking to the ticket counter CM she said they only had two left and if I wanted one, I better get it tonight because it would be gone.
Fortunately, my dad and husband love, and are good at, the higher scoring games there (my dad RULES at the dump truck game!) and within a little while, between the four of us, we had enough. We traded in those tickets for a very pretty victorian doll for DD. She was overjoyed, we were all beat, decided to go back to the hotel to turn in early.
We were waiting to be boarded onto the monorail into the reserved for wheelchairs car (question: why do people sit there, seeing the "reserved" signs with wheelchairs on them, and then get mad when they are asked to move by the CM? Figure it out, people!) where we had a curious, and fortunate experience.
As people disembarked from the train, an older couple walked toward us, seeing where we were about to be boarded. The lady gently put her hand on my arm and addressed the CM with the ramp in her hand and said "Excuse me, but they do not want to be boarded onto that car." she was visibly upset. "They don't?" the CM asked, and the woman shook her head.
"They've had too much." she said, indicating the people in the car "And they are a problem." she looked at me again and said "Do not get onto the train with them, wait for the next one."
I thanked her profusely, and then said to the CM "It's okay, we'll wait." CM radioed ahead to the next station to have security there just in case, and said "that's the second time tonight I've had to call security." apparently they'd had an incedent at her station earlier with a belligerant drunk and he had to be escorted away.
Looking into the car, I saw a guy who was a dead ringer for Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel (Simpson fans know the name) he had a girl hanging off of him and a bunch of other unsavory types with him. He held a red Solo cup in his hands and was drinking from it. The CM let on that for some reason, red Solo cups are the cups of choice for people who manage to sneak booze into the parks in "water" bottles We were grateful that kind couple saved us from that ride, and were happy to take in the scenery and wait for the next train, and soon we were back to the Grand.
DD wanted to swim, but DH and I were far too tired, so with promises of big fun tomorrow, we had our snacks, recieved friendly goodnights from the Cast, and got tucked in. I was more than ready for what would be my first solid night's sleep in a week or more.
I called for an 8:03 wake up call: We were all smiling, giddy, and happy as we spent our very first night at the GF. I couldn't believe we were really staying there!!!
Early to rise for Princess Breakfast the next morning: stay tuned!!!
Our magical trip to WDW September 18-23 2003
(Day One)!
Cast: Me: Ro, 32 Disney-ite from birth
DH:25, love of my life and joy to all who know him
DD, 7 1/2, part princess, part space ranger, part pirate
Dear Dad: Mostly pirate LOL and original Disney lover in the family, and the biggest kid of us all, I think.
Dateline: Michigan: Early morning came after a mostly sleepless night (I should say nights, I barely slept in the week before our trip) I was just so excited I kept waking up and looking at the clock. Finally conked out for good at about 2:30, and when the alarm rang at six I was up and at 'em.
My daughter woke up while I was blowing my hair dry and looked at me like "why the heck are you drying your hair before the sun is up." I hummed a few notes of the Mickey Mouse March in answer and she slowly, and groggily, grinned until her cheeks could go no higher. She ran off to dress.
We had finished packing the night before and took the bags to my parents,where we'd be picking dad up in the morning (Didn't want the whole neighborhood to see us packing up and leaving town for security's sake). So with our camera bag and my 'necessities' bag, we were off, out of the house, and on our way to get Dad.
Found Dad waiting by the front door, and my brother saw us off (he's 25, we had invited him to come but he declined this time, I think he regretted it for a moment when we were leaving). And we were off to the airport! Dad got pulled by security (again! Always happens) and off came his shoes. After a few moments, we were on our way. Quick b-fast at MickyD's and to the gate.
We flew on a 757, man, those things are like the corvette of aircraft. They go from zero to heaven knows what in no time, I swear we almost took off going straight up. I was very grateful we were going anywhere at all though, as most of the sleep I'd lost in the previous nights was wondering which direction Isabele would take. We were very, very fortunate, but I felt so bad for the folks in the carolinas.
My leg nerves and muscles did their usual "jumpy" thing the whole way, as soon as the cabin is pressurized my legs just start jumping and it feels all 'electrical' up and down my spine out to my hands arms and feet. It's very tiring and uncomfortable and I tried to focus on my crocheting to keep my mind off of it. In the end, the only distraction that helped was knowing that soon, my dad would be very, very surprised and my dream of staying at the Grand (have since I was 17) was really coming true
After a very blessedly smooth flight and landing, (and very pleased with our child's excellent behavoir!) we stepped into the gate at MCO. Excitement! Joy! Unbridled giggles!
The $64.000 question was whether or not our Mears towncar driver would be there, (they weren't our last 2 trips) but there he was! He took our bags from the carousel, and off we went. Half an hour after landing, we pulled up onto the grounds of the Grand Floridian, and I squealed with joy; the first of many that day.
When we got out, I told the bellman we were going to SL and he waved over a man with a clip board. Denny was there to sweep us off to the lodge concierge building, and my Dad was puzzled. I smiled at him and told him I'd made a few "last minute modifications" to our reservation, upgrading us to concierge.
He didn't realize all that entailed yet, but when we swept past the main front desk to the check in at Sugar Loaf, his eyes got continually bigger and he was very obviously shocked! The lovely (and soon to become my very favorite concierge Norma, but more on that later) checked us in. I kept trying to get my Dad to go get a snack so he wouldn't hear about the room cost, but he'd have none of it. Finally, she was about to tell me the balance on the room and I put my hand to my lips, eyes wide and said "lalalala, he can't hear that, lalalala" she laughed and winked, and then my dad started trying to give me money toward the room.
I had told him that we were 'taking care' of the room, (I had prepaid the towncar and so had already beat him to that LOL) I had predicted we'd have an 'exchange' over the bill, and just as I suspected, it was short, intense, but blew over quickly I said "I'm sorry, Miss." to Norma, and winked. "but I would like to ask that you tell Mr. XXX that his money is not accepted at this establishment." She laughed and repeated it, and my dad turned absolutely crimson!
This is a man who is used to taking everyone ELSE to Disney (and footing the bill) and I'd have none of it. I said "Dad, daughters get to have their fun, too." He said "I don't know what to say, what do I do with this?" and he gestured to the cash he had in his hand. I said "You can always buy us dinner if it'll make you feel better!" LOL. He just stood there, and finally he put the money away, and just shook his head. He didn't say another word until after we'd gotten into our room (it was ready) dropped off the bags and headed for the MK.
One of the concierge CM's walked us to our room, 6114. It was a whole 30 feet (maybe) from the concierge desk! LOL. I joked that I didn't know if I could handle the walk to the snack table, and everyone laughed. We opened the door, and...the predicted squeal of joy happened right on schedule.
I LOVED the decor of the room, it was simply beautiful. We had the "Cameo" room design in white and blue (my favorite decorating colors) and the room was spotless, gorgeous, and everything I dreamed it would be. We were so close to the quiet pool and the view was gorgeous! I loved everything from the blue paint to the white crown moldings to the beautiful yellow and blue pattern in the carpeting. Just breath taking! After freshening up and taking it all in for a few minutes, I left the envelope on the bed for the turndown CM, and we headed out the door.
We were all thirsty, so we all had yummy lemonade and grabbed a quick snack in the lounge. Then we stopped by the main building front desk to pick up my wheelchair (Care medical had delivered it there that morning.) Taking the load off my legs was a huge relief, (they were still feeling jumpy) and we hopped onto the monorail and were at the MK before I could even believe it!
Dad was still silent, with this grin plastered on his face. With the grin, I knew he wasn't mad, but I didn't know why he wasn't talking.
Finally I said "Dad, are you okay? and he said "I'm...speechless!" I swear he had tears in his eyes, and he was quite literally speechless most of the afternoon, the first time I've ever seen him that way in my life. He LOVED the room, the resort, and how easy it was to get everywhere. He was just in awe!
We arrived at MK at about 2:55 and... uh oh, I forgot. How could I forget? The parade!
We were stuck in the throngs waiting for the share a dream parade and so I told DH to just park me under an awning near a shop entrance and he took DD to the front (found an unoccupied spot, they didn't obstruct anyone's view). She was thrilled with the parade but personally I found it seemed rushed, nothing to write home about, but then I guess I was more worried about the lady who kept leaving her baby unattended in the stroller beside me while she went to the front of the crowd to take pictures!!! People are NUTS! I played peekaboo with the baby, kept him from crying while his mother got her pictures (she never said a word to me) and afterward, we cut through the shops to head down mainstreet. Best way to keep from getting too overheated.
As promised to our DD, first ride was Buzz. But we got a fast pass since there was a sizable crowd and headed over to the TTA. For some reason it wasn't working for a little while (a first in my WDW experiences!) and so we headed over to Adventureland to go on Pirates! DH wanted to look for POTC movie items in the store and was very disappointed; there were none. We found none on property at all, in fact, but he did manage to get some neat non-movie pirate stuff he liked later on.
After that, we headed to one of DD's favorites, Jungle Cruise. She was such a ham and talking so much to the guide that our guide told her to get up and come drive the boat! LOL It was hilarious ,my DD thought she was really driving the boat and that she was steering it so well to avoid the waterfall LOL. Priceless! At the end the guide had the whole group applaud their "guest skipper" and DD beamed from ear to ear. We went from there to Peter Pan,(longest wait of the trip probably, but only about 20 minutes!) Winnie the Pooh, and then back to tomorrowland for our Buzz FP. Went on TTA and then buzz again (line had dwindled) That's when my DD had a meltdown.
We saw Buzz Lightyear, and only one child in line. She ran up to the line and the CM did that "Arms up and in your face" thing again that we had experienced last year with Cinderella (they NEED to stop doing that!) and told DD that she couldn't get a hug.
Well, there went the waterworks. DD was sobbing, Buzz is her favorite non-princess character, and she was very sad. I told her that he had to go, but would be back another time, and reminded her we had dinner reservations and it was only our first day and maybe she'd see him later, but she was still crying when we got to CRT. I talked to her a little more, told her not to worry, we'd try again, and finally she settled down. Took more than half an hour to get her to stop crying. I HATE the way they handle (or mishandle) character interactions in the MK. It goes so much more smoothly at other parks, they really need to re-think their plan on that one. I think they should keep them in a tent and put up a sign and only let people in in increments the characters can handle between breaks. Or at least like they handled it at the Studios (more on that later!)
By then, we were all starving. We had a ressie at CRT but showed up an hour early and they swept us right in to our table.
The restaurant was literally empty, and so the waitstaff was standing up against the wall, talking to eachother. This wouldn't ever have happened if it'd had been busier, as it was every other time we've been there, and I it was irritating.
As it went on, I found it to totally ruin the mood of the restaurant, and I was even more annoyed when a VERY loud waitress was standing barely behind the scenes, talking about what she'd done the night before (the phrase "I was in the mood for some LOVIN"!" should never be uttered near guests!) and about how she couldn't get her car started that morning. Like I wanted to hear that! The chocolate smoothies were delicious, the prime rib was okay (not excellent like last time) but it was still fun to eat at the castle. But I must say that they slipped a bit in the rankings of my favorite restaurants on this trip *more later*!
On the way out, I let some of the servers know that they should be aware that their 'voices carry' in the dining room and that they should be careful what they discuss within earshot of guests. I also mentioned to the manager on the way out that it was "very poor show" to discuss your car/love life issues while guests are trying to have a magical dinner. He thanked me and said he would follow up with the staff. We collected our keepsake mugs and headed toward Main Street. I made a brief preliminary sweep of the shops as we headed to the front gates as DH wheeled me through them.
We were all pretty hot and tired so we headed somewhere that Dad could sit down and relax and DD really wanted to go: the game room at the CR. She had gotten a doll there with all our points on our last trip and set her sights on another: it was 2000 points!
Talking to the ticket counter CM she said they only had two left and if I wanted one, I better get it tonight because it would be gone.
Fortunately, my dad and husband love, and are good at, the higher scoring games there (my dad RULES at the dump truck game!) and within a little while, between the four of us, we had enough. We traded in those tickets for a very pretty victorian doll for DD. She was overjoyed, we were all beat, decided to go back to the hotel to turn in early.
We were waiting to be boarded onto the monorail into the reserved for wheelchairs car (question: why do people sit there, seeing the "reserved" signs with wheelchairs on them, and then get mad when they are asked to move by the CM? Figure it out, people!) where we had a curious, and fortunate experience.
As people disembarked from the train, an older couple walked toward us, seeing where we were about to be boarded. The lady gently put her hand on my arm and addressed the CM with the ramp in her hand and said "Excuse me, but they do not want to be boarded onto that car." she was visibly upset. "They don't?" the CM asked, and the woman shook her head.
"They've had too much." she said, indicating the people in the car "And they are a problem." she looked at me again and said "Do not get onto the train with them, wait for the next one."
I thanked her profusely, and then said to the CM "It's okay, we'll wait." CM radioed ahead to the next station to have security there just in case, and said "that's the second time tonight I've had to call security." apparently they'd had an incedent at her station earlier with a belligerant drunk and he had to be escorted away.
Looking into the car, I saw a guy who was a dead ringer for Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel (Simpson fans know the name) he had a girl hanging off of him and a bunch of other unsavory types with him. He held a red Solo cup in his hands and was drinking from it. The CM let on that for some reason, red Solo cups are the cups of choice for people who manage to sneak booze into the parks in "water" bottles We were grateful that kind couple saved us from that ride, and were happy to take in the scenery and wait for the next train, and soon we were back to the Grand.
DD wanted to swim, but DH and I were far too tired, so with promises of big fun tomorrow, we had our snacks, recieved friendly goodnights from the Cast, and got tucked in. I was more than ready for what would be my first solid night's sleep in a week or more.
I called for an 8:03 wake up call: We were all smiling, giddy, and happy as we spent our very first night at the GF. I couldn't believe we were really staying there!!!
Early to rise for Princess Breakfast the next morning: stay tuned!!!
