Music Mole
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2002
- Messages
- 180
Cast: me, Elisabeth, Planner and official historian of the trip
DH, Gavin, Park Commando in recovery
We've both been to WDW before, but never together, and our last trips were within weeks of eachother during the 25th Anniversary year. Since we met 5 years ago, we have always wanted to go to WDW together - and this is our trip!
Tuesday, October 1st
Up at 3:15 AM(!). My mom "moved in" last night from her place across town to stay with our "girls" and house sit. (The girls are our poodle, age 2, and Westie, age 5, [who is very good at tolerating the rambunctious poodle], both of whom joined our family last year as "rescues" and we adore them!)
Gavins brother arrived on time at 3:45 to take us to the airport. Flight left on time at 6:00 AM. Our connecting flight was delayed 30 minutes taking off from Houston due to fog, but we made it to Orlando eventually and our driver was there to meet us. I had wanted to take a town car service rather than the shuttle; this vehicle was actually a large SUV very nice inside, just not what Id hoped for oh well being there was more important than what vehicle they were driving. Stopped at Publix for water yeah! They have the Brita Sports bottles that I could not find at home. [we really loved this bottle - it's worth seeking them out for what it saves you on buying bottled water.]
Then on to the Wilderness lodge very friendly cast member checked us in and gave us our AmEx lanyards. We really liked the lodge and the theming and our standard room had a nice view. We were feeling kind of rushed at this point - what was once a leisurely schedule is now tight because of the flight delays.
On to the Magic Kingdom via boat, where we buy our passes. We decided just before leaving home to get annual passes, since they were not much more than the 7-day park hoppers we had planned to buy, and we had decided to take a second trip next April (It was much easier to sell my husband on that than I anticipated
Despite the flight delay, and how rushed we felt, we were actually 10 minutes early for our 2:45 PS at Cinderellas Cinderellas Royal table. We had a table by the window - yeah! - with a very nice view of Fantasyland. Up to this point, we kept asking eachother, "Does it feel real yet? Does it feel like we're really here?" This is where it really hit Gavin that we were here! On trips with his family, he had asked about the castle, and his parents always said there was nothing in there - and here we were - sitting down to dine in the castle in the restaurant that "didn't exist."
The food was good (see the dining board for reviews of this and all our other meals). I got the smoothie in the souvenir mug, but we decided not to pick it up (they give you a fresh one boxed up to take home not the one you drank out of at your meal) until later in the day.
We went to Le Chapeau to get the embroidered mouse ears for the children of some of our coworkers, and had them shipped to the Yacht Club where we will actually be by the time they are delivered. I got a magic moments pin and a couple of Walt pins for my lanyard and then we decided to ride our first ride.
Gavin was fighting a headache and I didnt wanted to do anything too intense very soon after lunch, so we decided to ride the Tomorrowland Transit Authority I just love this ride! Its so simple but I love how it gives you a chance to ride through other rides. By the time it was over, lunch had settled and we headed for Space Mountain now I know what people mean by total walk-on! You read about it, but its not the same as bypassing miles and miles of unused, roped off queuing area to get straight to the loading area. We rode the left side of SM.
Next we wandered over to Toontown and got our first pressed penny baby Donald (Gavins favorite character you should see how many volumes of the thick story/comic books we have I know its over 100). We rode Goofys Barnstormer (again no wait) which was cute we decided itd be great for giving kids a nice roller coaster experience without being too long.
Then we caught the train in Toontown, disembarking in Frontierland. Pirates of the Carribean was a walk-on. We both decided that we like the Disneyland version better, although I couldnt tell you why (Gavin could he has the most phenomenal memory for detail on rides and things). Just as we got to Jungle Cruise it started pouring rain we were grateful for the 15 minute wait in line (posted wait was 25 minutes) since it was under cover. The rain ended just before we boarded our boat, and that was it for the rain that day.
After we got off the ride, we went to a shop, thinking to buy ponchos in anticipation of the daily showers, but decided against us when they said they were out (!) of Adult ponchos with Mickey on them How can this be? We were aghast at the sacrilege of WDW selling ponchos without Mickey on them
apparently they are switching suppliers and it will be a while before they have them again.
Anyway, we passed on ponchos and headed over to Haunted Mansion again, no waiting (everyone left with the rain I guess), although we were a little delayed by choice. There was a rather exuberant fellow and his family waiting with us to enter the attraction, and he was hamming around, yelling through the crack in the doors, to Open the door and acting as if he was going to pull the doors open. So we hung back and went through with the next group.
From there, we did the following, all with no wait: Small World, Peter Pan (love the pixie dust if you have a magic moments pin), Snow White (I can see why people say it should be called the scary witch ride there is more about her than Snow White), Winnie the Pooh (really liked how this was done), Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and finally Splash Mountain.
It was dusk as we boarded our log, and it was neat by the end of the ride everything looked darker and all the lights had some on it was really atmospheric. We got something to drink and headed over to find a spot to watch Tinkerbell fly from the castle. Just before we left, they had extended the park hours and added fireworks to the weeknights of our stay it was great.
We watched Tink fly from the spot by the wishing well at the side of the castle, then we walked around towards the front of the castle to watch the fireworks. I just love fireworks and one of my favorite things is the fireworks at the castle. Last year in Disneyland in June, we had to stake out a spot an hour before hand and it was just packed with people this was so nice, not being so crowded because of the time of year. After a day of no waits in line, I was a true fan of this off-season touring. We shopped our way down main street on the way out. One thing we needed was a watch I had forgotten to pack one and so we had no way to monitor time to make sure we didnt miss our priority seatings. So we got what turned out to be one of my favorite souvenirs: a clip on watch shaped like a star with Tinkerbell on it. I clipped to the zipper pull on my park bag and it worked great. Neither of us are big on wristwatches, and especially not if its hot outside, so this really worked well for us. Lets hope I can remember to pack it for future trips! Back to the Wilderness Lodge where we hot-tubbed (pretty weak jets, for any hot tub aficionados out there) and hit the hay after a very long 20 hour day. Tomorrow morning we have a PS at Tonys for breakfast at 8:20 AM.
DH, Gavin, Park Commando in recovery
We've both been to WDW before, but never together, and our last trips were within weeks of eachother during the 25th Anniversary year. Since we met 5 years ago, we have always wanted to go to WDW together - and this is our trip!
Tuesday, October 1st
Up at 3:15 AM(!). My mom "moved in" last night from her place across town to stay with our "girls" and house sit. (The girls are our poodle, age 2, and Westie, age 5, [who is very good at tolerating the rambunctious poodle], both of whom joined our family last year as "rescues" and we adore them!)
Gavins brother arrived on time at 3:45 to take us to the airport. Flight left on time at 6:00 AM. Our connecting flight was delayed 30 minutes taking off from Houston due to fog, but we made it to Orlando eventually and our driver was there to meet us. I had wanted to take a town car service rather than the shuttle; this vehicle was actually a large SUV very nice inside, just not what Id hoped for oh well being there was more important than what vehicle they were driving. Stopped at Publix for water yeah! They have the Brita Sports bottles that I could not find at home. [we really loved this bottle - it's worth seeking them out for what it saves you on buying bottled water.]
Then on to the Wilderness lodge very friendly cast member checked us in and gave us our AmEx lanyards. We really liked the lodge and the theming and our standard room had a nice view. We were feeling kind of rushed at this point - what was once a leisurely schedule is now tight because of the flight delays.
On to the Magic Kingdom via boat, where we buy our passes. We decided just before leaving home to get annual passes, since they were not much more than the 7-day park hoppers we had planned to buy, and we had decided to take a second trip next April (It was much easier to sell my husband on that than I anticipated
Despite the flight delay, and how rushed we felt, we were actually 10 minutes early for our 2:45 PS at Cinderellas Cinderellas Royal table. We had a table by the window - yeah! - with a very nice view of Fantasyland. Up to this point, we kept asking eachother, "Does it feel real yet? Does it feel like we're really here?" This is where it really hit Gavin that we were here! On trips with his family, he had asked about the castle, and his parents always said there was nothing in there - and here we were - sitting down to dine in the castle in the restaurant that "didn't exist."
The food was good (see the dining board for reviews of this and all our other meals). I got the smoothie in the souvenir mug, but we decided not to pick it up (they give you a fresh one boxed up to take home not the one you drank out of at your meal) until later in the day.
We went to Le Chapeau to get the embroidered mouse ears for the children of some of our coworkers, and had them shipped to the Yacht Club where we will actually be by the time they are delivered. I got a magic moments pin and a couple of Walt pins for my lanyard and then we decided to ride our first ride.
Gavin was fighting a headache and I didnt wanted to do anything too intense very soon after lunch, so we decided to ride the Tomorrowland Transit Authority I just love this ride! Its so simple but I love how it gives you a chance to ride through other rides. By the time it was over, lunch had settled and we headed for Space Mountain now I know what people mean by total walk-on! You read about it, but its not the same as bypassing miles and miles of unused, roped off queuing area to get straight to the loading area. We rode the left side of SM.
Next we wandered over to Toontown and got our first pressed penny baby Donald (Gavins favorite character you should see how many volumes of the thick story/comic books we have I know its over 100). We rode Goofys Barnstormer (again no wait) which was cute we decided itd be great for giving kids a nice roller coaster experience without being too long.
Then we caught the train in Toontown, disembarking in Frontierland. Pirates of the Carribean was a walk-on. We both decided that we like the Disneyland version better, although I couldnt tell you why (Gavin could he has the most phenomenal memory for detail on rides and things). Just as we got to Jungle Cruise it started pouring rain we were grateful for the 15 minute wait in line (posted wait was 25 minutes) since it was under cover. The rain ended just before we boarded our boat, and that was it for the rain that day.
After we got off the ride, we went to a shop, thinking to buy ponchos in anticipation of the daily showers, but decided against us when they said they were out (!) of Adult ponchos with Mickey on them How can this be? We were aghast at the sacrilege of WDW selling ponchos without Mickey on them
apparently they are switching suppliers and it will be a while before they have them again. Anyway, we passed on ponchos and headed over to Haunted Mansion again, no waiting (everyone left with the rain I guess), although we were a little delayed by choice. There was a rather exuberant fellow and his family waiting with us to enter the attraction, and he was hamming around, yelling through the crack in the doors, to Open the door and acting as if he was going to pull the doors open. So we hung back and went through with the next group.
From there, we did the following, all with no wait: Small World, Peter Pan (love the pixie dust if you have a magic moments pin), Snow White (I can see why people say it should be called the scary witch ride there is more about her than Snow White), Winnie the Pooh (really liked how this was done), Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and finally Splash Mountain.
It was dusk as we boarded our log, and it was neat by the end of the ride everything looked darker and all the lights had some on it was really atmospheric. We got something to drink and headed over to find a spot to watch Tinkerbell fly from the castle. Just before we left, they had extended the park hours and added fireworks to the weeknights of our stay it was great.
We watched Tink fly from the spot by the wishing well at the side of the castle, then we walked around towards the front of the castle to watch the fireworks. I just love fireworks and one of my favorite things is the fireworks at the castle. Last year in Disneyland in June, we had to stake out a spot an hour before hand and it was just packed with people this was so nice, not being so crowded because of the time of year. After a day of no waits in line, I was a true fan of this off-season touring. We shopped our way down main street on the way out. One thing we needed was a watch I had forgotten to pack one and so we had no way to monitor time to make sure we didnt miss our priority seatings. So we got what turned out to be one of my favorite souvenirs: a clip on watch shaped like a star with Tinkerbell on it. I clipped to the zipper pull on my park bag and it worked great. Neither of us are big on wristwatches, and especially not if its hot outside, so this really worked well for us. Lets hope I can remember to pack it for future trips! Back to the Wilderness Lodge where we hot-tubbed (pretty weak jets, for any hot tub aficionados out there) and hit the hay after a very long 20 hour day. Tomorrow morning we have a PS at Tonys for breakfast at 8:20 AM.
I can deal with that!
