mrsapalm
<font color=FF0099>WDWWDS COO & Senior Exec. VP<fo
- Joined
- May 10, 2002
- Messages
- 1,265
Wednesday, 04 September. This was our last day and I can't describe how sad we both were. Bell services picked up our luggage after an intense combing of the room to make sure we weren't forgetting anything. We closed the door on Jamaica 4207 with heavy hearts, and made our way to the bus stop for the last time. My lower lip was dragging on the ground, and even DH was a little frowny-faced.
We made it to MK for rope drop (our streak continues!) and immediately picked up the Annual Pass Trivia Challenge at the Exhibition Hall. We frantically worked our way throught the challange, zig-zagging our way through the park. Be wary of the "helpful" ladies in one Liberty Square shop - they told us two wrong answers and seemed generally confused.
Also, there was one grumpy cart keeper in Tomorrowland that was mean to us. We asked him about two Tomorrowland questions (not looking for the answers, just seeking hints on general locations in which to search for the answers) and he purposefully gave us very, very wrong answers. We knew they were wrong, though I'm sure some unsuspecting guests might not have known that, so we thanked him for his time and moved on. I figured he was probably tired of APers pumping him for answers instead of doing it themselves. Oh, well. We also were seeking help on a Splash Mt.-area question, and the ladies inside the Briar Patch shop didn't know where the answer was, so after extensive searching and asking around, we wound up back in that shop, showing the ladies where the answer lay hidden... In Their Own Shop! They had never noticed it before, and thanked us profusely for pointing it out to them. We had a good laugh over this... all in good fun.
I appreciated that the challenge was designed to help AP holders take a few moments to appreciate aspects of the park that might otherwise go unnoticed, plus anyone who knows me knows that I am a sucker for trivia, so I had a grand time with it. DH got a bit frustrated here and there, but I think overall he had a good time with it as well. While winding our way through MK and the challange, we rode Snow White and TTA. During our TTA ride, Space Mountain was down and had its work lights up, so I was finally treated to sights I had only previously been able to read about. So, so interesting to see how the track is intertwined with itself.
We took time out to eat lunch at El Pirata Y El Perico. DH had two orders of the tacos, and I had the taco salad (didn't eat the shell). I finally remembered to ask for a cup of ice with my meal (duh) so I could refresh our water bottle. Boy was that a Godsend, because we were baking in the heat!!
After lunch, we sped back to the Exposition Hall to turn in our challenges. We got two pictures, both of the castle (daytime and nighttime). It took (seemingly) forever to get this done, but that's only because we were trying to go do more stuff before we had to leave.
Pictures in hand, we made a beeline to Splash Mountain - it was only a 5 - 10 minute wait (not very long). And I again conquered the mountain, this time leaving my eyes open a bit longer during the Big Drop. I did have a smile, after the drop, and pronounced the ride to be Fun. So, I'm over the big fear, and am now part of the Splash Fan Club (figuritively). Thanks to DH for pushing and prodding me to face my fears! We then got in line for BTMRR, but it seemed to be taking a lot longer than the posted 15 minute wait. When we were smack in the middle of the queuing area, the ride broke down, so the entire crowd made its way out of the area. Then DH had the bright idea to climb around the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse. Ugh. It's no fun to climb around that big tree in the midst of a slow-moving line. By the time we got out of there, DH agreed that it can be skipped next time.
Seeing our time winding down, we shopped around on Main Street, trying desperately to stretch it out as long as possible. Then, the inevitable happened. Time to leave MK.
We headed to the bus stop for the last time, DH practically dragging me. We even stopped in the restrooms right outside the gate (quite clean), but we couldn't put it off any longer. We trudged the final distance to the bus stop, and waited. Within minutes (darn!) our bus arrived and we were spirited away to CBR. As I looked back one last time upon The Castle, tears welled up in my eyes, but I wouldn't cry, as I am a Certified Adult.
We arrived with 20 minutes to spare before our driver, Dennis from YourRide, would be at CBR to pick us up. We retrieved our bags from Bell Services, set up camp in the lobby, and I dragged my things into the restroom to change into my Airplane Clothes (jeans, white tank, pink Mickey shirt my mom made me). I had just enough time to get a back of pretzels from the vending machine, and then our driver arrived early.
DH spent most of the trip yakking with Dennis, then their conversation was cut short by a phone call. We got to listen to the intimate details of Dennis's financial troubles involving an apartment he owns but sublets and the tenant's refusal to pay an electricity bill, and so on and so forth. The conversation got heated at times, his ruined credit was mentioned several times, as well as legal action he considered taking. Not a great way to end our trip... I thought it was pretty unprofessional. DH was bothered by it as well. Hmmmm.
But anyway, we unloaded at the airport, checked in, and found our terminal. We knew we needed to eat before the flight, so we stopped by the Burger King near Terminal 9. Please, please don't go there! It's one of those self-service set-ups... if you order a combo make sure you know exactly what comes with it and what size it should come in, because it's all left up to you to retrieve. All they had was one carton of large fries sitting under the heat lamps, and DH needed two mediums for our combo meals, and the ladies at the fry station actually told him to just get the large, as it is only ten cents more. DH explained to them that he didn't want the large, he needed two mediums, and they huffily dumped the contents of the large carton into two medium cartons. And did I mention the fries were cold? And I forgot that BK liberally slathers mayo on their burgers... yuck! So, we gulped down what we could purely for sustinance, then waited for our return flight To Reality.
Our flight was very bumpy for the first 30 minutes, thanks to Eduardo (remember him?), so it was a little like being on a roller coaster. Then, we finally made it out of that storm system and were Flying the Friendly Skies. Upon our arrival, we were met by our driver, Linda. Here's the background (rewind to 2000)... Linda used to work for a bridal shoppe - when I went to a Bridal Expo, I tried on a few dresses from this shop. She was helping me in and out of the dresses, and ooohhed and aaahhed at one Particular Dress. While she was doing that, a photographer from the Chronicle snapped pictures of me in this dress. We (Linda, myself, my mom) all agreed that this was the Magical Dress. Flash forward to one of my dress fittings... a limo service was displaying one of their white stretches in front of the store... I picked up a business card, my mom asked him a few questions, and I climbed in the stretch. I fell in love, money was exchanged, and a few minutes later a limo had been procured for my wedding. We realized that the Limo Service Owner is Linda's husband! So both worked on making My (our) Day as magical as possible. We used the service's town cars for a couple of events down the road, and decided to use them again for this WDW trip.
Sorry about all that background story, but it will all make sense right now... So Linda greets us, and walks us around the corner, and says, "Surprise!" Waiting there for us, instead of a Town Car, is a black stretch, decked out to the nines. She said that she realized, after checking the dates and locations (we honeymooned at WDW, they drove us home from the airport) that we had been celebrating our anniversary, so she picked us up in their brand-new super-deluxe stretch. She even had a cooler of sodas, water, and a bottle of bubbly (Asti - my favorite) for us! We downed the bottle during our ride home (approx. 35 minutes from airport) and I couldn't stop grinning! What a truly thoughtful and magical way to end our trip!! They got a fat tip, and I sent a thank-you card to them in the next few days. It's those little things that you least expect that mean the most.
So, that was our fabulous trip... and I can't wait to go back!
Post here or PM me with any further questions... I'll be glad to help any DISers out!
-MrsAPalm
Look here at my trip pics: http://photos.yahoo.com/mrsapalm
We made it to MK for rope drop (our streak continues!) and immediately picked up the Annual Pass Trivia Challenge at the Exhibition Hall. We frantically worked our way throught the challange, zig-zagging our way through the park. Be wary of the "helpful" ladies in one Liberty Square shop - they told us two wrong answers and seemed generally confused.
Also, there was one grumpy cart keeper in Tomorrowland that was mean to us. We asked him about two Tomorrowland questions (not looking for the answers, just seeking hints on general locations in which to search for the answers) and he purposefully gave us very, very wrong answers. We knew they were wrong, though I'm sure some unsuspecting guests might not have known that, so we thanked him for his time and moved on. I figured he was probably tired of APers pumping him for answers instead of doing it themselves. Oh, well. We also were seeking help on a Splash Mt.-area question, and the ladies inside the Briar Patch shop didn't know where the answer was, so after extensive searching and asking around, we wound up back in that shop, showing the ladies where the answer lay hidden... In Their Own Shop! They had never noticed it before, and thanked us profusely for pointing it out to them. We had a good laugh over this... all in good fun. I appreciated that the challenge was designed to help AP holders take a few moments to appreciate aspects of the park that might otherwise go unnoticed, plus anyone who knows me knows that I am a sucker for trivia, so I had a grand time with it. DH got a bit frustrated here and there, but I think overall he had a good time with it as well. While winding our way through MK and the challange, we rode Snow White and TTA. During our TTA ride, Space Mountain was down and had its work lights up, so I was finally treated to sights I had only previously been able to read about. So, so interesting to see how the track is intertwined with itself.
We took time out to eat lunch at El Pirata Y El Perico. DH had two orders of the tacos, and I had the taco salad (didn't eat the shell). I finally remembered to ask for a cup of ice with my meal (duh) so I could refresh our water bottle. Boy was that a Godsend, because we were baking in the heat!!
After lunch, we sped back to the Exposition Hall to turn in our challenges. We got two pictures, both of the castle (daytime and nighttime). It took (seemingly) forever to get this done, but that's only because we were trying to go do more stuff before we had to leave.
Pictures in hand, we made a beeline to Splash Mountain - it was only a 5 - 10 minute wait (not very long). And I again conquered the mountain, this time leaving my eyes open a bit longer during the Big Drop. I did have a smile, after the drop, and pronounced the ride to be Fun. So, I'm over the big fear, and am now part of the Splash Fan Club (figuritively). Thanks to DH for pushing and prodding me to face my fears! We then got in line for BTMRR, but it seemed to be taking a lot longer than the posted 15 minute wait. When we were smack in the middle of the queuing area, the ride broke down, so the entire crowd made its way out of the area. Then DH had the bright idea to climb around the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse. Ugh. It's no fun to climb around that big tree in the midst of a slow-moving line. By the time we got out of there, DH agreed that it can be skipped next time.
Seeing our time winding down, we shopped around on Main Street, trying desperately to stretch it out as long as possible. Then, the inevitable happened. Time to leave MK.
We headed to the bus stop for the last time, DH practically dragging me. We even stopped in the restrooms right outside the gate (quite clean), but we couldn't put it off any longer. We trudged the final distance to the bus stop, and waited. Within minutes (darn!) our bus arrived and we were spirited away to CBR. As I looked back one last time upon The Castle, tears welled up in my eyes, but I wouldn't cry, as I am a Certified Adult.
We arrived with 20 minutes to spare before our driver, Dennis from YourRide, would be at CBR to pick us up. We retrieved our bags from Bell Services, set up camp in the lobby, and I dragged my things into the restroom to change into my Airplane Clothes (jeans, white tank, pink Mickey shirt my mom made me). I had just enough time to get a back of pretzels from the vending machine, and then our driver arrived early.
DH spent most of the trip yakking with Dennis, then their conversation was cut short by a phone call. We got to listen to the intimate details of Dennis's financial troubles involving an apartment he owns but sublets and the tenant's refusal to pay an electricity bill, and so on and so forth. The conversation got heated at times, his ruined credit was mentioned several times, as well as legal action he considered taking. Not a great way to end our trip... I thought it was pretty unprofessional. DH was bothered by it as well. Hmmmm.
But anyway, we unloaded at the airport, checked in, and found our terminal. We knew we needed to eat before the flight, so we stopped by the Burger King near Terminal 9. Please, please don't go there! It's one of those self-service set-ups... if you order a combo make sure you know exactly what comes with it and what size it should come in, because it's all left up to you to retrieve. All they had was one carton of large fries sitting under the heat lamps, and DH needed two mediums for our combo meals, and the ladies at the fry station actually told him to just get the large, as it is only ten cents more. DH explained to them that he didn't want the large, he needed two mediums, and they huffily dumped the contents of the large carton into two medium cartons. And did I mention the fries were cold? And I forgot that BK liberally slathers mayo on their burgers... yuck! So, we gulped down what we could purely for sustinance, then waited for our return flight To Reality.
Our flight was very bumpy for the first 30 minutes, thanks to Eduardo (remember him?), so it was a little like being on a roller coaster. Then, we finally made it out of that storm system and were Flying the Friendly Skies. Upon our arrival, we were met by our driver, Linda. Here's the background (rewind to 2000)... Linda used to work for a bridal shoppe - when I went to a Bridal Expo, I tried on a few dresses from this shop. She was helping me in and out of the dresses, and ooohhed and aaahhed at one Particular Dress. While she was doing that, a photographer from the Chronicle snapped pictures of me in this dress. We (Linda, myself, my mom) all agreed that this was the Magical Dress. Flash forward to one of my dress fittings... a limo service was displaying one of their white stretches in front of the store... I picked up a business card, my mom asked him a few questions, and I climbed in the stretch. I fell in love, money was exchanged, and a few minutes later a limo had been procured for my wedding. We realized that the Limo Service Owner is Linda's husband! So both worked on making My (our) Day as magical as possible. We used the service's town cars for a couple of events down the road, and decided to use them again for this WDW trip.
Sorry about all that background story, but it will all make sense right now... So Linda greets us, and walks us around the corner, and says, "Surprise!" Waiting there for us, instead of a Town Car, is a black stretch, decked out to the nines. She said that she realized, after checking the dates and locations (we honeymooned at WDW, they drove us home from the airport) that we had been celebrating our anniversary, so she picked us up in their brand-new super-deluxe stretch. She even had a cooler of sodas, water, and a bottle of bubbly (Asti - my favorite) for us! We downed the bottle during our ride home (approx. 35 minutes from airport) and I couldn't stop grinning! What a truly thoughtful and magical way to end our trip!! They got a fat tip, and I sent a thank-you card to them in the next few days. It's those little things that you least expect that mean the most.
So, that was our fabulous trip... and I can't wait to go back!
Post here or PM me with any further questions... I'll be glad to help any DISers out!
-MrsAPalm
Look here at my trip pics: http://photos.yahoo.com/mrsapalm
