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!
Day 7, Monday, October 7th
Woke up sad that this was our last day not sure when Gavin started asking if we could stay, could we live at WDW, etc. Had express checkout, so took our luggage to the Valet stand to hold till this afternoon, and went to the Mara for breakfast. Man I was missing the Cinnamon yummy from Boardwalk bakery already! Gavin said today was my day p we would do whatever I wanted to do hes really a sweetie! Had a 30 second wait for a bus to MGM which got us there at 8:45 AM. Went through security, and they let folks in a little before the official opening time of 9 AM. Wed come back for Gavin to ride Tower of terror Id decided to weenie out on this trip since I knew wed be back in April. He headed that direction while I went in to a shop for (yet more!) film. As I wandered through the shops (so much less crowded than the sidewalks) he came back and found me, saying they hadnt let people back towards the rides yet, just onto Hollywood Blvd. He found me at the check-out and whew I managed to cover up the postcard I bought for him under the souvenir ones for the scrapbook. I had found one that said I survived the Tower of Terror and planned to present it to him after the ride. He headed back off to ToT. I meandered my way there, stopping at Starting Rolls for a coffee cake muffin (very good) and more coffee, and just made it to ToT as he came off. I gave him his card and got a picture of him holding the card with ToT in the background for the scrapbook. He said it shouldnt shake me up like RnR. Now that Im back, and have read some posts about this non-drowsy motion sickness tablet you can get at the pharmacy, I think I am going to try that for our next rip, because I really do love to ride the roller coasters and simulators and this is the first time Ive ever had such a strong negative reaction.
We went to the One mans Dream exhibit we spent quite a bit of time here, coming out about 10:45 AM. Walt was such a visionary. And by pursuing his dreams he has given so much to others. Very inspiring.
We checked again, and found out Mike & Sully were due out in 10 minutes, so we waited and got pictures with them.. The CM in attendance was great about taking pictures of parties with multiple people he wouldnt let us take a picture of the lady and her son in front of us said we were on vacation and shouldnt have to work! And then he did the same for us really a nice guy.
Done with MGM, we caught the Friendship bound for Epcot. Before we boarded, one of the captains noticed my lanyard and wanted to trade he was a really nice guy. I traded him my extra Donald with film pin for the Mickey Pin trading pin. Then I traded him my last original Amex pin that came with my lanyard for the Mickey pin that matched the Minnie pin I got from Goofy at H&V (think I could work any more characters in that sentence if I tried?). Then I regretted letting go of my white glove treatment pin I decided I wanted my pin not an identical one from another CM (every one of them had one of these on their lanyard) so I traded him my second Texas Mickey pin to get my Amex pin back. I was happy and done with pin trading for this trip. We had even gotten a special Beauty & the Beast pin when we ordered our DVD at one of the gift shops in AK yesterday, so I had ended up with a nice assortment of pins.
At Epcot, we got a quick lunch of fish and chips from the UK takeaway window, and by 12:35 we were on our way via monorail to the TTC. Gavin had asked what I wanted for my last day, and I wanted to be sprinkled with Pixie Dust again (my magic moments pin) on Peter Pans flight. At the TTC, they put us in the front of the monorail to the MK without our asking we werent going to ask since wed already done it and we had a great pilot Bob who actually knew Fort Worth. He stops here about once a year to eat at a local restaurant on a long drive across several states. Well, Bob, guess where we just found out Gavins office Christmas party is going to be? Joe t. Garcias truly a small world. He gave us co-pilots licenses before we left. That really is a nice touch. On the way in to MK was did a brief survey, and as we made our way in to the park the only thing we could say was Where did all these people come from? Wow talk about a contrast to the first 6 days of our trip!
Gavin got his picture made with Donald, who had just come out as we neared the front of Cinderellas castle. This is Gavins favorite character, and in all his family trips, hed never had his picture made with Donald. On other days, when we saw him and Id encourage him to get in line, he always said the line was too long, he didnt really need the picture, etc. Im glad it was a short line this time, and that I insisted because he was really tickled afterwards that hed had his picture made with Donald. We watched a little of the Sword in the Stone ceremony in front of the carousel, but man it was hot today I swear it felt even hotter than any of the previous days. If you stood in one place in the sun, you just started dripping, so we moved on and got fast passes for Peter Pans flight, which already had a posted wait of over and hour. The other thing I had wanted to do was ride the train all the way around the park I love the train! So we went to the station in Frontierland quite crowded! We waited 10 minutes or so for the train, with more people crowding into the waiting area at all times, and finally got on the train. There was a family with a couple of twins, a boy and a girl in front of us (probably less than a year old) they were so cute! We rode the train all the way round, back to Frontierland, and then on to Toontown where we got off and got a Mickey ice cream sandwich - yum! We waited the ten or so minutes until our fast pass window opened up man it was crowded in Fantasyland. Got sprinkled with Pixie dust and headed towards the exit. After a 10 minute wait for the bus to AKL (the poor folks waiting for the OKW bus next to us were pretty restless, I think theyd had a long wait) at 3 PM we were headed back to the resort to meet our car service for <sigh> the trip back to the airport. It had taken us almost three hours at MK today to do two things, one of them with Fastpass what a contrast to the previous days.
We did some last minute souvenir shopping for co-workers and ourselves in the Zawadi Marketplace, and then it was time at 3:45 to load up our stuff and go. As we got ready to walk out the doors, a plaque on the wall caught my eye Please touch me dont things usually read *Dont* touch me? The sign went on to say that it was the tradition of a certain tribe to touch the giant carved shield/plaque next to the sign, to receive safe journey home. We touched it, fought back the tears, and went out to meet our driver. If we hadnt already decided to come back, I dont know if I could have gotten Gavin out the door. Our driver commented about how quiet we were. Well, wed had such a truly wonderful trip full of so many different special memories, we were sad to be going. At one point during the day, Gavin asked if we could live at WDW or maybe at least call in sick and stay one more day.
Security screening at Orlando airport the swabbed one of our carryons and putt the swab in a testing machine. Their security checkpoint is amazing. At the flight, we were both diverted for extra screening. Both had to take the shoes off eww Gavins feet had been sweating in those sandals those poor security folks! They searched our carryons very thoroughly ad one bag had all our toiletries it took a long time. They ended up scratching Gavins brand new electric razor and they left a shampoo bottle open. My advise to everyone check your caps etc. when you get on the plane if we had we wouldnt have been rinsing shampoo off of everything else in there when we got home.
In Houston, the plane we were supposed to connect to was late coming in, then they had two passengers in wheelchairs so that took an additional half hour to unload before the crews could get to the planes. We didnt really care Bushs speech was on the CNN TVs allover the airport. Back to the real world. The pilots must have floored it because they made up about 20 minutes in a 45 minute flight from Houston to DFW, so we were only 10 minutes late. Neil met us and we finally got home about 11 AM. Two happy little doggies to give us exuberant greetings Gavin said having them to come home to made it easier to come back. If it had been an empty house it would have been harder.
Epilogue
The next day, mid-morning, I called Gavin to see how he was doing on the first day back. I had two floater holidays, not one we could have stayed two more days he lamented. He had confessed the night before to being in danger of becoming addicted to Disney I told him there are much worse things in life to be addicted to and I think I can live with that. So with this in mind, my wheels start turning . . . Aprils a long way away but December Gavins birthday How about a long weekend trip with your two floating holidays (I have more vacation time than he does and all his was used up on this trip) in December? I ask him. Well, next thing you know we are booked for 4 nights at All Star Music in early December! Disney at Christmas time we cant wait!
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!
Day 7, Monday, October 7th
Woke up sad that this was our last day not sure when Gavin started asking if we could stay, could we live at WDW, etc. Had express checkout, so took our luggage to the Valet stand to hold till this afternoon, and went to the Mara for breakfast. Man I was missing the Cinnamon yummy from Boardwalk bakery already! Gavin said today was my day p we would do whatever I wanted to do hes really a sweetie! Had a 30 second wait for a bus to MGM which got us there at 8:45 AM. Went through security, and they let folks in a little before the official opening time of 9 AM. Wed come back for Gavin to ride Tower of terror Id decided to weenie out on this trip since I knew wed be back in April. He headed that direction while I went in to a shop for (yet more!) film. As I wandered through the shops (so much less crowded than the sidewalks) he came back and found me, saying they hadnt let people back towards the rides yet, just onto Hollywood Blvd. He found me at the check-out and whew I managed to cover up the postcard I bought for him under the souvenir ones for the scrapbook. I had found one that said I survived the Tower of Terror and planned to present it to him after the ride. He headed back off to ToT. I meandered my way there, stopping at Starting Rolls for a coffee cake muffin (very good) and more coffee, and just made it to ToT as he came off. I gave him his card and got a picture of him holding the card with ToT in the background for the scrapbook. He said it shouldnt shake me up like RnR. Now that Im back, and have read some posts about this non-drowsy motion sickness tablet you can get at the pharmacy, I think I am going to try that for our next rip, because I really do love to ride the roller coasters and simulators and this is the first time Ive ever had such a strong negative reaction.
We went to the One mans Dream exhibit we spent quite a bit of time here, coming out about 10:45 AM. Walt was such a visionary. And by pursuing his dreams he has given so much to others. Very inspiring.
We checked again, and found out Mike & Sully were due out in 10 minutes, so we waited and got pictures with them.. The CM in attendance was great about taking pictures of parties with multiple people he wouldnt let us take a picture of the lady and her son in front of us said we were on vacation and shouldnt have to work! And then he did the same for us really a nice guy.
Done with MGM, we caught the Friendship bound for Epcot. Before we boarded, one of the captains noticed my lanyard and wanted to trade he was a really nice guy. I traded him my extra Donald with film pin for the Mickey Pin trading pin. Then I traded him my last original Amex pin that came with my lanyard for the Mickey pin that matched the Minnie pin I got from Goofy at H&V (think I could work any more characters in that sentence if I tried?). Then I regretted letting go of my white glove treatment pin I decided I wanted my pin not an identical one from another CM (every one of them had one of these on their lanyard) so I traded him my second Texas Mickey pin to get my Amex pin back. I was happy and done with pin trading for this trip. We had even gotten a special Beauty & the Beast pin when we ordered our DVD at one of the gift shops in AK yesterday, so I had ended up with a nice assortment of pins.
At Epcot, we got a quick lunch of fish and chips from the UK takeaway window, and by 12:35 we were on our way via monorail to the TTC. Gavin had asked what I wanted for my last day, and I wanted to be sprinkled with Pixie Dust again (my magic moments pin) on Peter Pans flight. At the TTC, they put us in the front of the monorail to the MK without our asking we werent going to ask since wed already done it and we had a great pilot Bob who actually knew Fort Worth. He stops here about once a year to eat at a local restaurant on a long drive across several states. Well, Bob, guess where we just found out Gavins office Christmas party is going to be? Joe t. Garcias truly a small world. He gave us co-pilots licenses before we left. That really is a nice touch. On the way in to MK was did a brief survey, and as we made our way in to the park the only thing we could say was Where did all these people come from? Wow talk about a contrast to the first 6 days of our trip!
Gavin got his picture made with Donald, who had just come out as we neared the front of Cinderellas castle. This is Gavins favorite character, and in all his family trips, hed never had his picture made with Donald. On other days, when we saw him and Id encourage him to get in line, he always said the line was too long, he didnt really need the picture, etc. Im glad it was a short line this time, and that I insisted because he was really tickled afterwards that hed had his picture made with Donald. We watched a little of the Sword in the Stone ceremony in front of the carousel, but man it was hot today I swear it felt even hotter than any of the previous days. If you stood in one place in the sun, you just started dripping, so we moved on and got fast passes for Peter Pans flight, which already had a posted wait of over and hour. The other thing I had wanted to do was ride the train all the way around the park I love the train! So we went to the station in Frontierland quite crowded! We waited 10 minutes or so for the train, with more people crowding into the waiting area at all times, and finally got on the train. There was a family with a couple of twins, a boy and a girl in front of us (probably less than a year old) they were so cute! We rode the train all the way round, back to Frontierland, and then on to Toontown where we got off and got a Mickey ice cream sandwich - yum! We waited the ten or so minutes until our fast pass window opened up man it was crowded in Fantasyland. Got sprinkled with Pixie dust and headed towards the exit. After a 10 minute wait for the bus to AKL (the poor folks waiting for the OKW bus next to us were pretty restless, I think theyd had a long wait) at 3 PM we were headed back to the resort to meet our car service for <sigh> the trip back to the airport. It had taken us almost three hours at MK today to do two things, one of them with Fastpass what a contrast to the previous days.
We did some last minute souvenir shopping for co-workers and ourselves in the Zawadi Marketplace, and then it was time at 3:45 to load up our stuff and go. As we got ready to walk out the doors, a plaque on the wall caught my eye Please touch me dont things usually read *Dont* touch me? The sign went on to say that it was the tradition of a certain tribe to touch the giant carved shield/plaque next to the sign, to receive safe journey home. We touched it, fought back the tears, and went out to meet our driver. If we hadnt already decided to come back, I dont know if I could have gotten Gavin out the door. Our driver commented about how quiet we were. Well, wed had such a truly wonderful trip full of so many different special memories, we were sad to be going. At one point during the day, Gavin asked if we could live at WDW or maybe at least call in sick and stay one more day.
Security screening at Orlando airport the swabbed one of our carryons and putt the swab in a testing machine. Their security checkpoint is amazing. At the flight, we were both diverted for extra screening. Both had to take the shoes off eww Gavins feet had been sweating in those sandals those poor security folks! They searched our carryons very thoroughly ad one bag had all our toiletries it took a long time. They ended up scratching Gavins brand new electric razor and they left a shampoo bottle open. My advise to everyone check your caps etc. when you get on the plane if we had we wouldnt have been rinsing shampoo off of everything else in there when we got home.
In Houston, the plane we were supposed to connect to was late coming in, then they had two passengers in wheelchairs so that took an additional half hour to unload before the crews could get to the planes. We didnt really care Bushs speech was on the CNN TVs allover the airport. Back to the real world. The pilots must have floored it because they made up about 20 minutes in a 45 minute flight from Houston to DFW, so we were only 10 minutes late. Neil met us and we finally got home about 11 AM. Two happy little doggies to give us exuberant greetings Gavin said having them to come home to made it easier to come back. If it had been an empty house it would have been harder.
Epilogue
The next day, mid-morning, I called Gavin to see how he was doing on the first day back. I had two floater holidays, not one we could have stayed two more days he lamented. He had confessed the night before to being in danger of becoming addicted to Disney I told him there are much worse things in life to be addicted to and I think I can live with that. So with this in mind, my wheels start turning . . . Aprils a long way away but December Gavins birthday How about a long weekend trip with your two floating holidays (I have more vacation time than he does and all his was used up on this trip) in December? I ask him. Well, next thing you know we are booked for 4 nights at All Star Music in early December! Disney at Christmas time we cant wait!
It sounds like you guy's had a wonderful time!
