Dear TSA/Airline Baggage Handler/Magic Express person...

Bren's Mom

DIS Veteran
Joined
Aug 11, 2006
Messages
4,191
...who stole my camera out of my luggage enroute to WDW,

I was so sad to find my camera gone. My ds, who is only 3, kept asking 'Why did someone take your camera mommy?'. We were in WDW to celebrate my mom's 60th birthday and my ds's first trip and I want you to know that in spite of your despicable act we had a GREAT time! I hope that someday you are repaid in kind for what you did.

Sincerely,

Bren's Mom

Soooo...our trip didn't start out so magical. :mad: But we made the best of it! Ds really enjoyed himself...more to follow!

2008-10-13BrensFirstDisneyTrip424.jpg
 
Jumping on board!
How horrible that your camera was stolen at the start of your trip. What a...lovely...way to start. Your DS is so adorable! Can't wait to read all about your trip.
 
I'm so sorry your trip started out like that.:sad2: I hope you were able to replace it and the rest of the trip got better fast.
Your son is just adorable.:cutie:
 
I'm sorry to hear about your camera, just another reason to pack a small carryon I guess....:(
 

The whole camera thing was a comedy of errors. First, I should never have packed it in the suitcase. I had a carry on for ds and one for me. I needed stuff for him to do on the plane, had to carry his CARES harness for the plane, needed snacks, and a change of clothes since ds is newly potty trained. So I already had alot of stuff to carry plus ds to keep an eye on plus his stroller. I thought it would be ok. Then I should have locked the luggage. We own TSA approved locks, bought them for our last cruise. But we moved in May and I couldn't locate the keys.

Anyway, I did pack it and it was stolen. Thankfully, my mom had her pocket digital with her. Of course, she had an almost full memory card and didn't bring the charger! :sad2: So I was deleting pics judiciously and trying to conserve the battery. Not the best scenario, but we worked with it. I was able to get almost 200 pics and many of them are great. That's all that matters I guess!
 
Sooo...without further ado...on to our trip report!

Monday, October 13, 2008

We arrived at 4pm at MCO via Airtran. No problems with the flight. Went straight to baggage claim area and found the Magic Express greeter with no problem. No line at the Magic Express desk and walked the 'red carpet' to get right on our bus. We only waited about 5 minutes before the bus left.

As we were arriving at Pop Century it started to pour. Torrential rains for an hour or two, but not a drop after that for the rest of the trip! There was no wait at the Pop check in. Our request for a room close to the main building, but on the back side facing the lake on the top floor was granted. We were given 60s room 6421. (We did not pay for a preferred room so I was very happy with this.) The CM gave my mom a birthday button and my son a My 1st Visit button.

Our elevator was right near the big Mickey phone and ds was THRILLED with this! Our room was small but serviceable. And clean. We put down our things and went back out to the main building, checking out the Twister game, the Goofy fountains and the pool on the way back.

We had dinner at the food court. It was ok, food court food. We were still trying to figure out the DDP 'rules'. One thing we noted was that snacks were well marked but nothing else. So we often forgot something that came with the meal. (Like dessert for an adult meal.) But the CMs at the register were great about reminding people. We didn't like having to go past the store and the arcade every time we wanted to go to transportation. My 3 year old was always wanting to stop and look. So the rest of the trip we'd walk around the side of the building to the front. Less temptation for him that way!

Around 7:45p we went back to our room. Luggage arrived soon after and we discovered the camera theft. I spent the next 2 hours making calls, talking to luggage services manager and a Disney Security officer plus Airtran and AAA. Mom put ds to bed and went to sleep early. I turned in as soon as my calls were made.
 
Tuesday, October 14, 2008

We were up early, ds is an early riser and he was SO excited to be at Disneyworld! Mom and ds went in their pjs to the main building to get us coffee and hot cocoa in our refillable mugs. They also brought back a kids breakfast of Mickey waffles, applesauce and juice. We all showered/dressed and were out the door of our room before 8am. I was the last to leave the room and left a Mousekeeping envelope along with ds's blankie, bear and Mickey gift wrapped in Mickey paper. We grabbed more coffee for us, filled ds's 'Cars' water bottle with ice and water and headed for the MK bus. We arrived just as the pre-opening show was beginning. That was fun!

When the gates opened we headed straight for Fantasyland. We rode It's a Small World (ds LOVED!) and then got a FP for Peter Pan. We walked over to the Dumbo ride (ds refused to ride) and the Carousel (again, he refused, guess he's not a ride kid!). Ariel's Grotto was closed at that time. We headed to Toon Town and saw Mickey and Minnie's houses, and then got to meet them in their tent. Ds tried to give Mickey his little stuffed Mickey...it was SO cute! And they were great with him, very patient as he's a little shy. We checked out the little playground area there and then rode the train back to Main St. We shared a giant cinnamon roll (a DDP snack!) at the bakery, ds had a strawberry and cream smoothie. We went to the hat store and got ds the black Mickey ears, they were enbroidered right there, no wait.

After shopping a little we walked back to Fantasyland. Got a Winnie the Pooh FP, with 'Bonus' FPs to Philharmagic. Went to ride Peter Pan, then Philharmagic then Winnie the Pooh. Ds loves them all but I think he was most impressed with Philharmagic! We didn't wait for more than 5 minutes for any of the rides we went on. We did many potty breaks as were were drinking alot (it was HOT!) and ds (newly potty trained) did GREAT. Not a single accident the whole trip!

We headed back toward the Crystal Palace where we had ADR for a late lunch. They couldn't take us early so we walked into Adventureland. We were able to walk right into the Tiki Room. Another big hit with ds. We watched the Flying Carpets ride and walked down to the Jungle Ride. At that time (about 1:30pm) the FP return was at 4p and we knew we wouldn't be in the park then so we skipped it. Ds enjoyed playing with the boats there.

We went back to Crystal Palace, checked in at 1:45p or so and were seated at 2pm. (We had 2:15p ADR) It was loud in there but the buffet was nice, service was excellent and the characters very patient with ds. My favorite was the chipotle rubbed salmon, very flavorful. Lots of nice salads. Lots of fruit, which ds loved. We were there almost 1.5 hours, taking our time eating and enjoying Pooh and friends. Very enjoyable.

When we were done we walked down Main St a ways until we were able to get a spot to watch the parade. Ds enjoyed this, waving at all his 'friends'. When the parade was over we headed for the gate. The wait for the bus wasn't long at all and before we knew it we were back at Pop. We had a nap, all 3 of us, and then went to the Goofy fountains. Ds LOVED LOVED LOVED these! We could have spent 3 days just doing this!

At 7pm we headed back to MK. I had gotten the time wrong, thought Wishes was a 8pm so we got a spot ifo the Castle to wait. At almost 8:30pm I realized I'd gotten it wrong and it wasn't until 9p so mom ran to Cosmic Ray's and got dinner, which we ate picnic style waiting for the fireworks. We all liked seeing the Castle change colors. And we were all ready with our glow stuff (ring for mom, bracelets for all of us, a glow stick and glow 'glasses' for ds). Wishes was awesome and ds was practically bouncing out of his seat seeing Tinkerbell!!

The crowd when Wishes was over was incredible. Lots of pushing and shoving and very 'unDisney' like behavior. So we made it to the sidewalk on Main St, got ice creams, walked down the uncrowded sidewalk to the area in front of Exposition Hall, sat on a bench and waited. When there was no more crowd we made our way to the bus area and had a very short wait. (Maybe 5-7 minutes.) It was perfect. I highly recommend this, don't fight the crowd, just wait it out!

We arrived back at Pop and, surprise! We had nicely made beds, a towel 'Octopus' sitting atop a Mickey gift and Bear was hanging out with them both. Ds was so excited! He got a Mickey sticker book and was shouting 'Thank you Mickey!'...LOL. It was a wonderful end to a wonderful day.

More to come...
 




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