bapcap
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2000
- Messages
- 272
Our travel dates are Dec. 5-16 (this report mostly pertains to my family of four)
Dec. 5 - Friday (evening)
We drove to San jose after work/school on Friday afternoon. Stayed at a Best Western hotel and got a really good "park-n-fly" rate. Had a quick dinner and tried to relax and go to sleep early because we had a very early flight out and it would be a long day tomorrow!! I don't think I slept much, I was too excited...
Dec. 6 - Saturday
The hotel shuttled us over to the airport early and we took advantage of the curb-side check in. We waited at the gate for about an hour and then we were on our way. We changed planes in Dallas after a 90 minute layover. Arrived at MCO about 6PM. While waiting for our luggage to appear, Beth met Miss America and got her autograph. She was apparently on our flight to Orlando and was to take part in the Candlelight Processional at EPCOT later in the week. Once we had our luggage, we headed over to the get our rental car from National. The wait time wasn't very long. We got a Chevy Trailblazer(very roomy) and we were on the way to the timeshare condo. Amazingly we only got lost once on the way. I called Robyn on the cell phone to let her know where we were. We arrived and met up with everyone after a long day of travel. We stayed up visiting and planning our itinerary for the next few days. Finally it was time for bed and it sure felt good.
Dec. 7 - Sunday
We ate breakfast in the condo. (Robyn had shopped after they arrived early on Saturday.) eating breakfast in the condo everyday really helped with expenses and saved us a lot of time in the morning. We all drove over to the Animal Kingdom and arrived right before opening. We purchased our park-hopper tickets, 5 days for $99 ueach using Tom's military discount. Tom's ticket was free. I purchased an Annual Pass for myself and Katriena was able to get me a discount on the price. By using the Pass, we didn't have to pay for parking at any of the parks during the trip and I got a great discount on our room at CBR.
We had a wonderful day at the Animal Kingdom and went to just about every attraction with the Kilimanjaro Safari as our favorite. We had lunch at the Flame Tree BBQ and really enjoyed the "downtime" while eating. (I have to add here that about a year ago I had minor knee surgery, so we occasionally just sat, rested, and "people-watched". I would usually sit down while everyone else hit the shops.) After a full day, we headed out for dinner "offiste" and then to the condo for a quiet evening.
Dec. 8 - Monday
Got up early again, ate and we were off!! We headed out for the MGM Studios for the day. This is where Katriena has been working and she introduced us to many of her friendly co-workers. I thanked them all for making Katriena feel so welcome and like part of the family. We took off for the rides and attractions and enjoyed everything. My favorites were TOT, RNRC, and WWTBAM!! Beth even got to the "hot seat" on Millionaire and mde it to the $32,000 level before answering the question wrong. She was very excited and enjoyed the "show". Later in the day, 2 ladies mentioned seeing her during the show and congratulated her on her performance. That evenin we all ate at the Sci-Fi Drive In. Beth and I ordered one rib dingner to share and we each recieved a huge protion. At first, I thought our waiter had mis-understood that we wanted to share. He said, with a smile, "No, I understood what you wanted..." Wow!! The meal was almost too much for us to eat. We arrived back at the condo tired and ready for bed.
Dec. 9 - Tuesday
today was our EPCOT day!! All of the Christmas decor was so exciting to see. I was constantly taking pictures and the kids kept telling me, "No, you can't decorate the yard like this!!" We got to the park early enough to see the arrival of the Chracter Caravan. Beth and Cam took pictures with Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy in the holiday attire. While visiting each country, I had the kids try on hats and took some really fun pictures. We traveld around the "world" starting with Mexicao, stopping for attraction rides, shops, and shows along the way. Some of us had lunch at the American counter service and others tried the Japanese food. Everyone seemed heppy with their choice. We stopped for a "beaver-tail" in Canada for desert...yummy!! Boy, do you have to watch out for the cirds while eating this...Beth was talking to use while eating and a bird (seagull, I think) "dive-bombed" her plate...whoa!! It was quite hilarious to everyone around. We left the park after our desert and returned to the condo to rest up for the evening. Back to EPCOT later and we rode Mission Space. Beth was a little worried about this ride because she tends to get motion sick sometimes. Happy to report that we all did fine. Just rememeber to follow the directions that Gary Sinise gives and you'll have a great trip to Mars!! We then did some shopping and found a place to watch Illuminations. I was really anxious for Beth to see the show and she loved it. More shopping and looking at all of the lighted Christmas displays after the show to let the crwods thin-out and then we were back at the condo-very tired.
More to come in Part 3...
Dec. 5 - Friday (evening)
We drove to San jose after work/school on Friday afternoon. Stayed at a Best Western hotel and got a really good "park-n-fly" rate. Had a quick dinner and tried to relax and go to sleep early because we had a very early flight out and it would be a long day tomorrow!! I don't think I slept much, I was too excited...
Dec. 6 - Saturday
The hotel shuttled us over to the airport early and we took advantage of the curb-side check in. We waited at the gate for about an hour and then we were on our way. We changed planes in Dallas after a 90 minute layover. Arrived at MCO about 6PM. While waiting for our luggage to appear, Beth met Miss America and got her autograph. She was apparently on our flight to Orlando and was to take part in the Candlelight Processional at EPCOT later in the week. Once we had our luggage, we headed over to the get our rental car from National. The wait time wasn't very long. We got a Chevy Trailblazer(very roomy) and we were on the way to the timeshare condo. Amazingly we only got lost once on the way. I called Robyn on the cell phone to let her know where we were. We arrived and met up with everyone after a long day of travel. We stayed up visiting and planning our itinerary for the next few days. Finally it was time for bed and it sure felt good.
Dec. 7 - Sunday
We ate breakfast in the condo. (Robyn had shopped after they arrived early on Saturday.) eating breakfast in the condo everyday really helped with expenses and saved us a lot of time in the morning. We all drove over to the Animal Kingdom and arrived right before opening. We purchased our park-hopper tickets, 5 days for $99 ueach using Tom's military discount. Tom's ticket was free. I purchased an Annual Pass for myself and Katriena was able to get me a discount on the price. By using the Pass, we didn't have to pay for parking at any of the parks during the trip and I got a great discount on our room at CBR.
We had a wonderful day at the Animal Kingdom and went to just about every attraction with the Kilimanjaro Safari as our favorite. We had lunch at the Flame Tree BBQ and really enjoyed the "downtime" while eating. (I have to add here that about a year ago I had minor knee surgery, so we occasionally just sat, rested, and "people-watched". I would usually sit down while everyone else hit the shops.) After a full day, we headed out for dinner "offiste" and then to the condo for a quiet evening.
Dec. 8 - Monday
Got up early again, ate and we were off!! We headed out for the MGM Studios for the day. This is where Katriena has been working and she introduced us to many of her friendly co-workers. I thanked them all for making Katriena feel so welcome and like part of the family. We took off for the rides and attractions and enjoyed everything. My favorites were TOT, RNRC, and WWTBAM!! Beth even got to the "hot seat" on Millionaire and mde it to the $32,000 level before answering the question wrong. She was very excited and enjoyed the "show". Later in the day, 2 ladies mentioned seeing her during the show and congratulated her on her performance. That evenin we all ate at the Sci-Fi Drive In. Beth and I ordered one rib dingner to share and we each recieved a huge protion. At first, I thought our waiter had mis-understood that we wanted to share. He said, with a smile, "No, I understood what you wanted..." Wow!! The meal was almost too much for us to eat. We arrived back at the condo tired and ready for bed.
Dec. 9 - Tuesday
today was our EPCOT day!! All of the Christmas decor was so exciting to see. I was constantly taking pictures and the kids kept telling me, "No, you can't decorate the yard like this!!" We got to the park early enough to see the arrival of the Chracter Caravan. Beth and Cam took pictures with Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy in the holiday attire. While visiting each country, I had the kids try on hats and took some really fun pictures. We traveld around the "world" starting with Mexicao, stopping for attraction rides, shops, and shows along the way. Some of us had lunch at the American counter service and others tried the Japanese food. Everyone seemed heppy with their choice. We stopped for a "beaver-tail" in Canada for desert...yummy!! Boy, do you have to watch out for the cirds while eating this...Beth was talking to use while eating and a bird (seagull, I think) "dive-bombed" her plate...whoa!! It was quite hilarious to everyone around. We left the park after our desert and returned to the condo to rest up for the evening. Back to EPCOT later and we rode Mission Space. Beth was a little worried about this ride because she tends to get motion sick sometimes. Happy to report that we all did fine. Just rememeber to follow the directions that Gary Sinise gives and you'll have a great trip to Mars!! We then did some shopping and found a place to watch Illuminations. I was really anxious for Beth to see the show and she loved it. More shopping and looking at all of the lighted Christmas displays after the show to let the crwods thin-out and then we were back at the condo-very tired.
More to come in Part 3...
