Doing Our Part to Stimulate the Economy Sept 09
- Thread starter missj1975
- Start date
Dr_Finkelstein
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2007
- Messages
- 1,265
Welcome back!!!! 
Glad you had a great time, can't wait to hear all about it and see the photos!
Keep osting
Di x
Glad you had a great time, can't wait to hear all about it and see the photos!
Keep osting
Di x
We left bright and early Friday morning (4:30) to be exact. We decided to drive my DBF's Ford Taurus since it gets much better gas mileage then my SUV. Way better, we only spent $128 on gas the first day and that was with a full tank for the next morning.
Donald (my DBF's Disney name) booked us a room in Valdosta, Georgia. The drive was pretty uneventful and we reached Valdosta at 5:30pm. At that point we were wishing we hadn't booked a hotel room and wanted to continue driving but it was too late to cancel the room. We stayed at a pretty clean Days Inn for $52.41.
After some brainstorming we decided to go to the beach in the morning before heading to Pop Century. Yeah we wanted to get to Disney but I like my room ready when I arrive at Pop so we decided to kill some time at the beach. That was one of the best spur of the moment decisions we have ever made. Donald hopped on the internet and decided on Clearwater Beach. We really wanted a beach on the gulf side because we both love sea shells.
We both went to bed at 9pm because we decided to get up at 3:30 so we could leave the room by 4 am and be at the beach by 8 am.
Donald (my DBF's Disney name) booked us a room in Valdosta, Georgia. The drive was pretty uneventful and we reached Valdosta at 5:30pm. At that point we were wishing we hadn't booked a hotel room and wanted to continue driving but it was too late to cancel the room. We stayed at a pretty clean Days Inn for $52.41.
After some brainstorming we decided to go to the beach in the morning before heading to Pop Century. Yeah we wanted to get to Disney but I like my room ready when I arrive at Pop so we decided to kill some time at the beach. That was one of the best spur of the moment decisions we have ever made. Donald hopped on the internet and decided on Clearwater Beach. We really wanted a beach on the gulf side because we both love sea shells.
We both went to bed at 9pm because we decided to get up at 3:30 so we could leave the room by 4 am and be at the beach by 8 am.
I have been to several beaches in Flordia. I went to New Smyrna beach as a child. Actually I almost became a Florida missing child statistic at that beach but that is story for a different thread. Only happy thoughts on this thread. Anyway, I have also been to Coco Beach. Both beaches are nice but nothing impressive with shells. My DBF knows I love shells so he was quite excited about taking me to this beach. One day he wants to take me to Sanibal Island but Clearwater Beach will do for now.
All I can say is Wow!!! I love Clearwater Beach. The drive into the city is great, very scenic bridges with a great view of the ocean. Clearwater is like a small island connected to Florida by several bridges. We went to Sand Key Park since it has a public park and inexpensive parking (parking meters).
We arrived at exactly 8 a.m. We practically had the beach to ourselves with only a few other people on the beach. We walked around for two hours taking pictures, picking up seashells, and playing in the water.
The seashells were awesome, tons and tons of shells to choose from. Luckily Donald thought of bringing a shell bag and we filled it full. For some reason I never took a picture of our shells even though I took a picture of practically everything else. Oh well, I later cleaned them up in Pop Century and now they are sitting in a Disney bag waiting for me to think of some crafty idea for them.
I am now a huge fan of Clearwater beach and we will go back in future trips. After the beach we headed to Pop Century. It only took us an hour and a half to get to Pop Century from the beach so we are liking the closeness of the beach to Disney.
All I can say is Wow!!! I love Clearwater Beach. The drive into the city is great, very scenic bridges with a great view of the ocean. Clearwater is like a small island connected to Florida by several bridges. We went to Sand Key Park since it has a public park and inexpensive parking (parking meters).
We arrived at exactly 8 a.m. We practically had the beach to ourselves with only a few other people on the beach. We walked around for two hours taking pictures, picking up seashells, and playing in the water.
The seashells were awesome, tons and tons of shells to choose from. Luckily Donald thought of bringing a shell bag and we filled it full. For some reason I never took a picture of our shells even though I took a picture of practically everything else. Oh well, I later cleaned them up in Pop Century and now they are sitting in a Disney bag waiting for me to think of some crafty idea for them.
I am now a huge fan of Clearwater beach and we will go back in future trips. After the beach we headed to Pop Century. It only took us an hour and a half to get to Pop Century from the beach so we are liking the closeness of the beach to Disney.
SmithFamily2003
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2006
- Messages
- 228
Great start to your trip report! Can't wait for more! I am glad you made it through Georgia!
SmithFamily2003
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2006
- Messages
- 228
For our upcoming Feb. trip, we decided we would spend a day at the beach before we check into Disney. But we had not picked a beach yet. After seeing your Clearwater Beach pictures, I thought that would be the perfect beach to go to! I spent over an hour on-line trying to find a hotel on the beach but they were all booked for the last weekend in Jan! I couldn't figure out what was going on until I looked at a map and realized Clearwater is close to Tampa. And that Sunday is Feb. 1. Superbowl!!! I guess all the hotels in the area are going to be booked because of the Superbowl. Oh well! Now I have to pick a different beach, because I really want a hotel with direct beach access.
Can't wait for your next installment!
Can't wait for your next installment!
Dr_Finkelstein
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2007
- Messages
- 1,265
Lovely photos of Clearwater beach! Will definately need to check that out - can't wait to hear more!
Di x
Di x
We left Clearwater beach around 10am and headed to Walt Disney World. It seemed like in no time at all, we were seeing everyone's favorite sign...
This personally is my favorite sign because it means I'm home.
We arrived at Pop to a very long line but luckily the line moved very quickly. Check in was very smooth even though we had a newbie being trained. Our room was fourth floor in the bowling pin section. Fourth floor was a bit of a disappointment but I never make special requests so I was ok with it. I prefer playing room lotto, makes check-in much more interesting
We loved our room by the end of vacation because it was the farthest away from the loud noisey pool. We could also see Wishes and Illuminations from our balcony. Yeah, loading and unloading our car was a pain but we needed the exercise after all the free food we consumed.
We wasted no time in using our free dining credits and had lunch at the Pop Century Food Court. We actually ate lunch there twice on the trip because I loved the Parmesan Crusted Chicken and Donald loved the Beef & Broccoli. Donald regretted eating the tye dyed cheesecake. Hmmm... all I will say is he was quite worried by the coloring of unmentionable stuff three days later until I reminded him that he ate the tye dyed cheesecake.
We then headed to our room. This was my favorite statue that we passed every morning and night.
We managed to unload our car in only three trips. Thank goodness for elevators. We might have got a little carried away with bringing stuff on this trip (last trip we flew so we had much less stuff). We had 4 suitcases, a cooler, a rubbermaid container of road trip snacks, two laptop bags, my makeup bag, and two garment bags. Oh and we had a 5 pound bag of shells from the morning trip to the beach.
I mentioned being shocked by all our stuff and Donald said well one suitcase is just presents for you so I will have one less suitcase after you open your birthday presents. I just gave him the look and then he graciously offered to let me use his extra suitcase for my presents. Gee thanks honey.
This personally is my favorite sign because it means I'm home.
We arrived at Pop to a very long line but luckily the line moved very quickly. Check in was very smooth even though we had a newbie being trained. Our room was fourth floor in the bowling pin section. Fourth floor was a bit of a disappointment but I never make special requests so I was ok with it. I prefer playing room lotto, makes check-in much more interesting
We loved our room by the end of vacation because it was the farthest away from the loud noisey pool. We could also see Wishes and Illuminations from our balcony. Yeah, loading and unloading our car was a pain but we needed the exercise after all the free food we consumed.
We wasted no time in using our free dining credits and had lunch at the Pop Century Food Court. We actually ate lunch there twice on the trip because I loved the Parmesan Crusted Chicken and Donald loved the Beef & Broccoli. Donald regretted eating the tye dyed cheesecake. Hmmm... all I will say is he was quite worried by the coloring of unmentionable stuff three days later until I reminded him that he ate the tye dyed cheesecake.
We then headed to our room. This was my favorite statue that we passed every morning and night.
We managed to unload our car in only three trips. Thank goodness for elevators. We might have got a little carried away with bringing stuff on this trip (last trip we flew so we had much less stuff). We had 4 suitcases, a cooler, a rubbermaid container of road trip snacks, two laptop bags, my makeup bag, and two garment bags. Oh and we had a 5 pound bag of shells from the morning trip to the beach.
I mentioned being shocked by all our stuff and Donald said well one suitcase is just presents for you so I will have one less suitcase after you open your birthday presents. I just gave him the look and then he graciously offered to let me use his extra suitcase for my presents. Gee thanks honey.
But it's just the price you have to pay for something so yummy!We hopped the bus to Magic Kingdom and resisted the urge to go through the turnstyles. Instead we hopped on the monorail to the Polynesian Hotel. We were about two hours early for dinner but that was planned. Donald wanted to check out all the deluxe hotels just in case he ever wins the lotto and we actually can afford to stay at one. I'm not holding my breath. Besides, I do like Pop Century. I can't resist huge fiberglass statues.
We had fun walking around the hotel, taking pictures, squishing pennies, and trading pins. I also bought a coconut postcard and mailed it to my niece. She received it before I got home from vacation and she absolutely loved it. My niece is only 3 1/2 years old but already is a Disney expert and has been to Disney twice. She immediately knew the coconut was from Disney without my sister saying anything. My sister did say my niece asked if she was supposed to eat it and how does it open. Yep, my niece is a genuis. (Both my nieces, I have two). I'm not being sarcastic. I'm constantly amazed at the things she thinks of saying. Anyway, one more funny comment. I called her during the week and was making small talk (which isn't easy to do with a 3-year-old) and told her I bought her a present. She immediately asked "Chocolate or Toy?" Ahhh, I teared up, she is so cute and I was getting a little homesick at that point.
Back to Ohanas, did I mention we pin traded? Donald and I pin traded a lot during vacation. Like a real lot, like so much that I am embarrassed to say exactly how many pins we traded. Polynesian even had a pin board that was brought out while we were there. Perfect timing and we actually got an "AP" pin from the board. For those non-pin experts, AP stands for Artist Proof. When Disney makes pins, some pins of the run are stamped AP and given to whoever is in charge of Disney Pins to review and decide how many are going to be ordered and for whatever other reasons, etc. AP pins are very desirable among the pin trading world and this is the first time I had actually traded for one, so I was very excited.
Our little buzzer went off and we were seated pretty close to our reservation time. We were led to a great table with a wonderful view.
I was very happy that we had a great view of the Castle. Our waitress Melly was wonderful and so was the waiter who brought the food and cleared the table. I don't remember his name but he was super nice too.
The food was awesome. I do miss the cheesy pototoes that they served two years ago, but I found a new love with the pork dumplings. This was Donald's first time being to Ohanas and he was very impressed. We will definitely make Ohanas a tradition.
Melly noticed my birthday button and brought me this.
I was stuffed at that point but I did manage to eat all the icing and most of the cake. Halfway through, I did remember to offer Donald a piece. Luckily he was distracted by the Ohana bread pudding with ice cream.
I will have to say Ohana's was our favorite restaurant (besides V&A). Everything was perfect about the meal, the service, and the atmosphere. Our first day had been amazing so far and we decided to top it off at Magic Kingdom.
Yep, I should have known. Magic Kingdom on a Saturday? I completely disregarded any opinions I had read on the disboards and we headed over to Magic Kingdom.
We had fun walking around the hotel, taking pictures, squishing pennies, and trading pins. I also bought a coconut postcard and mailed it to my niece. She received it before I got home from vacation and she absolutely loved it. My niece is only 3 1/2 years old but already is a Disney expert and has been to Disney twice. She immediately knew the coconut was from Disney without my sister saying anything. My sister did say my niece asked if she was supposed to eat it and how does it open. Yep, my niece is a genuis. (Both my nieces, I have two). I'm not being sarcastic. I'm constantly amazed at the things she thinks of saying. Anyway, one more funny comment. I called her during the week and was making small talk (which isn't easy to do with a 3-year-old) and told her I bought her a present. She immediately asked "Chocolate or Toy?" Ahhh, I teared up, she is so cute and I was getting a little homesick at that point.
Back to Ohanas, did I mention we pin traded? Donald and I pin traded a lot during vacation. Like a real lot, like so much that I am embarrassed to say exactly how many pins we traded. Polynesian even had a pin board that was brought out while we were there. Perfect timing and we actually got an "AP" pin from the board. For those non-pin experts, AP stands for Artist Proof. When Disney makes pins, some pins of the run are stamped AP and given to whoever is in charge of Disney Pins to review and decide how many are going to be ordered and for whatever other reasons, etc. AP pins are very desirable among the pin trading world and this is the first time I had actually traded for one, so I was very excited.
Our little buzzer went off and we were seated pretty close to our reservation time. We were led to a great table with a wonderful view.
I was very happy that we had a great view of the Castle. Our waitress Melly was wonderful and so was the waiter who brought the food and cleared the table. I don't remember his name but he was super nice too.
The food was awesome. I do miss the cheesy pototoes that they served two years ago, but I found a new love with the pork dumplings. This was Donald's first time being to Ohanas and he was very impressed. We will definitely make Ohanas a tradition.
Melly noticed my birthday button and brought me this.
I was stuffed at that point but I did manage to eat all the icing and most of the cake. Halfway through, I did remember to offer Donald a piece.
Luckily he was distracted by the Ohana bread pudding with ice cream.I will have to say Ohana's was our favorite restaurant (besides V&A). Everything was perfect about the meal, the service, and the atmosphere. Our first day had been amazing so far and we decided to top it off at Magic Kingdom.
Yep, I should have known. Magic Kingdom on a Saturday? I completely disregarded any opinions I had read on the disboards and we headed over to Magic Kingdom.
Wow - you both did pack a LOT of stuff!
Yeah you should have seen our stuff once we reloaded the car at the end of the trip. I think the reload took about five trips. I definitely went way over my souviner budget.
kathleen27
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2008
- Messages
- 1,379
The beach sounds and looks beautiful!
Glad you had a great dinner at O'hana's!
Sounds like lots of fun so far!
Glad you had a great dinner at O'hana's!
Sounds like lots of fun so far!
teresajoy
Remember the Tag Fairy?
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2001
- Messages
- 6,355
I'm so glad you got so many compliments!!! That makes me so happy!!!Hi Teresajoy
I had so much fun dressing up. I have already come up with an idea for next year's Halloween party and if you don't mind I will send you a private email and see if you think my idea is possible.
It sounds like you had a great trip! I need to try out Ohana's someday!
So after a wonderful dinner at Ohana, we took the monorail back to the Magic Kingdom. I think it was around 8 pm when we entered Magic Kingdom. The park didn't seem too busy so we pin traded our way through the gift shops before heading to our favorite rides Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion.
Pirates had no wait at all. My tip is if both lines are open, head to the right. People kept going to the left because they were following the pack. Not us, we walked through the right side twice in a row with no wait. It was nice strolling through the stockade with no one around.
Both times we were in the front row. The second ride we had the boat all to ourselves which was so amazing. I was also happy to see that we had no annoying flash photographers around. My pet peeve is people taking photos on Pirates, it just totally ruins the magic. I love taking photos and do take photos on some rides but not on rides that require a flash or specifically prohibit it. I just think it is rude. I don't recall being annoyed by any photographers on this trip. Thank goodness. The Magic was very strong on this trip.
We then headed over to the Haunted Mansion. The wait was less then five minutes. I amazed Donald with my Haunted Mansion not so secret facts. We stood under the Ballerina portrait and avoided the mass throng of confusion and managed to be the first people through the second que and onto the doom buggies. We do this everytime. Try not to tell many people my "secret"
The ghosts decided to play havoc with the doom buggies and we got stuck right infront of the first piano played by the ghost. The scene where you only see the ghost as the shadow on the floor. Very creepy scene with very creepy music. It just got creepier and creepier the more we sat unmoving. No other guests were talking so Donald was really beginning to get freaked out. Donald is not a wuss by any means but the Haunted Mansion still spooks him (and me) occasionally. That is probably why we love riding it over and over again.
I managed to distract Donald 
until the ride started again.
We were very happy to see Haunted Mansion tshirts when we excited the ride so we each bought one. Plus I bought some Haunted Mansion playing cards. The face suites are the stretching room portraits, very cool.
We decided to find a spot for Wishes. We found two favorite spots on our last trip. We like to the right of the castle on the bridge closest to the castle. We also like the terrace at the Noodle Station. We chose the close spot for this night so I could be close to my buddy.
Plus it was almost ten so we figured all the seats would have already been taken on the terrace. The fireworks were sceduled to start at 10. There was some firework convention going on so we could kind of see fireworks around 9:30 at the front of Magic Kingdom somewhere around the lagoon. I had earlier heard someone talking about a special firework show but I didn't know what they were talking about and really didn't care. I like fireworks but I don't love fireworks so I was happy with just watching Wishes. Wishes was delayed for whatever reason and finally started at 10:30. Excellent show as always.
We joined the mass sea of humanity and worked our way to the gift shops on the right. We pin traded our way through the shops and made it to the front of the park around 11:15. This is when I almost cried and decided I would never got to Magic Kingdom on a Saturday again. The bus line was long, longer then I have ever seen before. Luckily I quickly realized the five mile line was for Allstars. We worked our way through the maze of people and found the Pop Century Bus Stop. That line was way shorter and we managed to get on the second bus. That was a very close call. Note to self: never stay at the Allstars Resort.
We reached our room by midnight and found this cutie on our bed.
We also looked over the pins we traded for and then went to bed. The next day was Animal Kingdom Day.
Pirates had no wait at all. My tip is if both lines are open, head to the right. People kept going to the left because they were following the pack. Not us, we walked through the right side twice in a row with no wait. It was nice strolling through the stockade with no one around.
Both times we were in the front row. The second ride we had the boat all to ourselves which was so amazing. I was also happy to see that we had no annoying flash photographers around. My pet peeve is people taking photos on Pirates, it just totally ruins the magic. I love taking photos and do take photos on some rides but not on rides that require a flash or specifically prohibit it. I just think it is rude. I don't recall being annoyed by any photographers on this trip. Thank goodness. The Magic was very strong on this trip.
We then headed over to the Haunted Mansion. The wait was less then five minutes. I amazed Donald with my Haunted Mansion not so secret facts. We stood under the Ballerina portrait and avoided the mass throng of confusion and managed to be the first people through the second que and onto the doom buggies. We do this everytime. Try not to tell many people my "secret"
The ghosts decided to play havoc with the doom buggies and we got stuck right infront of the first piano played by the ghost. The scene where you only see the ghost as the shadow on the floor. Very creepy scene with very creepy music. It just got creepier and creepier the more we sat unmoving. No other guests were talking so Donald was really beginning to get freaked out. Donald is not a wuss by any means but the Haunted Mansion still spooks him (and me) occasionally. That is probably why we love riding it over and over again.
I managed to distract Donald until the ride started again. We were very happy to see Haunted Mansion tshirts when we excited the ride so we each bought one. Plus I bought some Haunted Mansion playing cards. The face suites are the stretching room portraits, very cool.
We decided to find a spot for Wishes. We found two favorite spots on our last trip. We like to the right of the castle on the bridge closest to the castle. We also like the terrace at the Noodle Station. We chose the close spot for this night so I could be close to my buddy.
Plus it was almost ten so we figured all the seats would have already been taken on the terrace. The fireworks were sceduled to start at 10. There was some firework convention going on so we could kind of see fireworks around 9:30 at the front of Magic Kingdom somewhere around the lagoon. I had earlier heard someone talking about a special firework show but I didn't know what they were talking about and really didn't care. I like fireworks but I don't love fireworks so I was happy with just watching Wishes. Wishes was delayed for whatever reason and finally started at 10:30. Excellent show as always.
We joined the mass sea of humanity and worked our way to the gift shops on the right. We pin traded our way through the shops and made it to the front of the park around 11:15. This is when I almost cried and decided I would never got to Magic Kingdom on a Saturday again. The bus line was long, longer then I have ever seen before. Luckily I quickly realized the five mile line was for Allstars. We worked our way through the maze of people and found the Pop Century Bus Stop. That line was way shorter and we managed to get on the second bus. That was a very close call. Note to self: never stay at the Allstars Resort.
We reached our room by midnight and found this cutie on our bed.
We also looked over the pins we traded for and then went to bed. The next day was Animal Kingdom Day.
JaxJags08
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2008
- Messages
- 1,166
Thanks for the secret tip on HM! I'm going to do that when we go in December. I won't tell anyone else, though.
What a cute towel animal! And holy cow - you have a lot of pins!
Yeah, I only stay at the AS resorts if I know I'm driving my own car to the parks. Pop has such a great bus system, but I still get discouraged when I see the line. But I just try to remind myself, especially at the MK, that the bus is more efficient than my own car.
What a cute towel animal! And holy cow - you have a lot of pins!
Yeah, I only stay at the AS resorts if I know I'm driving my own car to the parks. Pop has such a great bus system, but I still get discouraged when I see the line. But I just try to remind myself, especially at the MK, that the bus is more efficient than my own car.
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