DixieDreamer
Instant Human
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2001
- Messages
- 2,942
Let me introduce myself. I am DixieDreamer (aka Mom - age 38). I share my life and adventures with my DH (Greg - age 42)and my DD (Lindsay - age 9). We visited WDW in 2000 and had such a wonderful time that we decided on the plane trip home that we just HAD to do this again. Since our daughter was 8, we determined to visit again in 2001 (while she was 9) so that we could still get her admission at the childrenâÂÂs rate. Another year more and we would pay full fare on her admission media - so why put off a return visit!? On Christmas Eve 2000, I booked our reservations for our spring break 2001 trip. It was our gift to ourselves. Quality time together doing what we love, at a place we love, and with the people we love - each other. I could hardly stand the wait! Let the planning begin!!!
On Wednesday March 28th, we deposited our three dogs at the kennel for their incarceration (I mean stay), went over last minute instructions with the individual who would feed our horses and cats in our absence, and packed last minute items into the bags. Of course, being a nut case for planning most of the packing had been done over a month before! So, we were down to the medications and toiletries. One last check of the ten day weather forecast for Orlando showed a storm system moving through on Thursday and pretty much cloudy or blue skies for the remainder of the forecast. Perfect!! They are having a drought in Florida right? So the rain was a good thing... but secretly I was delighted that it would be moving on by the time we arrived. When Lindsay got off her school bus we locked up the house and headed to the airport. The first leg of the journey was a short hop from the Moses Lake airport to SeaTac Airport in Seattle. There we spent the night at the Embassy Suites and set our alarms for 4:00 am. Our flight to Orlando left Seattle at 6:00 am the next morning - requiring a 5:00 am check in. This is the only flight schedule that got us to Orlando at a reasonable hour of the day (we lost 3 hours traveling from west coast to east coast) and without flying through the night. I knew the red eye was not a good option for us even if it got us in early in the day - because we would not sleep on the flight and would arrive exhausted. The flight was LONG and was not helped by our anticipation of getting there. We arrived in Orlando about 4:30 pm eastern standard time and were met by our driver from Tiffany Town Car and a light rain shower. After collecting our baggage, we headed to the car only to discover that it was raining. Really raining. Not the light drizzle we get in central Washington state, oh no, it was POURING rain - the kind Florida really needs right now... but not an auspicious start to our Florida vacation. We encountered terrible traffic delays (probably due to the buckets of water coming down mixed with normal rush hour congestion) and ended up with a 45 minute commute rather than the 20 minute drive we expected. As chief âÂÂplannerâ and âÂÂbudget officerâ for this expedition, I was starting to grasp that my carefully laid itinerary was already falling victim to âÂÂcontingenciesâÂÂ. I knew that our previous check in at the Caribbean Beach Resort took a fairly long time to accomplish and so it was looking pretty doubtful that we could get quickly checked in and then head to Epcot for a couple hours of fun before the park closed for the evening. Not to mention that the soaked people sitting next to me seemed a little less enthusiastic about venturing out then they had been just a short while before. Ever the optimist (some would say insane!)... I kept the troops moving and was pleasantly surprised to find the registration area at Port Orleans Riverside (formerly known as Dixie Landings) almost deserted! We moved through registration very quickly, got our E-Ride night tickets for the following day and our Unlimited Magic Passes - our keys to the World, our room, and the keys to our wallet for Disney! We got to our room and regrouped. The rain had eased to a gentle shower occasionally broken by moments of NO rain! HURRAH!!! Woohoo! We were almost back on schedule...1/2 hour lost and we decided to make a go of Epcot.
At Epcot we did our inaugural ride on Spaceship Earth. This was our first ride on last yearâÂÂs trip and we thought we would start a family tradition and kick the vacation off with âÂÂsomething oldâÂÂ. Little did we know... an ill wind was blowing our way that evening and it wasnâÂÂt just the rain blowing in our faces - we had yet to face the anger of the âÂÂattraction godsâÂÂ. They had apparently not been appeased by sufficient sacrifices of small children or chaste women. Spaceship Earth was the beginning of an evening of âÂÂattractionâ failures! As we were traversing through time on Spaceship Earth, just about the point where you view the glory of the Roman Empire, the vehicles stopped and remained stuck for a considerable amount of time. This in and of itself would not have been so terribly awful, except that every 3 seconds a voice would announce that we âÂÂshould remain seated , the attraction is temporarily stopped and will resume shortly...blah, blah, blahâ alternating between a male voice and a female voice. We also were unfortunate enough to have a group of loud, rather obnoxious teenagers in the car behind us who carried on (loudly) for the entire time. If the announcements didnâÂÂt strike a nerve, the kids behind us were sure to. About the time that I was wondering if this scenario would be a good setting for the next âÂÂSurvivorâ episode (the TRIBE has spoken - it is time for you to go!), the attraction began moving again! HURRAH! We did enjoy the rest of the journey. (This really is one of my favorite attractions at WDW. We did it again later in the trip and had the pleasure of doing it uninterrupted). When we exited out of the sphere, we found that it was raining. Not a shower, but POURING again. Next stop was Mouse Gears to purchase rain ponchos and our first t-shirts of the trip (couldnâÂÂt resist!). We came out and joined the horde of yellow ponchos scurrying about the place and headed for EllenâÂÂs Universe of Energy. We had missed this one on our previous trip and really wanted to do âÂÂsomething old and something newâ to start our vacation. Despite the rain ponchos, by the time we got inside the building - we were soaked through and through - with the exception of our feet (which by some miracle seemed to be remaining fairly dry). We enjoyed the show quite a lot - at least until.... you guessed it... the âÂÂattraction godsâ struck again! Right at the climax point of the show, the projected image stopped and a voice (with a thick foreign accent that made every other word unintelligible) announced that âÂÂ...broken... you... leave...now... please...carefully... there... 8 inch...to floor..âÂÂ. Okay, so after listening carefully for several reiterations of this specially coded announcement... the crowd seemed to decipher that we were not going to get to see the end of the show, and that there was a bit of a drop as you stepped off the seating area as the ride had not completed itâÂÂs rotation process. But the real question on my mind - what was the answer to the final Jeopardy question? (please frame your response in the form of a question!)
We decided that the rain, attraction gods, and the universe in general was trying to tell us to get the heck out of there... so we decided to call it an evening. We made our way out of the park with a crowd of similarly Yellow Poncho clad people who also had decided to bag the whole thing. We looked like a herd of Easter Marshmallow Peeps candy! We got to the resort and decided to have a late supper at the food court. The food was good and helped to lift spirits... until... we headed out the door to walk back to our room. Up to this point, we had miraculously managed to keep our feet basically dry. However, upon exiting the Cotton Coop building - we walked right into a small lake of a puddle! There was no avoiding it and we all three landed right in it. So now we are thoroughly soaked - from head to toe. Water is swirling around our legs to about mid calf and we suddenly realize that we are in the dark at a place we are not familiar with. It is raining harder than ever, and it is now thundering and lightening with a vengeance too. All three of us are cold, wet, and disoriented. Rain water is dripping from my hair and eyelashes and my feet are now completely wet. We beat a hasty retreat back to the inside of the building and backtrack to the South Bus Depot from which we know how to get to our room. It was with great relief that we stripped the wet clothes off and turned in for the night. Through the night flashes of lightening and loud thunder kept me awake. My spirits sagged - what part of the schedule could I swap for the day at Animal Kingdom (planned for the following day)?! The thought of tromping through the trails in pouring rain with a disgruntled and uncomfortable family was too much - even for the ever enthusiastic me. Worst of all - we planned to do E-ride night tomorrow too. What would that be like in this kind of weather? In the dark of the resort room as I laid wide awake that first night - I acknowledged the presence and obvious glory of the rain and attraction gods. Apparently, that was sufficient as I did not have to resort to sacrificing small children or chaste women to them in order to appease their anger and you should be cheered to know that the rest of the trip did indeed prove more pleasant! Stay tuned for Episode 2 - WDW Aerobics for Beginners.
Disneyland - several times - most recent 1998
CBR - 2000
DXL - 2001
On Wednesday March 28th, we deposited our three dogs at the kennel for their incarceration (I mean stay), went over last minute instructions with the individual who would feed our horses and cats in our absence, and packed last minute items into the bags. Of course, being a nut case for planning most of the packing had been done over a month before! So, we were down to the medications and toiletries. One last check of the ten day weather forecast for Orlando showed a storm system moving through on Thursday and pretty much cloudy or blue skies for the remainder of the forecast. Perfect!! They are having a drought in Florida right? So the rain was a good thing... but secretly I was delighted that it would be moving on by the time we arrived. When Lindsay got off her school bus we locked up the house and headed to the airport. The first leg of the journey was a short hop from the Moses Lake airport to SeaTac Airport in Seattle. There we spent the night at the Embassy Suites and set our alarms for 4:00 am. Our flight to Orlando left Seattle at 6:00 am the next morning - requiring a 5:00 am check in. This is the only flight schedule that got us to Orlando at a reasonable hour of the day (we lost 3 hours traveling from west coast to east coast) and without flying through the night. I knew the red eye was not a good option for us even if it got us in early in the day - because we would not sleep on the flight and would arrive exhausted. The flight was LONG and was not helped by our anticipation of getting there. We arrived in Orlando about 4:30 pm eastern standard time and were met by our driver from Tiffany Town Car and a light rain shower. After collecting our baggage, we headed to the car only to discover that it was raining. Really raining. Not the light drizzle we get in central Washington state, oh no, it was POURING rain - the kind Florida really needs right now... but not an auspicious start to our Florida vacation. We encountered terrible traffic delays (probably due to the buckets of water coming down mixed with normal rush hour congestion) and ended up with a 45 minute commute rather than the 20 minute drive we expected. As chief âÂÂplannerâ and âÂÂbudget officerâ for this expedition, I was starting to grasp that my carefully laid itinerary was already falling victim to âÂÂcontingenciesâÂÂ. I knew that our previous check in at the Caribbean Beach Resort took a fairly long time to accomplish and so it was looking pretty doubtful that we could get quickly checked in and then head to Epcot for a couple hours of fun before the park closed for the evening. Not to mention that the soaked people sitting next to me seemed a little less enthusiastic about venturing out then they had been just a short while before. Ever the optimist (some would say insane!)... I kept the troops moving and was pleasantly surprised to find the registration area at Port Orleans Riverside (formerly known as Dixie Landings) almost deserted! We moved through registration very quickly, got our E-Ride night tickets for the following day and our Unlimited Magic Passes - our keys to the World, our room, and the keys to our wallet for Disney! We got to our room and regrouped. The rain had eased to a gentle shower occasionally broken by moments of NO rain! HURRAH!!! Woohoo! We were almost back on schedule...1/2 hour lost and we decided to make a go of Epcot.
At Epcot we did our inaugural ride on Spaceship Earth. This was our first ride on last yearâÂÂs trip and we thought we would start a family tradition and kick the vacation off with âÂÂsomething oldâÂÂ. Little did we know... an ill wind was blowing our way that evening and it wasnâÂÂt just the rain blowing in our faces - we had yet to face the anger of the âÂÂattraction godsâÂÂ. They had apparently not been appeased by sufficient sacrifices of small children or chaste women. Spaceship Earth was the beginning of an evening of âÂÂattractionâ failures! As we were traversing through time on Spaceship Earth, just about the point where you view the glory of the Roman Empire, the vehicles stopped and remained stuck for a considerable amount of time. This in and of itself would not have been so terribly awful, except that every 3 seconds a voice would announce that we âÂÂshould remain seated , the attraction is temporarily stopped and will resume shortly...blah, blah, blahâ alternating between a male voice and a female voice. We also were unfortunate enough to have a group of loud, rather obnoxious teenagers in the car behind us who carried on (loudly) for the entire time. If the announcements didnâÂÂt strike a nerve, the kids behind us were sure to. About the time that I was wondering if this scenario would be a good setting for the next âÂÂSurvivorâ episode (the TRIBE has spoken - it is time for you to go!), the attraction began moving again! HURRAH! We did enjoy the rest of the journey. (This really is one of my favorite attractions at WDW. We did it again later in the trip and had the pleasure of doing it uninterrupted). When we exited out of the sphere, we found that it was raining. Not a shower, but POURING again. Next stop was Mouse Gears to purchase rain ponchos and our first t-shirts of the trip (couldnâÂÂt resist!). We came out and joined the horde of yellow ponchos scurrying about the place and headed for EllenâÂÂs Universe of Energy. We had missed this one on our previous trip and really wanted to do âÂÂsomething old and something newâ to start our vacation. Despite the rain ponchos, by the time we got inside the building - we were soaked through and through - with the exception of our feet (which by some miracle seemed to be remaining fairly dry). We enjoyed the show quite a lot - at least until.... you guessed it... the âÂÂattraction godsâ struck again! Right at the climax point of the show, the projected image stopped and a voice (with a thick foreign accent that made every other word unintelligible) announced that âÂÂ...broken... you... leave...now... please...carefully... there... 8 inch...to floor..âÂÂ. Okay, so after listening carefully for several reiterations of this specially coded announcement... the crowd seemed to decipher that we were not going to get to see the end of the show, and that there was a bit of a drop as you stepped off the seating area as the ride had not completed itâÂÂs rotation process. But the real question on my mind - what was the answer to the final Jeopardy question? (please frame your response in the form of a question!)
We decided that the rain, attraction gods, and the universe in general was trying to tell us to get the heck out of there... so we decided to call it an evening. We made our way out of the park with a crowd of similarly Yellow Poncho clad people who also had decided to bag the whole thing. We looked like a herd of Easter Marshmallow Peeps candy! We got to the resort and decided to have a late supper at the food court. The food was good and helped to lift spirits... until... we headed out the door to walk back to our room. Up to this point, we had miraculously managed to keep our feet basically dry. However, upon exiting the Cotton Coop building - we walked right into a small lake of a puddle! There was no avoiding it and we all three landed right in it. So now we are thoroughly soaked - from head to toe. Water is swirling around our legs to about mid calf and we suddenly realize that we are in the dark at a place we are not familiar with. It is raining harder than ever, and it is now thundering and lightening with a vengeance too. All three of us are cold, wet, and disoriented. Rain water is dripping from my hair and eyelashes and my feet are now completely wet. We beat a hasty retreat back to the inside of the building and backtrack to the South Bus Depot from which we know how to get to our room. It was with great relief that we stripped the wet clothes off and turned in for the night. Through the night flashes of lightening and loud thunder kept me awake. My spirits sagged - what part of the schedule could I swap for the day at Animal Kingdom (planned for the following day)?! The thought of tromping through the trails in pouring rain with a disgruntled and uncomfortable family was too much - even for the ever enthusiastic me. Worst of all - we planned to do E-ride night tomorrow too. What would that be like in this kind of weather? In the dark of the resort room as I laid wide awake that first night - I acknowledged the presence and obvious glory of the rain and attraction gods. Apparently, that was sufficient as I did not have to resort to sacrificing small children or chaste women to them in order to appease their anger and you should be cheered to know that the rest of the trip did indeed prove more pleasant! Stay tuned for Episode 2 - WDW Aerobics for Beginners.
Disneyland - several times - most recent 1998
CBR - 2000
DXL - 2001
Looking forward to Part II 
