Episode II - Disney World Honeymoon - Ch.11 posted 6/16

[Sorbo78]

Chapter 1 - Beginnings


Well, I wanted to see how long I could wait after going to Disney before I just had to write this trip report. It's my first too, so it's amazing I've lasted this long!

In any event, let us begin at the beginning. When we reach the end, we'll stop.


Hello, my name is Kevin, and I love Walt Disney World.

I could go into a long rant about the whys and hows of that statement, or perhaps I'll just spin my yarn about our wonderful Disney World honeymoon, and it'll be self-explanatory. Let's find out.

So to follow the structure of these reports, I suppose I should introduce the players:

Me (Kevin) - laid back almost 28 yo. Went 5 or 6 times growing up, 4 times as an adult. I know, I know, WAY behind the curve. Sheesh, can I even call myself a fan?

Danielle - The new wife. Coming up on, well, she probably doesn't want her age out there, so nevermind. She gets a little more stressed than I do, but I enjoy talking her down. As far as I know, she's been to Disney 2 or 3 times as a kid and twice as an adult. The first time we went (Episode I, as yet not published trip report) she wasn't even that excited, but she discovered the magic during that trip and now we're both hooked.

A little history on us - We met about 4 years ago, began dating 3 years and 11 months ago, went to WDW 1 year and 8 months ago and got engaged 1 year and 2 months ago (on the 3 year anniversery of having met). Make sense? Well, I love her to death and was pretty jazzed when we got married. Am I still jazzed now 2 weeks later? Heck yeah. This girl can bring home the bacon and fry it up in the pan. She's the bee's knees. She drops the bomb on me. Is that enough? Okay, moving on.

Assorted cameos (not in any order) - Mickey Mouse, Pluto, Goofy, Chip & Dale, Donald Duck, Baloo, Prince John, Launchpad McQuack, Big Al, Brer Bear, J. Worthington Foulfellow, King Louie, Rita the awesome waittress, Caricature Guy, Ms. Too Much Info, Genie, Fire Marshall something-or-other, Rabbit, Mushu, Timon and Rafiki. Did I forget anyone? Probably.

So far so good? Anyone jump ship yet? I wouldn't blame you, cause there is no way of knowing exactly where it is we're going. Sorry, just wanted to throw that in there.

Alrighty, so where was I? Well, I won't bore you with the details of the wedding. It was a blast. It's pretty cool when over a hundred people gather to wish you the best. I can't say I was ready to be the center of all that attention, but it was fun. And actually I was probably only about 30% of the center. Danielle in her dress took a lot of the attention off me, including mine.

So yeah, we danced, we drank, we fed each other cake. Good times.

That was Saturday, May 6th. Sunday we got up, enjoyed a nice brunch, said goodbyes to various family and friends, then relaxed for a few hours before making a mad dash to the airport. Why a mad dash? Well, a few reasons.

First off, we were flying out about the same time as my best man. We checked in online and everything was a-okay. He went to check in online only to find out his flight had been cancelled. He then proceeded to get on the phone with Expedia and US Air for the next hour or 2 trying to figure out what he was supposed to do. Neither company would accept responsibility for not notifying him, so he just sat on hold for extended amounts of time before they finally resolved that he wouldn't make it back home that night and he'd have to fly out the next day. Meanwhile, I was sitting thinking "yeah, we should leave by 2:30ish". What time was it then? 2:45. D'oh!

So we make it to the airport at 3:20 on the dot, our flight was set for 3:50. The curbside check-in line was pretty long, so after hugging my new father in law (nice guy, btw) goodbye, I picked up the suitcases and made a mad dash to the Southwest check-in place. I'm not the first person to do it, nor the last, but I did feel like a super-hero carrying the bags as fast as I did. And who doesn't like that feeling? We were under 1/2 hour to flight time, so they couldn't guarantee our bags would make it, but since we had Magical express tickets on them, I wasn't super-worried. I was more concerned about missing the boarding and not being able to sit with my wife, thanks to Southwest's awesome seating policy.....

..... <skip over if you don't care about rants> Seriously, how hard would it be for them to assign people seats? Why make people get to the airport balls early or check in online 24 hours in advance so they can be in the "A" group? I mean, I'm not blaming them for us getting there so late, but the fact that I might not be able to sit next to my wife because of it sort of upset me. The hassle of people picking out their own seats doesn't seem to be THAT much of a savings to me, but what do I know, I'm just a consumer with disposable income?...... <end rant>

Well, we made it in time for boarding and a little while later we were up in the air and on our way.

2.5 hours isn't such a bad flight time. We busted out Aladdin and almost got to watch it all before we started our descent and had to turn off our portable electronic devices. I know, it's not 2 hours long, but we didn't start it right away. Oops.

Anyway, the flight landed and we made our way to the Magical Express counter. I didn't see the people with Mickey hands until we got to the counter, but that wasn't a big deal. Once at the front, I gave the guy our tickets and told him "I'm not sure our bags made it". He assured me if they didn't, they'd pick them up when they did arrive, but shortly after noted they had been scanned already anyway. So there went that fear. Sweet.

He pointed out the line for us to stand in and we walked right on to our bus. It was only abuot 1/4 full I'd say and we waited about 10 minutes before we were on our way to Disney.

And that seems like a good place to stop for now. Why? Well, I don't have my notes in front of me. That's right, I took notes. Sue me. No wait, on second thought, don't sue me.

Anyway, tonight seems like a good night to write some more, so perhaps I'll do that. If not though, I will surely do so tomorrow. And I'll change the title each time I update, so you'll be able to tell where I'm at. Oh, and I promise not to take months. We were only there for 7 days, so how long could it take, right? Ha ha, famous last words probably......

 

[Avivasmom]

Great start but want to read more. And congrats too!

 

[heaven2dc]

Ok - I'm hooked Now my question (which will probably be answered in your next installment) - where did you stay? Also are you going to link your report to Day One (please do so...it's sometimes hard trying to find days 2, 3, 4, 5....you get my drift )

Waiting patiently for more (btw great start )

 

[scanne]

Great so far! I'm hooked - and that's bad b/c I'll waste tons of time reading trip reports and not doing much of anything else!

 

[Sorbo78]

Okay, a bit of housekeeping first.

1 - Sorry for not writing last night as anticipated. I ended up having to work at my 2nd job. And why do I have a 2nd job? Well, it was to help pay for the wedding. Since it's over and done with, I'll probably be quitting soon, but who cares about that?

2 - I realized last night that by titling my trip report "Episode II", people may get confused and think this has something to do with Star Wars weekends. Well, as much as I wanted our honeymoon to coincide with them, it didn't. No, the title is merely representative of my love of Star Wars. Hopefully an episode in the future will incorporate SWW, but I can't give away too much of the plot now. That's it. Now on to the good stuff.....


Chapter 2 - First Night

Let's see, where was I? Oh, the magical express. Well, what can you say about that? It's a bus ride. Ever taken one before? Well, it was probably a lot like that. They had screens that I thought would show some sort of movie, but no such luck. They showed the "leaving" movie on the way back to the airport, but not the "arriving" one. Oh well, maybe next time.

Our first stop was the Caribbean Beach resort. Not ours. Pretty much everyone got off at this stop and left about 6 of us on the bus I'd say. We were on Disney property though, so I was happy. So happy that I took a video with our new digital camera of us going under the "Walt Disney World" sign and the bus driver saying "you are now on Disney property". I know, I'm a nerd. That's a civil enginerd to be exact. And almost a professional one at that, but that's non-Disney info that no one cares about. Back to the trip! Stop going off on random tangents stupid!

Okay, so the next stop was ours, the Boardwalk Villas. We'd walked around this resort last time we were there and once I found out you could rent points from DVC members, it was a no-brainer for me. (quick shout-out to dis member isyt for renting us the points). Funny story about renting points too, we rented them from someone who I've never met but lives about 15 minutes away from me. Is it really a small world after all? I guess so.

So we got off the bus and began the wonderful walk of champions. The walk you savor cause you're stepping foot on Disney property for the very beginning of your trip. It's the longest possible moment before you'll be leaving, so you want it to be in slow motion. And it was. Okay, not really. Unfortunately I do not possess the ability to slow down time, but you get the point that the feeling was pretty great.

We walked up to the front doors and all of the sudden they parted like they saw us coming. That was pretty awesome. Okay, just being silly now. Stay focused, Kevin.

We made our way into the hotel to check-in and didn't wait more than 2 seconds before being asked to step forward. I can't remember the girl's name who checked us in, but she was pretty nice. When she handed us our keys I noticed too that my wife's last name had changed to mine. Not that I'm dumb and didn't know that had happened, but it was the first time I had seen it written. Pretty cool.

So we paid for the dining plan (that's right, we were on the dining plan baby!), got our room keys, and set out to find our room. We had rented enough points for 6 nights in a standard parking-lot view room and were given room 2070 to go find. Well, one thing I didn't realize was that we were on the 2nd floor. We walked to the elevators, realized that, took about 10 steps down the hallway and bam, there was our room. But it was on the right side of the hall. Whaaaaa? I opened the door and sure enough, bam, upgrade!

Unfortunately it wasn't the greatest view of the pool. In fact, it was more of view of the back of the bar area. It was also a handicap-accessible room which I realized upon entering the bathroom. That wasn't such a big deal, and I wasn't about to complain about being upgraded, so we threw our things down plopped down on the bed and couch and sighed a great sigh while saying "we made it". Another great feeling.

About 10 minutes later I uttered the first memorable phrase from the trip. "Why are we sitting in the room when we're in Disney World???!!!!" We knew we weren't going to any parks that night, but still, we needed to discover this new hotel and all it's wonders. The sun was beginning to set, so I did snap a few nice pics of it from our room, then we made our way out to the boardwalk.

There was no plan at that point, but it was just about dinner time, so we figured we'd walk up and down the boardwalk and go eat somewhere. Our parents and friends had given us a generous amount of disney dollars to spend on this trip, and since we had all other dining plan meals accounted for, we figured tonight would be a good time to start using them. We walked down the stairs to the boardwalk area and turned left. Why left? Eh, why not? I'm left-handed, so let's say that was the reason why. Big River Grille had a 30 minute wait, so we kept walking. Jellyrolls sounded a little too happening for our mood at that point. Plus do they even serve food? I wasn't sure, so once we made it there, we turned around and headed the other way.

Flying Fish is apparently a nicer restaurant, so we didn't go there, and Spoodles didn't appeal to either of us. The only thing left was the ESPN zone, and we had gone there last trip, so we decided that 30 minutes waiting at Big River would be fine. Ha! How about that?

And unfortunately we asked for the "first available" table. Afterwards I realized it would have been a little nicer to sit outside and possibly see some of Illuminations' fireworks, but oh well. We had all week, what was the hurry? We were seated inside and proceeded to order a few drinks to kick off the trip. Ready for another aside? Here goes.

.....so we like to drink. We don't get drunk THAT often. In fact, probably not that much at all, but we do enjoy a good beer, or a nice glass of wine, or whatever. I will drink pretty much anything, but my mainstay is Miller Lite. My choice of liquor drinks is Jim Beam & coke, and wines I can go in pretty much any direction (red, white, purple, blue, whatever). I do usually stay away from fruity drinks, but only to keep up my membership to the man club. When I started drinking, I actually didn't like beer so I started with cider (which I still get made fun of about) and some of the less-than-manly drinks. Who knew midori sours weren't a drink for tough guys? Danielle isn't terribly picky about her drinks either, but 9 times out of 10 it's either a Bud Light, Captain & diet, or a glass of pinot grigio.......<end aside>

So wait, is this going to be a Grubbin' & Boozin' clone report? Gosh I hope not. I enjoy theirs a lot, but, well, first off, I'm a dude whereas vettechick (shout out) is obviously not. And 2nd, as much as we enjoy it, chances are they could drink us under the table 3 times over. So while a lot of our meals and in-between meals involved a nice glass of refreshing beer or what-have-you, I don't think we came close to their levels of consumption. But hey, this isn't a competition. This is a forum for Disney lovers. We're all friends here.

And if I wasn't sick right now (and at work), I'd probably pop a bottle of suds for myself. But alas, that's enough of that.

Back to Big River. I got into that drinking aside because I wanted to start out by saying neither of us are the biggest micro-brewery fans. So why go to Big River? Good question. Well, much as I am in other aspects of my life, I like to judge things for myself and not leave my opinion to preconceived notions I might have. Danielle started with the Southern Flyer Light Lager, being a fan of lighter beer. I went for the Gadzooks Pilsner. Danielle will say I ordered it based on name alone, but for the record I did not order the Wowser's Wheat, so I think that disproves that theory! I tasted them both and enjoyed mine a little more. I'm no beer expert, I just know what I like. I wish I could describe the taste for anyone who wants to know, but yeah, I'm not that good. Either way, we enjoyed them and ordered our dinner. I had the ribs cause I was in the mood for them, and it was my honeymoon. That's a great feeling too. I mean, you only get 1 honeymoon with your 1st wife (oh man I hope Danielle's not reading this part), so it's like "why not get exactly what I want?"

And can you believe I forgot what Danielle got? I suppose I should have written that down, but oh well. I want to say it was a chicken dish, but yeah, I don't know. Either way, both our dinners were really good. I brought my leftover ribs back to the room, I just couldn't eat them all.

And sure enough, during dinner the fireworks went off. I didn't bother looking though, as I was expecting to see them later in the week. Once we were done we paid the man and made our way back to the room. It wasn't super-late, but we had a big day planned on Monday, so I wanted to get a good night's sleep. Plus we had been up for awhile and didn't get a lot of sleep the night before, so it was pretty much bed time. We did stop at the General store first though to stock up our fridge with a few 6-packs. I mean, why have a fridge in your room if you aren't going to use it, right?

The last thing I did before hitting the lights was turn on the new top 7 Disney countdown. I had heard Kryssa was gone so I wanted to see if her replacement was up to the ask. Stacy was her name, and she seemed just as enthusiastic about Disney as her predecessor, so that was good. I didn't watch the whole thing start-to-finish, even if it was only like 15 minutes run on a loop. It was bedtime now, and so the lights went out and we slept our first night in Disney.

That's a good stopping point as any. My goodness this has run on long. Sorry for my long-windedness. Hmm...perhaps I should leave cliffhangers to entice people to keep reading.

The next morning we woke up. OR DID WE??????? <da da daaaaaaaa>

 

[calstitcher]

Quite enjoyable! Keep it coming!

 

[Sorbo78]

Chapter 3 - First Full Day (meat and potatoes)


Well, I've made you all wait 2 whole chapters before finally getting to the good stuff, the first day in the parks. Sorry though, you'll have to wait a few more paragraphs before we get there. It just wouldn't be fun to say "we got up and went to the parks" now would it?

But to pick up where I left off, luckily, yes, we did wake up the next morning. All was right with the world, the sun was shining, it was going to be a good day. Sadly it was also about 8:30 and time was awasting. Still, we hadn't planned to get to the parks super-early, so I let my loving bride sleep while I downloaded pictures to the laptop and began my week-long note-taking process for what you read now.

By about 9:00 I was ready to get a move on though, so I gently awoke Danielle, and by "gently" I mean lifted the bed and made her fall out. Okay, not really, but she did wake up and thus we realized each others' differing views on what a honeymoon in Disneyworld should be. Extra morning magic hours were at AK that day, and I had wanted to get there early and do Everest asap. Danielle wanted to sleep in every day cause she was on her honeymoon and could do whatever she wanted. I don't know where she got that idea......

But since she had slept a good 10 hours, I decided that getting any more would be wasteful. Once I coaxed her to get into the shower and get the ball rolling, I took my first forray out in the morning to find breakfast and use the dining plan for the first time. I ended up at the boardwalk bakery and used a few snacks to get us each a muffin, then paid cash to get some juice as well. The bakery is really good so I wouldn't hesitate to go back there. The only downside to it is that the inside area is very small, so lines probably constantly form out the door. Not a huge deal, but not the best looking thing either.

There were only a few people there when I went, so the wait was minimal. I remember telling the lady too "this is my first time using the dining plan, so let me know if I do anything wrong". I handed her my card and she handed me back a receipt to sign and my card. 10 snacks remaining. Perfect. I went back to the room to discover Danielle still in the shower. I began eating one of the muffins and quickly determined that I didn't have the biggest appetite that morning. Neither did she and we ended up saving the 2nd muffin for the next breakfast. Genius!

Eventually we were both ready (around 10:00 much to my dismay) and made our way to the buses. And thus began what I call the "Longest Bus Ride Ever, part 1". The wait for the AK bus was about 15 minutes, which of course felt like 15 days. I was so close to being in a Disney park and I had to wait for a bus? Ridiculous!

When it did arrive we jumped for joy. Not really, internally. We got on and found our seats and I was all set to be there. First we had to go to the Swan and Dolphin though, to see if anyone else was coming. The bus was almost full when we finally started making our way to AK. Oh wait, but we also had to stop at Blizzard Beach. D'oh! Why must you torment me with all these stops Disney bus! Are we stopping at McDonald's too so you can get a egg mcmuffin? C'mon!!!!

FINALLY, I saw the tree of life, and off to the right, Everest. Looming in all it's glory. I took a soon-to-be-deleted digital picture to capture the moment. Probably the first of about 50 pics I would take of Everest that day. Oooh, here's Everest from the right. Ooh, now from the left. Oooh, now with my fingers squishing it like it was a little pebble. Work it Everest, yeah!

Okay, so we pulled in, got off the bus, then began the long walk to the gate. We had bought our tickets from Ticketmania, so this would be the first test to see if they had royally duped us, or if they were in fact a legitimate business. It was also our first experience with the whole "finger scan" thing. It was weird to me that some days they used it, others they didn't, but oh well. It was never a big deal except one time we got stuck behind a family of 6 who hadn't signed their cards, so no one knew which was was whos. That sucked, but that wasn't this morning. This morning we made our way in and were on our way.

The plan was to go get fastpasses for Everest or the Safari, then go on the other one. We made it to the wait time board and saw Everest was only 30 minutes, whereas the Safari was 45 or 50. Well, I didn't see, I had to ask the CM working there. However, while talking to her I did notice she had a Jungle Cruise pin I had seen online that I liked, and thus I offered our first pin trade of the trip. Unfortunately she had a "for kids only" lanyard, but said that since she'd had that one for weeks and no one had wanted it, she'd make an exception for us. Score!

So we made our way to the left of the Tree of Life towards the safari. On the way we saw Lilo and Stitch pretty much the exact same place we had left them last time we were there. We also saw Flik and Atta but kept going. Once the fastpasses were in hand, it was off to Everest. Unfortunately our spotting of King Louie and Baloo together was too much to pass up, so we got in line to get our picture taken. While waiting in line, behind us we noticed a huge vine-like person making her way to the "cast members only" section. Ah Divine, you chameleon! And would you believe I didn't take a picture of that? I think my thought was "oh, we'll see her later on". Meanwhile I had taken pictures of our feet for no reason, but seeing Divine behind us, not picture-worthy. Boy was I stupid.

Anyway, once we had our picture with Baloo and Louie, NOW it was off to Everest. Well, after a quick pee-break, THEN it was off to Everest. You don't want to go on Everest with a semi-full bladder, that's for sure. Or at least stand in line that long with one. By the time we got there, the line was 50 minutes long. D'oh! True to its word, it really was all 50 minutes too. Freaky. As we made our way through the line, slowly but surely, and I took several more pictures of Everest, the nervousness set it. This was a brand new Disney ride. Sure I had gotten to experience a few last year when we went to Disneyland (Episode 1.5, as yet unpublished trip report), but this just seemed bigger. Maybe it was all the hype, maybe the Discovery channel specials. Or maybe it was the muffin? Hmmm.....

We were the first ones in line when they began queueing (sp?) us. Wow, first time and we get to ride up front? Nope. Danielle was apparently more nervous than I was, and thus we selected the safe 3rd row instead. Surely the Yeti couldn't get us there, right? And just like that, we were on board and beginning our trek up Everest.

I won't get into detail here, but if you don't want to know anything about the ride, skip the next paragraph.

******Wow, what a great ride. It was a little shorter than I expected, but that didn't diminish it's awesomeness. The unfortunate part about it was that I had known the ride went backwards. I think if I didn't know that beforehand, it would have made it a little cooler. Seriously though, when you stop before going backwards, what is the point of that bird that moves backwards? Weird. And that yeti was stinking HUGE. I had no clue it would be that big. Great ride, great ride.*********

Okay, we're back. So yeah, needless to say, Everest was awesome. The walk through the obligatory merchandise store was a bit of a blur cause I was still in amazement at what we had just experienced. And luckily it was now time for us to get more fastpasses, so we did just that. The times were already for the mid-afternoon, but that wasn't a big deal.

So then we made our way back to the Safari. It was almost noon at that point, so I had a bad feeling about what animals would be out and which would be sleeping the afternoon away. It turns out it was a mix. Some were out, some weren't. It was a good ride though and once again, we helped stop the poachers from stealing little Red. Take that poachers! I swear one time I had been on that ride, they had a live truck drive sort of along side you in the bushes and take a shot at you. Do they still do that ever? Maybe just during high-crowd times?

Next we decided to walk the Pangani forest trail. We had done it last time and not much had changed, although this time I did get to see a hippo under water. That was pretty cool, even though the picture didn't come out.

Once we were done with that, it was lunch time. I had keyed either Tusker House or Flame Tree bbq as THE places to eat. My preference was BBQ though, so that's where we went. Now we were using the dining plan for real, none of this "snack" business. Again, I explained this was our first time ordering on the dining plan. We told her everything we wanted and then I asked "how did I do?" She gave me the thumbs up and we were golden. We both had pork bbq sandwiches, bottles of water, and frozen lemonade. Everything I thought was delicious, but it was obvious we wouldn't be able to eat both desserts. Once we were done we found an unsuspecting family to take our extra unopened dessert. At first I thought it would be weird to ask someone if they wanted an unopened frozen lemonade, but after asking, well, it still seemed weird. But hey, they took it and who knows what they did with it?

Now it was time for one of my favorites, Dinosaur! The standby wait time was only 15 or 20 minutes, so well worth it. We had to finish the lemonade quick though. Now, the last time we had been on this ride, I was on whichever side the big guy at the end comes at you. I had been on the ride before that, but still it freaked the bejeebus out of me (in a good way) and I screamed like a little girl while laughing hysterically. Good times. This time we were fortunate enough to be on the other side, and thus no one had to deal with my screams.

Afterwards we walked alongside a family of 3, with a small boy about 6 or 7 years old tops. His excitement about what he had just experienced was like a pure Disney moment for me. It was nice to see.

We then made our way to the rapids ride, one which we had fond memories of last trip. I can't imagine going on it unless you wanted to get wet. I mean, I guess it's sort of a cool ride otherwise, but I can't say I see the point of wearing ponchos while riding.

Oh, before that I should mention what we were wearing. So a few weeks before the wedding we had talked about whether or not we were going to do the top-hat and veil mickey ears, and decided not to. Instead we decided to have shirts made up with a matching image on the front and "groom" and "bride" written on the back. It was a cute picture of old time mickey and minnie kissing. Well, we had been wearing them all day and finally in line for Kail River rapids, someone asked "are you on your honeymoon?" Why yes, yes we are. I'm sure they weren't the first to notice, but it was nice to hear someone congratulate us.

So that was that. We got onto the ride and I quickly put the camera in a small snack bag I had been using to carry our money & cards around. That thing was great, and the only reason I had it was because I brought a board game in my suitcase and used the bag in there to store pieces to the game. So yeah, next time we go to Disney, sandwich bag all the way. Good stuff.

We went up, saw the burning rainforest, felt the heat, then made the plunge. And who got the most soaked of everyone? That's right, it was us. I know everyone got wet, but yeah, I'm pretty sure we got it the worst. Still, it wasn't horrible. Almost refreshing since it was so hot out.

The sprayer thingies at the end kind of add insult to injury, but not much you can do about it. Especially if you don't remember who is standing at the bridge when you get off. Next time I'm taking names!!!

Since we were then soaking, it seemed like a good time to go on the Maharaja jungle trek. There were some hidden mickeys I had been hoping to see but ended up not seeing. D'oh! Oh, that's our other thing. We're casual pin-traders and also casual hidden-mickey hunters. My best man gave us the hidden mickey book a few weeks prior, but unfortunately we hadn't studied up before going to AK. Next time though!

The two tigers we saw seemed to be active and getting along. I asked the CM if they fought much at all and she said that the only reason they're allowed to stay in the same area is that they're sisters. That was neat info I thought.

So we walked and walked and walked, took tons of pics of animals, then decided it was time to hit up Everest again. This time we fast-passed it though and flew by the now 70 minute wait. Suckers! We sat towards the back the 2nd time around, but it was more or less the same experience. A little bit faster, but still awesome.

By then it was I want to say 2:30 or 3:00, so we decided that our fun levels were pretty high and we were ready to relax some. We started making our way out of the park, but made a quick stop at It's Tough to Be a Bug first, just cause we do so love that closing song (that is also on the Happiest Celebration cd I got for Christmas). "Shoulder-high-waste!" Ah, good times.

And in line I spotted a CM with a cool Scrooge McDuck pin. I believe my exact words were "holy crap, a Scrooge McDuck pin!" So Danielle traded for that and then we went to be made honorary bugs. I somehow avoided the "stinging" which I didn't mind. The bugs exiting at the end was a neat effect too. After that it really was time to get going. We didn't care to see the parade, even if it was only 30 minutes away. Not that it's a bad parade, it just wasn't a priority.

Next was the long walk back to the bus stop, and that is where I'll stop for now. Wow these trips reports take awhile. Note to self: dictate trip report next time to secretary. 2nd note to self: get secretary before next trip.

Up next, the Longest Bus Ride Ever Part 2, the Longest Monorail Ride Ever, and dinner at Narcoossee's.

 

[roberrl187]

Congratulations on your wedding!!!!

I'm looking forward to the next installment. Great report so far.

 

[averill94]

Congratulations! Thanks for posting- what fun to read.

 

[Sorbo78]

Housekeeping Part 2 - well, somehow my lovely new wife got a hold of the link to my trip report (cause I sent it to her) and she weighed in last night on a few things. First off, for those that were dying to know, she got the Hazel Crusted Chicken for dinner at the Big River Grille. 2nd, she still contends I got the Gadzooks Pilsner simply for the name alone. So there you go. Back to our story.

Chapter 4 - The Nice Dinner


The ride back from Animal Kingdom was uneventful aside from the fact that it took forever. If we broke 30 mph the whole time, I would have been surprised. Thankfully I believe we were the first stop, so we didn't have it as bad as people staying at the Swan, Dolphin and Beach Club. Of course, maybe we were the last stop and I just blocked the whole thing out. Who knows? Either way, it was definitely worthy of being named the Longest Bus Ride Ever, part 2.

It was mid-afternoon and we had some down time to relax before heading to our nice dinner at Narcoossee's, so we decided to go to the pool. I'm not against sun, but I wasn't in the mood to get more burned that I already had started to get, while Danielle wanted to sit in the sun and soak up some rays. We found a few chairs half in / half out and set up camp there. After only a little while, I decided the voices from the slide were too much to ignore, and headed to the stairs going up. Even though it wasn't the biggest or best slide I've been on, it was lots of fun. Just going down a waterslide brings a sense that I'm not entirely grown up just yet, even if I did stand in line with about 6 kids that were under 10 years old.

Once done with that, I swam around just a bit to cool off, then headed back to the chairs to continue relaxing. Since I wanted to leave plenty of time for us to get to the GF, we decided to head back inside and start getting ready shortly thereafter (probably after about an hour or so at the pool).

Upon going back to the room, to what did our wondering eyes appear? Apparently we had JUST missed Mickey & Minnie in our room dropping off a congratulatory card and balloons. Wow, what a nice gesture. I didn't get them anything for their wedding. Or wait, did they get married? Hmm...best not to think about that.

So after taking the required pictures to capture the moment, it was dress up time. Last time we went we ate at the California Grill for our "nice dinner". To me the view was worth the price. The food wasn't bad, but the view took the night. This time I had selected Narcoossee's cause a) I wanted to eat at the Grand Floridian and b) it was on the water, so it offered a nice view of Wishes. Once we were gussied up, we decided to walk through Epcot, take the monorail to the T&TC, then take the resort monorail to the GF. Great plan, right?

The walk through Epcot wasn't bad at all. Upon entering the park Danielle heard some teenager say "what are they, dressed up for dinner or something?" Yes kid, that's right, you don't have to look like a slob all the time, you can wear nice clothes and feel a little better about yourself if you want. Sheesh!

We made it to the monorail and they had to perform a "systems check" of some sort, so we couldn't take off right away. Soon enough we were on our way though.

****A quick aside, I love the monorail. I don't know what it is about it, maybe it's the memories of Disney trips past or the cool look about it, but that thing is awesome. My dream job (next to Imagineer of course) would be monorail conductor.****

So we were at the T&TC with time to spare and proceeded to get onto the resort monorail with no problems. Except for the problems we had. Once on board, apparently one of the doors didn't want to close. We heard the "please stand clear of the doors" speech in english and spanish about two bazillion times. At this point we were pushing our PS time, but oh well, being a few minutes late wouldn't be the end all. FINALLY we started rolling and after a short stop at the Poly, we had made it to the GF. Hizzah!

Inside the GF, as most know, is nice. Just hanging around there makes you feel a little more important. At least it did for me. We didn't know where Narcoossee's was though, so we ducked into a gift shop to ask. Unfortunately the lady there didn't know either, so she had to look at a map. We probably could have found it ourselves, but it didn't hurt to ask I suppose.

We walked in and saw about 10 people waiting for their table, but no one up at the podium so we walked right up. I gave her my name and time and she looked for our reservation. And looked. And looked. "Oh, uh, we have you for Wednesday night at 7:30, not tonight." Excuse me? Wednesday? I had made all of our PS arrangements months in advance, but had changed the time of the Narcoossee's dinner a few weeks prior. I guess when I said "change the time", they also decided to "change the date". Nice. Luckily they said it wasn't a problem and they'd get us a table anyway. 20-35 minute wait, no problem.

We grabbed a drink from the bar to begin our night of nice relaxing dinner, then went outside to the deck. That's one thing I don't get about that restaurant: the deck. I mean, if you had a window seat with a great view of everything, wouldn't it kind of suck to then have someone sit down right in front of your window and give you a nice view of the back of their head? Well, we didn't end up with a window seat, so I guess it wasn't a big deal. We sat out there, took a few pictures, and waited. And waited. And then we waited some more. Finally after about 45 minutes of waiting, Danielle suggested I ask what the deal was.

The good thing about asking what the deal is, it usually results in something happening. And this time was no different. We asked and were seated in the next 5 minutes. I felt bad a little cause I had heard the hostess say to someone else "you'll be at the next available table", which turned out to be a lie since we were seated next. D'oh!

Next in our list of waits was waiting for a waitress. Luckily someone in that restaurant was on the ball that night. Her name was Rita and apparently she saw we had been waiting for awhile and decided to help us out. She came over, asked us if we'd like something to drink and told us about our dining plan options. Dining plan, eh? Order anything! Anything? That's right, anything. We ordered our appetizers and a bottle of wine and she was off. A few moments later our actual waitress stopped by and we told her what we had already ordered. Then the manager stopped by too. It was like there was a party at our table and we had invited everyone!

The manager apologized for the long wait, saying that they were on a new system or something, and brought out a sample appetizer from the chef. I can't tell you what exactly it was, but it wasn't bad. He also offered us a free drink from the bar. Sweet! Danielle and I both went our standards, Capt & diet and Jim Beam & coke. Bam. So let it be written, so let it be done.

So that was sort of nice. I mean, for not having a reservation that night at all, it was nice of them to fit us in in the first place, but then to give us a free drink for our wait, well, that was nice too.

Shortly thereafter our appetizers came. I ordered the shrimp cocktail and Danielle got the crab cakes. We tried each and were both pleased. Our bottle of wine came at some point too and I had to act all fancy and pretend I know what I'm doing when it comes to wine. She poured me a little bit (we got the King's Estate Pinot Grigio) and I tasted it. It wasn't my favorite glass of Pinot Grigio, but it was good enough. And seriously, does anyone ever say "uh, no, bring us something else!"? I wasn't about to. So once all that was out of the way, in keeping with tradition for the evening we then proceeded to wait for our dinner to arrive. And wait. And wait. I had ordered the lobster because hey, it's not like I was paying for it! Danielle got the surf and turf for pretty much the same reason.

Before the food came it was time for the Electrical Boat parade to occur on the Seven Seas Lagoon. This is another favorite memory of mine from childhood. The first few times we went, we stayed at the Polynesian resort. Before all this "value" and "moderate" business came about. Those were the days.....Anyway, one thing we did during our stay was watch the boat parade on the beach. It may have changed a little over the years, but it was still pretty awesome. I went out onto the deck to soak in the nostalgia. Some of the music made me laugh too, so I went back inside and told Danielle she had to see it. Unfortunately by the time she got out there it was pretty much over. D'oh! Still, it made me forget about how long we had been waiting, and was a nice little trip down memory lane.

Luckily it wasn't the longest I've ever waited to get food, but when it did come I think I started playing "Celebrate" by Kool and the Gang in my head. The nice thing too I guess about paying a lot for lobster is that I didn't have to do a lot of work. I had envisioned wearing the bib and cracking bits open with the tools, but pertty much all the work had been done for me already. Sweet. It worked out well, as I am pretty lazy most of the time. Ha!

So to review our dinners, the lobster was amazing. I don't eat it that often, but every time I do I think "why don't I eat this more often?" I wasn't the biggest fan of the butter they gave for dipping, so I didn't use it as much as I normally would, but it was still quite good. Danielle's filet was also very good. Eating it and enjoying each other's company made us completely forget the troubles we had been through earlier in the evening. Not that we had it SO bad, but whatever.

Once we were done with that, it was almost time for Wishes. We decided to break from eating, watch the fireworks, then decide on dessert. Wishes is just great I think. Disneyland's new fireworks were probably the best I've ever experienced, but Wishes is a close second. The sad part about this experience was that I tried to capture too much of it with my camera and didn't enjoy it as much as I should have. Next time. Danielle loves it too. The last time she said it was the best she'd ever seen, so watching it this time was a requisite. I think she even choked up a little as we stood watching the show. That was another Disney moment for me. There I was with the woman of my dreams in my most favorite place in the world, and she was enjoying it just as much as I was. That was some serious magic right there.

The show ended, we applauded, then went back inside to see about dessert. I went with the Expedition Everest in honor of our conquering it that day, and Danielle got the Almond Crusted Cheesecake. That's the one thing she could order that I wouldn't eat (as I do enjoy sampling every food she eats) cause I don't like cheesecake. D'oh!

She also decided to get a fruity mixed drink to top off the evening. I can't remember what, but she seemed to enjoy it. The desserts came and they were very good. The presentation of the everest dessert was pretty cool too. I have pictures, but not with me. D'oh! I'm not 100% sure how to post them anyway, so maybe I'll look into that this weekend. Sorry.

Our evening was finally at a close, so it was time for the bill. I think our final total was close to $200, but $60 of that was for the bottle of wine and drinks we had. So $140 worth of dinner for 2 table service credits each? Deal! Thank you dining plan. I had forgot too whether tip was included already too, which it was. I thought it a little odd that it had been included in our cash purchase as well, but I didn't sweat it. Before we left though we found Rita and thanked her for her help. And although she said we didn't have to, and we knew we didn't, we gave her $10 for her trouble. Danielle said we had been blessed at our wedding, so why not bless others? I couldn't agree more. And that concluded our 2.5 hour dinner at the Grand Floridian. Ta-da!

At that point it was past 10:30, so I was a little worried about making it back for the buses. We had already decided though that taking a cab would be a lot easier and less stressful (ie no screaming kids in a taxi). So we walked to the front of the hotel, hailed a cab and were on our way back to the Boardwalk. The cab ride was $15 with tip, which wasn't horrible. We didn't make a practice of it, so doing it once was no big thing.

Back in the room, Danielle decided it was a perfect time to hit up the hot tub. We made our way down and hopped in. They don't call it a hot tub by accident, it was hot. As my body acclimated itself to the temperature, I relaxed. It was nice. We sat there for a good 15-20 minutes, then decided it was bed time. Back to the room, and under the covers we fell alseep for our 2nd night in Disney. Great times so far.

And once again, you might have guessed, it's stop time. Man, kind of a long report just to talk about dinner. Sorry. The next one, while starting kind of bad, will be all about Epcot, I promise.

 

[Sorbo78]

Dropping the ball again. It was not a fruity drink Danielle ordered after dinner, it was a coffee liquor drink. D'oh! My attention to detail appears to be busy checking out a hot girl or something. Sorry about that. Either way, let's move on to Chapter 5.

Oh, and since today is my birthday and I'm in an extra-good mood, I guess I'll include the entire day's worth of events. Don't worry, that doesn't mean it'll be 5-pages long, I'll start trying to reel it in a little. Sound good? Onward and upward.


Chapter 5 - EPCOT Center


So according to my original plan, we were supposed to get up early and head to the Magic Kingdom for most of the day, then go to Epcot for dinner. Well, we threw out those plans the night before when we continued our discussion on what a honeymoon should entail. Since we were going to sleep in, we decided that Epcot would be better to visit since it was so close, then after dinner maybe we'd go elsewhere for the end of the night.

We woke up about the same time, I believe around 8:30 or 9:00ish, and I threw open the curtains. What's was this water-like substance falling from the sky? And why was it falling so heavily? RAIN? On our honeymoon? Ridiculous. I couldn't believe it. Well, I could because I was seeing it, but I must say it was pretty unexpected. I pretty much immediately decided that rain wasn't going to ruin our fun and marched down to the gift shop to purchase 2 ponchos. That's right, I bought 2 ponchos. At $7 a piece. What do you think of that? Well, since I was on my honeymoon I really didn't care. Any other trip and they'd have to pry that $14 + tax out of my hands, but this trip I was Arthur J. Pennybags.

We took our time getting ready and had our leftover muffin for breakfast and pretty much as we were getting ready to walk out the door, I checked again and the rain had stopped. Not only that, it sort of looked sunny out. I looked to the skies and uttered "ha ha, good one God. You got me." Nevertheless, fearing an afternoon shower, I wrapped one of the ponchos up and put it in my cargo shorts pocket. Ah cargo shorts, so useful in WDW.

The walk to Epcot was not terribly exciting. We went in through the International Gateway and made our way through England and Canada to Future World. I snapped a few pics here and there of the topiaries, but since the World Showcase was closed, we didn't spend a lot of time there.

First up, like everyone else, we headed to Soarin'. It was late morning, maybe 11:00ish at this point, so waiting was pretty much out of the question (90 minutes). We got fast-passes which were for 1:00 and then left the Land. I really loved the Land back in the day. I still love it, but I'm almost a little mad about the fact that they put such a huge attraction there. It's tough to describe my feelings on the matter I guess. In one respect I'm happy that it's getting so much attention since it is pretty awesome, but on the other hand I'm like "you posers, you're only here for Soarin'!" Does that make sense? Oh well, I digress. Kitchen Cababaret was pretty stinkin' awesome in my book. And I do always love hearing the song "Listen to the Land". Cracks me up. Since the wait just for that ride was 30+ minutes, we decided to forego it this time around. Instead it was off to my truly favorite pavilion of them all, Imagination!

Of all the characters in all of Disney, Figment has got to be my favorite. What other non-movie based character has met with such success? I can't think of any, although I'm sure there may be a few. The original Journey Into Imagination has got to be my all time favorite ride too. Even moreso than Star Tours (a close 2nd). Luckily I never went to Disney during it's 1st re-do, but I hear that version suc-diddly-ucked. And even more luckily they brought Figment back in the newer version, which I suppose I don't mind SO much. At least it still has part of the "One Little Spark" song in it (another great selection from the Happiest Celebration cd).

So after going on that and getting my Figment fix, we passed on Honey I Shrunk the Audience (Danielle didn't care for it last time and I was ambivalent) and proceeded to the Living Seas. I'll tell you, it'll be nice once the main entrance is back open, cause going through the exit kind of makes for a big traffic jam. I hadn't been in the Living Seas in a long time, but the sheer size of the aquarium is pretty amazing. I was surprised they didn't try to add on to it so that the new Georgia one wasn't the largest in the world, but oh well, it's still impressive. And unfortunately between that and Turtle Talk, there ain't a whole lot else there. Well, I'm sure there is, but the line for Turtle Talk was too long to contemplate standing in, so we walked around, saw some dolphins, sharks and manatees, then headed out. Next time we'll give it a proper look-see for sure.

On our way to Spaceship Earth next we ducked into the Art of Disney store to see if there was anything that might tug at our wallets a bit. One of my original thoughts for our Disney dollars would be to get a nice piece of artwork from there to commemorate the trip. Sadly there was nothing that jumped out at the both of us, and so we left empty-handed. Well, empty-handed merchandise wise, but full-handed money-wise.

And can you believe all things, there was a line to get onto Spaceship Earth presented by Siemens. Ridiculous. First rain, then this? Disney will be getting a letter about both, don't worry. Since the ride is continuously loading though, the "wait" is more of a slow walk, so we knew it was bearable. It ended being all of 5-10 minutes, and we were on board with Jeremy Irons. Most of that ride was spent looking for hidden mickeys, of which I think I saw 0. It was still cool to go on and a nice break from walking around at the very least.

Next up, I finally remembered something I had read from the Dis boards. Wedding buttons! Since we were right there, we decided to stop at Guest Relations and ask if they had something like a "just married" button. I wasn't really sure what to ask for, but however I put it, the guy understood and gave us 2 different ones. Two had Mickey & Minnie in wedding attire that said "Congratulations" and the others were more colorfol and said the same. We decided to put on the wedding ones and then made our way back to the Land. Oh, but since it was time to get a new fastpass, we made a quick pit stop (pun intended!) at the Test Track to pick up ones for that. The line wasn't horrible, but we had to get to Soarin', so we got our fastpasses and were on our way.

We made it back to the Land about 10 minutes after our fastpasses were active. There was a pretty substantial line of people seemingly counting the seconds down until theirs were active which we didn't understand, so we bypassed the line and got behind a group of people who were also trying to get in. I could get into a whole big thing about what happened while in line, but I won't. Basically a family didn't have fastpasses for everyone and after trying to explain it to them several times (they appeared not to speak english), 2 cast members ended up letting them through. I don't blame them at all and wasn't aggravated by their decision. I WAS, however, aggravated with the family. Something about them made me think they knew what they were doing, but oh well.

Anyway, Soarin' is Disney magic at it's best. Facing the screen, we were in the front row, left side and it was unbelievable. We only went on it once in Disneyland a year ago, so this was almost like riding it for the first time. Great stuff. What can I say that hasn't already been said though? Probably nothing. Suffice it to say, we loved it. Well, I loved it. Danielle did feel a tinge of dizziness from riding it, but I think she was still impressed with the experience overall. And she had loved it in DL.

At this point it was lunch time we decided. Our fast passes for Test Track weren't for awhile, so we had plenty of time to take a trip around the world. Another restaurant I had keyed was the Tangerine cafe, so we made our way over to Morocco. The system they had for taking and filling orders didn't seem to be the greatest. Apparently you were supposed to get a receipt, move down the line, then give your receipt to a guy who would fill the order. Unforunately the lady didn't give me the correct receipt, so I had to tell them what I had ordered. And since we were on the dining plan, I also had to ask for drinks and dessert. When all was said and done though we got our food. I only got one thing of baklava, which in retrospect was a mistake cause that stuff is GOOD. Danielle also enjoyed a glass of beer with lunch. She got the chicken wrap and I had the lamb gyro. Or at least it looked like a gyro.

Once full of food, it was time to burn some calories and we took our time exploring the Morocco area. Very cool stuff. The level of detail was quite astounding really. I noticed it was almost time for the next American Adventure showing though, so we high-tailed it out of there and headed west. We caught the very end of the America sings performance of the national anthem. Good stuff. Next we were herded into the theater and found some ideal seats.

Now, there was never a doubt that we were going to watch that show, but doing so right after lunch may have not been the best idea. Both of us came dangerously close to falling asleep during it. And it's not cause it was boring, but the cool a/c and our full stomachs probably made us a little too drowsy to be sitting down at that point. Still, we did get a kick out of the closing song. "A-me-rica.....spread your golden wings.....". Good times. Wow, a lot of our trip has revolved around songs. Freaky.....

Back outside in the real world, we spotted some characters. Most were pretty standard, but we also saw J. Worthington Foulfellow (and heard someone laughably call him the Big Bad Wolf, ha!), who we hadn't seen before. Danielle immediately hopped in line and got her picture taken with him. 3 of the Country bears were there too (Wendel, Liverlips and I can't remember the 3rd). They were getting ready to leave though so I just snapped a picture of the 3 of them by themselves. And the Sherriff of Nottingham was also hanging out, seemingly kind of lonely, so we got our picture taken with him too.

We proceeded on to Italy, then Germany, then China where we took a short break. There isn't so much to report from any of those aside from the fact that we walked through some shops and took some pictures. By China though Danielle was pretty tired, but since it was just about time for our Test Track fast pass, I knew we should keep moving. I had wanted to go on Maelstrom too, but unfortunately it was closed at the moment. D'oh! Another thought I had while walking by Mexico was el Rio del Tiempo. I hadn't been on that in years, but knew it was a good place to just sit and relax.

There was, as usual I would assume, no line for the ride and we got a boat pretty quickly. The lady working the front though stopped us from boarding one boat with others and instead gave us our own private one, then said congratulations. That was cool of her. Now, this may not be pc of me cause I'm sure there is a fair amount of tradition and culture to consider, but some of those videos crack me up on that ride. They just do. There, I said it.

Next we headed to Test Track and Danielle was a little more energized. The fast pass wait wasn't a long one and we did pick out a hidden mickey on a work bench. The wait to get into viewing room 2, however, was a long wait for some reason. I swear, viewing room 1 went 2 cycles before we finally got in there. Oh well, we made it on and as usual with that ride, had a blast. We decided to get another fast pass for our scrapbook, when a surprise fast pass came out with it. I thought it was just a bonus one, but Danielle quickly noted it was for Mission: Space. Oops. On to that then.

There was no way Danielle was going on this ride. She's not the biggest fan of enclosed spaces, so last time we made it all the way to the loading before she realized what it was about (neither of us had been on it) and opted out. This time after having been on it before, I wasn't super-nervous, but I was still a little nervous what with all the stuff that has happened since my last trip. I went with the single riders line since the wait time for 5 minutes and boarded pretty quick. Once through pre-boarding and on our spots, I stood against the wall shaking the slightest bit. Last time on the ride I had sort of looked around a bit and my stomach didn't like it, so this time I was determined to keep my eyes forward at all times. The coolest part was when we got in and I looked at the screen, I immediately saw a few hidden mickeys. That helped calm me down a bit, and before I knew it we were on our way to Mars. That take off it the most amazing thing I think. Once we finished I walked out a proud man. A proud man who wasn't sick to his stomach. Yay!

Once outside the pavilion, I didn't see Danielle in the vicinity so I went back inside to look for her in there. Nope, no sign. But when I walked BACK out she was there, and a beer had magically appeared in her hands. Nice. From there we walked over to the Wonders of Life and Universe of Energy pavilions and took a few pics of those. Energy was being refurbished and Wonders of Life, well, no one knows what's going on there other than it's only open for peak seasons I guess.

At that point it was about 5:00, so we had an hour to kill before our dinner was scheduled for Teppanyaki. We decided to take our sweet time and make our way back to Japan for dinner. First stop was Mouse Gear to do some window shopping, then Club cool to see what they had done with the place. They didn't have that many flavors, but Danielle did decide to taste Beverly. The look on her face was pretty great. I think she knew that it was bad, but just wanted to see how bad. After she did it though, I felt bad and realized I had never tasted it anyway thanks to the warnings. Being a man though, I decided to face my fears and take a gulp. I think the look on my face was also pretty great. We later saw someone else taste it and you guessed it, the look on THEIR face was pretty great too. Ha!

Next we bypassed Canada and instead opted to walk through the shops in England. In the very back of one of them we happened upon Tigger and Winnie the Pooh. We got our picture taken right before Tigger had to go teach someone to bounce (ie take a break) and after our picture had been taken Pooh made like he was going to go off with Danielle. If I was gonna lose her to someone, I was glad it was Pooh. Luckily he gave her back and they both pointed to our buttons and applauded. Nice guys, those two.

Outside we found the hedge maze that I had heard so much about. We started on opposite sides and the race was on. Danielle may tell you she won, but I say it was a photo finish and she may have been juicing.

After bypassing France for no good reason, we saw the Genie posing for pics in Morocco. Since most of our wishes were coming true, we decided to thank him properly by getting our picture with him. The picture was a weird one too, I couldn't tell if he was making the muscle pose or what. Still, it was nice to see him, and we then kept walking to make our PS reservation.

And of course we were 15 minutes late (I thought it was 6:15 but it was actually 6:00), but it wasn't a big deal. After a short wait we were on our way to our table with a family of 4 and another couple. The food was very good although I didn't care for the ginger salad. I got the Fujiyama combination plate (shrimp & sirloin) and Danielle got the Kamome (scallops & chicken). We were both intent on sharing anyway, so it worked out well. For dessert I had some pineapple and Danielle got ice cream. I had some of hers, so I can truthfully say both wer yummy. The experience overall was just okay. Our chef wasn't THE most entertaining in the world, so chances are I wouldn't make it a point to go back there. Still, it wasn't bad by any means, so I was happy that we had gone.

Once dinner was over, it was decision time. There were several options, but the one that seemed the best to Danielle involved going back to the hotel. D'oh! She was beat though from a full day of walking, so I conceded and we hopped on a Friendship boat to whisk us back to the Boardwalk. Back in the room conveniently it was 8:00 and time for the Gilmore Girls season finale. How about that? I really don't think Danielle planned it that way, but it was a little suspicious nevertheless. She got into her jammies and we watched it, then I watched Scrubs and the lights were out at 9:30. Crazy, right? Wait, I thought we were a newly married couple, not an old one? D'oh!

So that was day 2. Wednesday was an off day from the parks, but there was still a lot to talk about. I will do so in Chapter 6 (maybe this weekend, maybe next week, we'll see). Until then, Happy Birthday to me, and happy Memorial day weekend to the rest of you!

 

[videogal1]

Chapter 5 - EPCOT Center

Back outside in the real world, we spotted some characters. Most were pretty standard, but we also saw J. Worthington Foulfellow (and heard someone laughably call him the Big Bad Wolf, ha!), who we hadn't seen before. Danielle immediately hopped in line and got her picture taken with 3 of the Country bears were there too (Wendel, Liverlips and I can't remember the 3rd). They were getting ready to leave though so I just snapped a picture of the 3 of them by themselves. !

I thank you for the great read and for bringing this up. I have a hate/hate relationship with the largest of the 3 Country Bears and, before I get into any detail, seeming to hijack your great TR, could you please tell me the name of the largest bear so I can put a name to the object of my un-Disney-like hatred?

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your reports ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[MagicMe]

Really enjoying your report!

CONGRATULATIONS to both of you!!!!

 

[Sorbo78]

Welcome back everyone. Sorry for the hiatus, but as it turns out, I'm not much of a computer guy on holiday weekends. Sure I had the time to be, but I chose to do other stuff instead. Fun stuff, like clean the gutters and put in screen windows. Good times.

In any event, here we go with our next installment....


Chapter 6 - Frankie Says Relax


Wednesday was our day off from the parks. We had planned in awhile ago and even though we had 2nd, 3rd and 4th thoughts about our decision, when the day came we knew we had planned correctly.

After sleeping for close to 12 hours, I got Danielle up. Or maybe the alarm did. Either way, she got up and we got ready pretty quickly. Next we made our way to the bus stop and waited for the Magic Kingdom bus to arrive. It didn't take long to do so and we piled in with just about everyone else. Unfortunately we weren't going to the Magic Kingdom, Danielle was going to the Grand Floridian for a peticure and massage and I was headed to the Polynesian for breakfast.

We got off the bus and made our way past the entrance (which was tough since we hadn't been inside the MK yet and it was our 3rd full day there) and up to the resort monorail. Shortly thereafter we were on our way through the Contemporary, T&TC, Polynesian and bam, we were at the Grand Floridian. After finding a hotel map and where the Spa was, we made our way over there and I dropped off Danielle to enjoy herself. She was pretty much right on time, which was unfortunate because they say getting there early is a bit nicer. Oh well. I was off to breakfast. I knew I had time, so I opted to walk over to the Poly, but was picked up by a cart right near the wedding pavilion instead. Sure I could have said no, but why use my legs like a sucker when I can ride? They dropped me off near the side entrance to the main building and I made my way inside.

Now, although my first trip did not involve staying at the Poly, the first trips I can remember did. We stayed there twice growing up and fond memories came rushing back as I walked through the grounds. The main lobby wasn't exactly how I remembered it, but it was still a warming feeling. I made my way up to Kona and got a table pretty quickly. I had made PS reservations, but probably didn't need them. After a few minutes, my waitress came by and asked me what I'd like to drink and if I needed a few minutes with the menu. I explained that I was really only there for one thing and that was....and just before I could say she interrupted: "Let me guess: tonga toast!" That was correct. After all the reviews I've read and all the hype, who was I to get something else?

While I waited I thumbed through the Imagineers guide to the Magic Kingdom and before I could turn a page a gentleman came out with Tonga toast in hand. "Wow that was fast". "And double wow, that is some huge toast". Just two of my thoughts that morning. And I can tell you with certainty, that stuff is good. I ate some with syrup and some without, mainly cause I didn't know which was preferred, but either way I enjoyed it.

Afterwards I wandered around the grounds some to take some pictures and enjoy my time. I found the arcade where years upon years ago my brother and I had spent so much time. At the end of various nights we'd inevitably end up down there to play Gauntlet or air hockey while my parents would relax in the room. Good times. I played a video game for old time's sake, then began walking back to the Spa.

I made it all the way to the Grand Floridian lobby, so after browsing in a shop I sat down and opened the book back up, awaiting Danielle's call that she was done. After a little while she did call and I went to meet her on the walk back. The massage was good she said, but the peticure was wonderful. I was happy she could enjoy herself. Thank you, disney dollars!

At this point, it was just after noon, so we decided to head to the Marketplace for lunch. I wasn't super-hungry, but perhaps some shopping would encourage my appetite. We didn't go into too many of the shops before stumbling across the Earl of Sandwich. I had heard great things about this place from a friend, so it was yet another restaurant I had keyed before coming. And sure enough, it did not disappoint. I had the original and Danielle had a full montagu without the mustard sauce. Both were excellent, as were the desserts (a cookie and cupcake) that we took back to the room.

Once lunch was over with, we decided to head back to the room since we were coming back to Downtown Disney later on anyway for dinner at Captain Jack's. We did stop in the toy store first though and had fun discovering the wide variety of things we could throw our money at.

The bus ride back to the hotel stopped at Typhoon Lagoon first which added some time, then made its first hotel stop at the Swan. It was close enough to walk to the Boardwalk though, so we got off there. Back in the room, we changed and once again, as was tradition at that point, made our way down to the pool for some SERIOUS relaxation. Again, I wasn't crazy about sitting in the sun, so we found some chairs 1/2 in, 1/2 out and sat there. Danielle was also ready at that point to brave the slide, and so we both did. Good times. I think I also fell asleep at one point on the lounge chair I was sitting in, and the only reason I know that is because Danielle moved about 10 chairs away from me to be in the sun while I was asleep. Oops.

Eventually though it was time to get ready for dinner once again, and so we went back to the room. The bus ride back was super-quick and rather than go right to dinner, again we decided to shop some. Our first stop was the Christmas store and eventually we resolved to get a few things, including a personalized ornament. Here is where some confusion took place. In the room where the personalization was being done, I figured I'd just ask the lady who was doing if she could take care of it for us, mainly cause a little girl had done the same thing and she did it as she and her mother waited. While she was working on that ornament though, she told us to go to the line at the opposite end of the store and put our order in. When we finally told them what we wanted, "May 6, 2006" put on it, they said "oh, that'll take until Saturday, but if you do 5/6/06 it'll be ready tonight". Who knew one word and 5 numbers took a day's worth of time when compared to 4 numbers? So even though we were pretty disappointed in this turn of events, we went for it anyway. Stupid us, right? But rather than wait around for it to get done, we just had them ship it to the hotel.

Next we made our way to Captain Jack's where we were greeted by one of the weirdest seating policies I think I've ever seen. First, we were told it would be about an hour and 20 minutes, so she gave us a slip of paper with that time on it and told us to come back then. When we did get back, we then had to wait another 10-15 minutes to be seated. Uh, so I don't know, why not take reservations? I mean, I don't blame them for the wait and we didn't mind it SO much, but why not just say "oh, it'll be an hour and 40 minute wait"? Weird stuff. And the real kicker was that the meal wasn't even THAT great. I mean, it wasn't bad by any means, but nowhere near worth a 90 minute wait. We both had the Seafood pasta which was tasty. I couldn't eat much of mine though, but oh well. We both took our desserts home too.

Afterwards it was getting pretty late, so we did a little more shopping and called in a night. I got to see some cool Star Wars legos that were just coming out, plus I bought a few monorail toys for the monorail I hope to buy someday. I know, I know, why not buy the monorail first? Well, that would just make too much sense.

We hopped a bus back to the Boardwalk (the first stop this time) and said goodnight. I had envisioned playing mini-golf that evening, but sadly there wasn't enough time and we had an early morning planned Thursday, so I had to concede that part of the trip. D'oh! Maybe next time.

So that was Wednesday. The next day was all about parks though, so it'll be a little better, I promise.

 

[Sorbo78]

I thank you for the great read and for bringing this up. I have a hate/hate relationship with the largest of the 3 Country Bears and, before I get into any detail, seeming to hijack your great TR, could you please tell me the name of the largest bear so I can put a name to the object of my un-Disney-like hatred?

Do you mean Big Al? Does your hatred stem from the movie or the park show or something else? Weird stuff.....

 

[Sorbo78]

Chapter 7 - FINALLY, the Magic Kingdom


So we're over half-way through our trip at this point, and that's not a good feeling at all. Yes there is still plenty of fun left to be had, but it's like we hit the peak and now you're going back down the mountain. Nevertheless, since this was our first visit to the Magic Kingdom during this trip, we were still determined to have a good time and put all those crazy thoughts about having to go home out of our minds for the time being.

It took until day 4 of the trip, but I finally succeeded in my plan to get up early and be at a park for the opening. And because it was extra magic hours that morning, we even had to get up BEFORE we would have on a regular work day. My powers of persuasion must be something, right?

We were at the bus stop by 7:15 and on our way to the MK very soon. I guess because it was Extra Magic hours, we even had a dedicated bus and didn't have to stop several more times. Sweet!

The lines to get in the park weren't too bad, but I wanted to see the opening ceremony so we went right to the middle and stood at the fence. Eventually the Fire Marshall came out and welcomed everyone. There was song, there was dance, there was an honorary family helping out. And soon enough, there was Mickey and the gang (and Cruela DeVil for some reason) coming down the tracks. Good times. And when it was officially open, we hopped into line and made our way to Main Street, USA.

We took our time with this part, and after having read the Disboards and the Imagineer's guide, I had wanted to see the names in the windows. There were a few I recognized and got all excited, like I knew them or something. Ha! And then finally we turned the corner and saw Walt's name. That was pretty cool, having not known to look for it in all my many trips prior.

Alright, enough of this sentiment crap, we've got rides to ride! Last visit we turned left first, but since Pirates was closed we opted for Tomorrowland this time instead. And what do you do first in Tomorrowland? Stitch's Great Escape, of course! Ha, not. Space Mountain it was. When else was there going to be a 5-10 minute wait?

As usual with Space Mountain, we had fun. The dips, the turns, the darkness, all fun. Next up we walked back to Buzz, a favorite of ours and probably a lot of other people, and walked on in about 5 minutes. I'll tell you, I was all set for this one. I hadn't studied hard enough on the Disboards, but I thought I knew exactly where to shoot to be a winner. Unfortunately, that didn't happen and I lost to Danielle. It was actually the first time she's beaten me at that ride too, so while I was sad internally, I congratulated her nonetheless. And of course, I wouldn't be a guy without an excuse for losing. It's cause the ride paused a few times, and rather than shoot the same target 20x in a row, I stopped shooting. Meanwhile, Danielle kept going. Since I could have done the same thing, it wasn't cheating, but at the same time I didn't think it was right. Oh well.

Once outside the ride, we made our way towards Fantasyland. On the way we stopped to get our picture taken with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. Their part in Alice in Wonderland is pretty awesome I think, so it was nice to say hi to them. Moving on, the line for Winnie the Pooh wasn't terribly long, so we hopped on board. I really enjoy this ride. I mean, I enjoyed Mr. Toad's Wild Ride a lot more, but if there was to be a replacement, I didn't mind this one so much. Plus the fact that Toad and Mole appear in the ride make it sort of a cool "insider" thing.

Snow White is the next ride in line and so we did that too. The one in Disneyland is a lot worse, so we were happy to be back in Orlando riding the better version. Afterwards we took a quick walk through Sir Mickey's gift shop and spotted the Giant peeking in. Then it was off to Tink's Treasures to see if we could see Tinkerbell in the cupboard. Unfortunately that didn't work out so well, as I guess she was busy flying around the store. I think Danielle saw her, but I did not.

Finally it was time for another Disney institution, It's a Small World. Peter Pan was up to a 25 minute way, and IaSW was a walk-on, so that probably aided the decision. Last time we were in the World, it was being refurbished, so we'd have to go back at least 10 years to when I had ridden it last. And you know what? It was pretty much the same as I remember, except a lot longer. I really don't remember that ride being that long. But hey, we experienced it, and could now move on.

Peter Pan was still pretty long, and so we moved onward to Liberty Square and the Haunted Mansion. This is another one of my favorites, which makes me wonder why we only did it once. D'oh! It was fun, as usual, and I got to see the new Leota tombstone. Supposedly there are updates coming in the future, but who knows what that'll entail?

At this point, it was after 9:00 so the general public was allowed to enter. It was still early enough though that when we made it to Splash mountain, the wait was only 10 minutes. 10 minutes for Splash Mountain? Another no-brainer. Meanwhile we got fastpasses for Big Thunder Mountain, with the plan to do that afterwards.

If I had to pick one ride I would do over and over and over again until they kicked me out screaming, it would be Splash Mountain. There is absolutely nothing about this ride I don't like. The music, great. The story, awesome. The drops, wonderful. The characters, superb. The day they finally release Song of the South on dvd, I'll be there to pick up my pre-ordered copy with bells on. So do I have to even tell you how our ride was that morning? Well, I will anyway. It was just okay. Ha, just kidding, it was awesome as usual. While singing along to the song may have made our ride more enjoyable, I do fear it detracted from others' experiences. Not that I was shouting it. In fact, they probably didn't even hear me. Yeah, that's the ticket.

We made our way through the gift shop to see what new stuff they had. Nothing special, so it was time to hit up Big Thunder Mtn and the wildest ride in the wilderness! The line wasn't so bad at that point, probably about 15-20 minutes, but our fastpasses weren't going to be going to waste. We were seated towards the front and had a good time. Last time I had used a disposable camera to get an in-ride picture, but this time with our new digital camera I wasn't as brave. Still, good times.

We worked our way over to Adventureland next and passed the Pirates entrance. Stupid rennovations. Well, it'll just make me excited next time we're back there I suppose. Instead we stopped to visit the Tiki Birds and made it just in time too, so that was good. After that since we were right there, we decided to go on the Magic Carpets. Last time in WDW we had done the Dumbo ride, and in Disneyland we had done the Astro-Orbiter, so it was I guess a requirement that this time we do the Magic Carpets. Plus since Aladdin is one of my favorite Disney movies, it didn't hurt that the music was playing throughout the ride.

Next up was snack time. It was either that or lunch and I had keyed a snack in Adventureland months ago. Anyone want to guess what that snack was? Duh, a dole whip of course! And thanks to the new snack policies of the dining plan, the dole whip was included. Score! So I got one of those and Danielle had a twist of chocolate and vanilla. Thank you dining plan! After I had devoured mine in all its goodness, I made a b-line for the Jungle Cruise and got fastpasses for that. When I got back, we noticed that Rafiki and Timon were out taking pictures, so once Danielle finished, we hopped in line. They noticed our "Congrats" buttons and gave us the thumbs up. We thanked them, got the picture, and moved on.

My notes began to fail me at this point. I guess later on in the week I was beginning to get sad about leaving and just didn't care as much about detail, but I'm pretty sure we went back to the Jungle Cruise at that point and waited a few minutes for our fastpasses to kick in. We walked right on to our boat and were announced to the rest of the passengers as newlyweds. Sweet, hi everyone! Our captain was pretty good I thought. The funniest line is of course the one I don't remember now. I did get a kick too of when we were being ambushed and ducking down he said "Duck everyone, duck. Don't worry about looking stupid, I'm doing it for you." That guy was alright.

Afterwards we walked back to Splash Mountain to get some fastpasses, then decided to go see the Country Bears. This is not a favorite of Danielle's, but I enjoy it thoroughly. Once it was over, it was lunch time. And what good timing, cause we were right next to Pecos Bill and his glorious fixins' bar. We both were still a little full from the ice cream, so rather than going for the 1/2 lb bacon double cheeseburger, we went with the 1/4 lb cheesburgers instead. The guy mentioned we could get the bigger one, but we both said we couldn't handle it. Besides, a 1/4 lb cheeseburger with fries, a drink, AND dessert, wasn't that enough? With cheeseburgers on tray, we made our way to the fixins' bar and topped our burgers with various things. I know I put mushrooms on mine, so that was good.

By the time we found a seat, I believe we were actually in the Pirata y el Perico section, but it was no bother since it was closed. We sat and enjoyed our lunch and planned out the rest of our day. The best laid plans though.....

After lunch we saw Captain Hook and Mr. Smee together for pictures in front of PotC, so we got in line for that. Meanwhile, a storm was a brewin' in the skies above. The slight rumble of thunder and the ominous clouds had started to roll in. There be a storm ahead mateys. Oh, sorry, got carried away there a bit. Once we had our picture, rather than go with common sense and head towards Main St. where there are shops-a-plenty, we instead headed to Splash Mountain to see if we could beat the rain. Sadly, we didn't and it quickly started pouring as soon as we made it to the entrance. Like everyone else in the vicinity, we piled into the Briar Patch to wait it out.

And where were my $7 ponchos? Of course, in the room hanging out.

Did Kevin fork over another $14? Would the rain ruin the entire honeymoon? Find out these answers next time. Sorry for the cliffhanger, but I gotta run.

 

[Sorbo78]

Chapter 8 - The Rain Rain Rain Came Down Down Down.....


When we last left our honeymoon couple, they were stuck inside the Briar Patch gift shop while the rain poured outside. Countless people were coming in and buying ponchos but I just couldn't bring myself to join in. Finally after about a good 20 minutes, or maybe more, it started to let up the slightest bit and I decided we should make a break for it.

By the time we made it to Main Street, the rain had just about stopped. Rather than run straight out to our bus though, we decided to stop in the gift shops while the rain officially stopped. Inside we found a scrapbook we had seen at Downtown Disney, except all the ones there were scratched (it was a wooden scrapbook). These ones weren't though, and so we decided to hop in line and buy it. I also picked up a copy of the Wishes soundtrack for when we were back at home and needed a Disney fix.

Unfortunately buying these items was not as easy as it would appear. The people in front of us were making the longest, most difficult purchase ever and I'm pretty sure the older gentleman behind the counter was somewhat new. But being Mr. Stubborn, I didn't move to a different line. And finally, after a good 15 minutes, we had our items and were out the gate. Sadly, this is not the longest line for merchandise we'd wait in all trip.

So with our long shopping experience behind us, it was off to the bus stop, and eventually off to the Boardwalk again. Back in the room Danielle decided it was a perfect time for another hot tub jaunt. Who was I to argue? And so we went, sat, and relaxed, as had been the tradition most mid-afternoons thus far.

We had dinner reservations that night at the Prime Time cafe in MGM, so around 5:00ish we decided to walk on over in that direction. As this was our first time to MGM, we noted how long the walk had taken for future reference (15 minutes room to front gate). Once inside, we knew we had plenty of time to do a few rides at least, so we headed towards the Rockin' Rollercoaster. The stand-by line was only 10 minutes, so we did just that. I spotted a hidden mickey in the intro area (which I had read about), and soon enough we were on the ride and blasting off to make it to the concert. Great ride. Unfortunately Danielle's restraint was loose and for all her effort, she couldn't get it to click that last click, so the entire ride was a little shaky for her.

The line for Tower of Terror was a little longer, so we opted to forego that and head towards the center of the park. With plenty of time remaining, the Great Movie Ride seemed like a good idea. We walked right on to that and were on our way in no time. I finally saw Mickey's foot underneath a torn poster, and Danielle found a hidden mickey all on her own (a very proud moment) further along in the gangster scene. We both looked and looked for any strange hieroglyphics in the Indiana Jones part, but to no avail. Overall it was good times. Does anyone know if they still do 2 cars at once though, which the front car getting the "old west" scene and the back one getting the "gangster" scene? My guess would be during peak times, but who knows?

Anyway, after that ride we were once again left with time remaining before our dinner. So what then? Why, Star Tours of course! Definitely in my top 5 ride favorites, but mostly for the theme itself. Not that the ride is bad. In fact, it's quite good. An update or alternative would be pretty cool, but I'm not complaining. At least not officially. Beforehand I noticed they were giving out fastpasses, even though standby was only 5 minutes. I grabbed one for our scrapbook and while Danielle waited for me, the cast member asked her "is he really getting fastpasses for this?" She explained it was for the scrapbook though, so I didn't seem like a loon hopefully.

After the ride and slowly walking through the gift shop to make sure I didn't miss a single piece of star wars merchandise, it was finally close enough to our dinner time to justify heading over there. We walked in and after about 5 minutes of waiting were on our way to the table. Aunt Cindy was our waitress and we had a good time. For appetizers we had the fried herb cheese (which I now highly recommend) and onion rings. For our entree Danielle went with the Pot Roast, a favorite of hers from our last trip, and I got the grilled chicken. Next time I'll probably get the pot roast though, cause it was good. Better than my chicken I thought.

After the meal was over and we were stuffed to our gills, we decided to forego one dessert and took a peanut butter & jelly milkshake to go. That was one of my favorites from last trip, so I knew I had to have it again. Before we could leave though, Cindy brought out a small cupcake and said that since no one was invited to our wedding, we had to re-enact the cake-cutting/feeding in front of everyone. And as with our wedding, we were nice to each other and didn't do the face-smash thing. That was really nice of her to do we thought.

At that point it was only 7:30ish so we still had a good hour and a half until Fantasmic. What to do, what to do? We decided to keep it low key and walked around a bit, then made our way to the Voyage of the Little Mermaid. We hadn't seen it before so I made Danielle go using my "what else are we gonna do" argument. Works every time. Or some of the time. Or once at least.

The air conditioning was working quite well in the theater, which wasn't a bad thing until they drop all that mist on you. Admittedly I didn't walk out of the theater soaking wet, but it seemed pretty close. And the show itself wasn't bad, although I can't say I agree with the way they fast-forwarded through a lot of things at the end. Why not add a few minutes so they can sing Kiss the Girl or something? I'm just sayin'.

That killed a little time, but we still had time to spare and so we went with the Magic of Animation next. That part was the same as the one in Disneyland, of which I was unaware. Still, it was cute and afterwards we wandered through the animation play area. I wanted to do the "learn to draw a character" part, but it was now getting close to Fantasmic time, so we opted to skip it and head towards the theater instead.

Once there, I noticed the theater was pretty packed. And rather than get seats right away, we got in line to get a beer instead. Beers in hand, we made our way to the far far end and found seats not too far from the top. Was it the best view of Fantasmic? No. But was it good for having shown up 15 minutes before the show started? Probably.

The crowd was already doing the wave and soon enough, the show began. This is another part of Disney I just plain love. I bought the soundtrack about a year ago and have sinced memorized most, if not all of it (much to the dismay of Danielle I think). The show was amazing, as usual, and I got a short video with our camera of the end when Mickey pops up atop the mountain. That part just blows me away.

Once it was all over with, we made our way slowly but surely to the park exit, and to the walkway back to the Boardwalk. The line for the boat was long enough such that walking didn't seem like a big deal. 15 minutes later we were back in our room, enjoying one more drink before turning off the lights. Another successful day was in the books, but sadly only 1 full day remained. Still, the weather looked promising and we were excited to see things we had missed.

Thus ended Thursday. Next up, back to the Magic Kingdom, then on to Epcot and THE longest line ever. <stupid photopass....>

 

[exwdwcm]

great report, thanks for sharing. looking forward to next installment!



btw, if i remember correctly- the hidden mickey in great movie ride in the hieroglyphics (sp?) area is to the far right side area of the wall, almost as you are about to leave that area.

where's the hidden mickey (foot behind the poster)? never seen that one, will have to look for it in August!

 

[averill94]

What is it with those store lines? I always feel like shaking the customers and the cashier! Not very Disney of me but they are slower than molasses!