JenniBarra
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2002
- Messages
- 415
Saturday, February 2
We fly out late in the evening. Usually, I would be bothered by the fact that taking Dramamine makes me drowsy, but, this time, I actually want to get some sleep as we will be in Orlando in the morning. Initially, I manage to sleep for about an hour, but we hit turbulence and, after that, it's too bumpy and I feel a bit queasy so my sleep is fitful after that...
Sunday, February 3
We landed in Atlanta in the morning. While waiting for the plane to take us to Orlando, I spot at least one other couple definitely going to Disney World. (The Disney attire was a dead giveaway. <g> It must be their honeymoon as they're wearing buttons that say "Bride" and "Groom," respectively.)
The flight to Orlando is much smoother than the leg to Atlanta, thankfully!
By the time we get our luggage, it's almost 8AM. We call the car rental agency and they have our arrival time listed as being in the afternoon instead of in the morning, so we're stuck at the airport for a number of hours, waiting for a car to come in. (This will end up being the first of many problems with this particular rental company.)
When they finally send their shuttle for us and my husband goes in to take care of the paperwork, we find that the "deal" wasn't much of a deal after all. They claim that the standard proof of insurance card that we carry with us isn't sufficient proof of insurance and, despite my husband's protestation that AmEx also provides a certain level of coverage, they insist we have to buy *their* insurance. As if that wasn't enough, unlike other agencies that automatically cover a spouse as an "authorized driver," my husband is told that it will cost extra for me to be able to drive the car as well! While this is all very disappointing and not a particularly magical beginning of our trip, we figure we can dispute questionable charges with AmEx.
By late morning, we are at last on the road to Walt Disney World!
It doesn't take us very long once we hit the road to get to our hotel, Port Orleans Riverside. We're only just in the lobby and I'm already feeling the magic begin to envelop me, which is much needed after the morning's frustrations! Thankfully, they already have a room ready for us and it ends up that we're staying in Magnolia Terrace. (Prior to my trip, I kept hearing that only Alligator Bayou was open.) The person checking us in says that they're opening a building each day that week. We ask about proximity to the food court and bus stop and she pulls out a map to show us exactly where everything is. (I remember being warned that some buildings/rooms are rather far from these places.)
So we head to our room and are absolutely awed by how pretty the grounds are...and quiet! We're also delighted to spot a rabbit. (We would go on to spot several other rabbits, too, and enjoy the other wildlife found there.)
After hauling the luggage to our room and unpacking, we head to the food court for lunch. Of course, we buy the souvenir mugs and make a pact between ourselves that we'll just have water with our meals in the parks. Having lunch revives us quite a bit, so we decide we're ready to take on one of the parks.
I decide that Epcot is probably a good bet on a weekend day. While waiting for the Epcot bus, it seems like every other bus goes by. Since we're the only ones at the bus stop, we try to just wave the other buses by. The Epcot bus shows up, only it stops short of the station. I'm somewhat baffled as to why it hasn't pulled all the way up...and then it pulls forward, we approach the door, and it doesn't open! I laugh when I realize that the driver is the one who just went by driving the Magic Kingdom route and that he's having fun with us. When we board the bus, the driver announces that this is the bus for Magic Kingdom, laughs, and then says, no, it's really the bus to Epcot. : )
Once we get to Epcot, it doesn't take us long to find the window to have our annual pass vouchers exchanged for actual tickets. The cast member processes them fairly quickly and then it's on to bag check. I think that security here may even be more thorough than Disneyland's, but they're still quick. Next, it's off to the turnstile. We need a bit of assistance from the cast member to figure out how to use the biometric reader, but we'll end up being pros at using it by the end of the trip.
Our first stop is Test Track, something we looked forward to on our last trip in '97, but ended up opening late. I suppose because it's Superbowl Sunday the lines are particularly kind. (Test Track has a 20 minute wait and this is around 2 or 3 in the afternoon.) As we wait in line, I make the ironic observation that exactly one year earlier I was an unwilling "crash test dummy" when someone rearended me! (Last year, as I was recuperating from my injury, my husband periodically mentioned that maybe we could go to WDW in 2002. Part of my settlement is financing this trip.) We end up laughing throughout the ride, particularly enjoying the moment when we pop out of the testing facility and out onto the "freeway."
Afterward, we head to one half of Innoventions. It's great that the crowds are so light because we can easily go "play" at the various exhibits. One of the most memorable things we did was playing the Disney tag game. As Minnie Mouse, I won the honor of "best hider." I managed to avoid getting tagged until the very end of the game...and then I couldn't tag anyone else. Oh, well. <g> While waiting to see the Motorola film, the CM spies my Laughing Place button and asks if we know Rebekah and Doobie. (Do I know Doobie and Rebekah?! : ) ) It ends up that he went by "Verbal" (and various other nick names) on the alt.disney.disneyland group ages ago. I told him that I only lurked on A.D.D., but I did remember his riddles!
When evening comes, we discuss where we'd like to have dinner. My husband decides he wants to see if we can get in at the Garden Grill, as he remembered how much he liked it before. Sure enough, we are able to get seated right away. The food was as terrific as we remembered and our waiter was great about tweaking with the dishes when we inquired (for example, hubby isn't into sauces, etc. so he was able to get a bowl of smashed potatoes minus the gravy and, for dessert, we both had "dirt 'n worms" instead of the bread pudding). We received multiple visits from Mickey, Chip, and Pluto - my husband joked that he was getting jealous because Mickey and Dale kept blowing me kisses and taking my hand. : )
The Tapestry of Dreams parade was about to begin once we left the Land pavilion, so we jetted over to Mexico to catch it. The puppets are definitely very cool!
We were feeling pretty tired after that, so we decided to skip staying until closing and decided to head back to Port Orleans for a well deserved (and much needed) rest. It ends up we took quite a hike upon our return because we did not initially realize that Port Orleans Riverside has four different bus stops! I think we got off at the North Depot when what we actually needed was the East Depot! Needless to say, we only ended up making that mistake just that one time, as we quickly learned our lesson! ; )
We fly out late in the evening. Usually, I would be bothered by the fact that taking Dramamine makes me drowsy, but, this time, I actually want to get some sleep as we will be in Orlando in the morning. Initially, I manage to sleep for about an hour, but we hit turbulence and, after that, it's too bumpy and I feel a bit queasy so my sleep is fitful after that...
Sunday, February 3
We landed in Atlanta in the morning. While waiting for the plane to take us to Orlando, I spot at least one other couple definitely going to Disney World. (The Disney attire was a dead giveaway. <g> It must be their honeymoon as they're wearing buttons that say "Bride" and "Groom," respectively.)
The flight to Orlando is much smoother than the leg to Atlanta, thankfully!
By the time we get our luggage, it's almost 8AM. We call the car rental agency and they have our arrival time listed as being in the afternoon instead of in the morning, so we're stuck at the airport for a number of hours, waiting for a car to come in. (This will end up being the first of many problems with this particular rental company.)
When they finally send their shuttle for us and my husband goes in to take care of the paperwork, we find that the "deal" wasn't much of a deal after all. They claim that the standard proof of insurance card that we carry with us isn't sufficient proof of insurance and, despite my husband's protestation that AmEx also provides a certain level of coverage, they insist we have to buy *their* insurance. As if that wasn't enough, unlike other agencies that automatically cover a spouse as an "authorized driver," my husband is told that it will cost extra for me to be able to drive the car as well! While this is all very disappointing and not a particularly magical beginning of our trip, we figure we can dispute questionable charges with AmEx.
By late morning, we are at last on the road to Walt Disney World!
It doesn't take us very long once we hit the road to get to our hotel, Port Orleans Riverside. We're only just in the lobby and I'm already feeling the magic begin to envelop me, which is much needed after the morning's frustrations! Thankfully, they already have a room ready for us and it ends up that we're staying in Magnolia Terrace. (Prior to my trip, I kept hearing that only Alligator Bayou was open.) The person checking us in says that they're opening a building each day that week. We ask about proximity to the food court and bus stop and she pulls out a map to show us exactly where everything is. (I remember being warned that some buildings/rooms are rather far from these places.)
So we head to our room and are absolutely awed by how pretty the grounds are...and quiet! We're also delighted to spot a rabbit. (We would go on to spot several other rabbits, too, and enjoy the other wildlife found there.)
After hauling the luggage to our room and unpacking, we head to the food court for lunch. Of course, we buy the souvenir mugs and make a pact between ourselves that we'll just have water with our meals in the parks. Having lunch revives us quite a bit, so we decide we're ready to take on one of the parks.
I decide that Epcot is probably a good bet on a weekend day. While waiting for the Epcot bus, it seems like every other bus goes by. Since we're the only ones at the bus stop, we try to just wave the other buses by. The Epcot bus shows up, only it stops short of the station. I'm somewhat baffled as to why it hasn't pulled all the way up...and then it pulls forward, we approach the door, and it doesn't open! I laugh when I realize that the driver is the one who just went by driving the Magic Kingdom route and that he's having fun with us. When we board the bus, the driver announces that this is the bus for Magic Kingdom, laughs, and then says, no, it's really the bus to Epcot. : )
Once we get to Epcot, it doesn't take us long to find the window to have our annual pass vouchers exchanged for actual tickets. The cast member processes them fairly quickly and then it's on to bag check. I think that security here may even be more thorough than Disneyland's, but they're still quick. Next, it's off to the turnstile. We need a bit of assistance from the cast member to figure out how to use the biometric reader, but we'll end up being pros at using it by the end of the trip.
Our first stop is Test Track, something we looked forward to on our last trip in '97, but ended up opening late. I suppose because it's Superbowl Sunday the lines are particularly kind. (Test Track has a 20 minute wait and this is around 2 or 3 in the afternoon.) As we wait in line, I make the ironic observation that exactly one year earlier I was an unwilling "crash test dummy" when someone rearended me! (Last year, as I was recuperating from my injury, my husband periodically mentioned that maybe we could go to WDW in 2002. Part of my settlement is financing this trip.) We end up laughing throughout the ride, particularly enjoying the moment when we pop out of the testing facility and out onto the "freeway."
Afterward, we head to one half of Innoventions. It's great that the crowds are so light because we can easily go "play" at the various exhibits. One of the most memorable things we did was playing the Disney tag game. As Minnie Mouse, I won the honor of "best hider." I managed to avoid getting tagged until the very end of the game...and then I couldn't tag anyone else. Oh, well. <g> While waiting to see the Motorola film, the CM spies my Laughing Place button and asks if we know Rebekah and Doobie. (Do I know Doobie and Rebekah?! : ) ) It ends up that he went by "Verbal" (and various other nick names) on the alt.disney.disneyland group ages ago. I told him that I only lurked on A.D.D., but I did remember his riddles!
When evening comes, we discuss where we'd like to have dinner. My husband decides he wants to see if we can get in at the Garden Grill, as he remembered how much he liked it before. Sure enough, we are able to get seated right away. The food was as terrific as we remembered and our waiter was great about tweaking with the dishes when we inquired (for example, hubby isn't into sauces, etc. so he was able to get a bowl of smashed potatoes minus the gravy and, for dessert, we both had "dirt 'n worms" instead of the bread pudding). We received multiple visits from Mickey, Chip, and Pluto - my husband joked that he was getting jealous because Mickey and Dale kept blowing me kisses and taking my hand. : )
The Tapestry of Dreams parade was about to begin once we left the Land pavilion, so we jetted over to Mexico to catch it. The puppets are definitely very cool!
We were feeling pretty tired after that, so we decided to skip staying until closing and decided to head back to Port Orleans for a well deserved (and much needed) rest. It ends up we took quite a hike upon our return because we did not initially realize that Port Orleans Riverside has four different bus stops! I think we got off at the North Depot when what we actually needed was the East Depot! Needless to say, we only ended up making that mistake just that one time, as we quickly learned our lesson! ; )
