February Vacation Birthday Trip LONG Day 6 posted

[merlib]

Cast of Characters:
Merlib – I’ve been a Disney fanatic for at least 30 years. Wanted to go to WDW on my honeymoon, but DH hadn’t gotten the “bug” yet. Mickey as Sorcerer is my fav! Oh yeah – this was supposed to be a birthday trip for me – I turned 50 in January.

DH – has slowly become as much a Disney fanatic as I am. Usually, I do most of the planning, but this time – he did almost all of it. His fav character is Grumpy.

DD – has been going to WDW since she was 3 years old. Loves Tigger and Goofy almost equally. This trip is to celebrate her 16th birthday.

Day One – Feb. 19th - Getting there early is the key!

We flew out of Bradley International in Hartford on Southwest. I had gotten us A boarding passes the day before, so easily got 3 seats together. We must have had a tailwind, because we got to Orlando almost ½ hour ahead of schedule. Leaving Hartford with temps in the 20’s we were very happy to shed layers after landing in Orlando! DH had reserved a mid-sized SUV from Alamo and we were very pleased when there wasn’t a line! Hopefully that meant the crowds we feared were not going to be bad after all! In less than an hour after touchdown, we were on our way!

Before too long, we were passing underneath the Welcome to Disney Sign and turning the corner toward Old Key West. We are DVC members and our home resort is Old Key West. We have been members since 1993 and find ourselves spending most of our vacations at OKW due to the size of the units. We’ve tried other DVC locations, but continue to gravitate to OKW. We were looking forward to trying out the new slide!

Check-in was painless, but I was disappointed when the cm didn’t remember that it was a birthday trip. When I made the reservation, the person said she would note it on the reservation – but the cm at check-in didn’t blink when I mentioned it to her. Our unit wasn’t ready, which we expected (it was only about 1pm by that time). We headed out to Downtown Disney to look around and have lunch at Earl of Sandwich.

At Earl of Sandwich, the line looked long, but it moved quickly and soon we had our sandwiches and were happily munching away. DD had ad Scudetto, I had the Le Frenchy, and DH had the Original. All were pronounced yummy! After eating, we wandered around a bit, making sure we stopped at the Disney Pin Traders. Both DD and I love to trade pins and started looking at what new ones we wanted to add to our collection. We bought the DVC limited edition one for President’s Day and looked around a bit before moving on. The World of Disney store was so crowded you could hardly move, so we didn’t stay long.

Called OKW to see if our room was ready (3:30pm), and it wasn’t so we took off to pick up some groceries. Decided to go to the Winn-Dixie and regretted it once we were there. This was a Sunday afternoon, and things were really picked over! All we wanted was some breakfast stuff, bottled water and some snacks. It was really hard to find milk unless you wanted whole milk and a gallon to boot! I guess next time we’ll have to try the Publix instead. Once we checked out, we called OKW and found our room was ready.

It is always a thrill to get the “welcome home” from the guard at the gate, and this time was no different. I had asked for a golf course view, which we got. Our new home was in building 34, third floor, unit 3431. It took a while to find our room, because the signage wasn’t very good. Once we found our unit, it was nice to get everything put away and relax a little. We had splurged and reserved a two bedroom unit for the three of us. Our original plan was to go to WDW during Xmas week, so when we rescheduled to February, I had points to splurge with!! I have to say – it sure was nice to have all the room.

By now, it was getting on to supper time, and we decided to head over to the Beach Club because we wanted to go to Beaches and Cream for dinner. DD wanted to have a kitchen sink as our meal, but DH wasn’t so sure. DH and I have been on diets since last Spring, and didn’t really want to fall of the wagon that badly the first day of vacation! Between the 2 of us, we had lost almost 75 pounds and didn’t want to start adding them back that badly . We put out name in for a booth (turned out be be a bad idea), and decided to wander over to the Boardwalk. We took the ferryboat over and looked around for awhile, stopping to chat with the cm on duty at the pin cart. He and I agreed that Disney brings out the “kid” in us, and we both felt that twelve was a good age to be.

After that, we took the ferry back to the Beach Club and sat and waited for our name to be called for Beaches and Cream. All in all, we waited one and a half hours, and it was now about 8:30pm!! Next time, I’ll ask for first available, instead of a booth. Once we finally got seated, we quickly decided that the kitchen sink was just too much ice cream for the 3 of us. DH and I ordered chili and Kim had a cheeseburger. The chili was actually pretty good! For dessert we all shared the No Way Jose, which was almost too much for us! After having stuffed ourselves, it was time to head back to our home for the next week and get a good nights sleep. Tomorrow we were heading to MGM!

 

[heaven2dc]

Belated !! Sounds like a smooth start to your vacation (except for waiting for the room which is a pain sometimes and waiting for your booth). Anxious to hear how the weather was after leaving the cold behind!

 

[javamom]

Subbing

 

[lillygator]

off to a great start!

 

[merlib]

Day 2 – Feb. 20th
We’re raring to hit a park and MGM is the one. Got to MGM a little after 8:30, went through the dreaded finger thing without too much trouble and headed directly for guest services to pick up a birthday pin for DD. This trip is mainly to celebrate her sweet sixteenth birthday and the plan is to get a pin in each park. I had also made special t-shirts for her to wear (thanks to Nick and Julia’s mom from the Dis Designers forum). She had the one on that said that had design that showed goofy in a car saying "watch out world, Kim is 16" on the front. I had hoped that she’d get a lot of comments on the shirt, but we really didn’t get any.

After having gotten the button, we headed for DH and DD’s favorite rides, TT and RnR. We rode each one twice taking advantage of fast passes for both of them. After that, we went over to the Lights, Motor, Action. That theatre is huge and seats 5000 people and you can see the action from every seat. Neither DD or I are much into cars, so didn’t get the “wow” factor. If my brothers had been there, I’m sure they would have been saying “cool” every other word. After that, we had an ADR at Sci Fi Diner for lunch. Our waiter was really into his part and could see almost every phrase of the movies. Our food was decent, but nothing to write home about. DD had wanted to come here and since it’s “her b-day trip” we tried it.

After lunch, we went to Millionaire. The woman in the hot seat made it to the $64,000 question before bombing out, so she got the polo shirt and ten pins. None of us made it into the top ten, but enjoyed the game anyway. We then tried the Narnia exhibit and have to agree with most of the other reviews that it isn’t worth the time. DD and I had seen the movie and really liked it – the exhibit was not worth standing in line for.

We decided after then that we needed some down time, so left and went back to OKW for a while. The plan was to eat dinner and then come back to MGM to ride more rides and go to the second Fantasmic show. After resting for a bit, we settled on eating at the Pepper Market at CS. Several years ago, I had been to WDW for a convention and stayed at CS. It is a nice resort, and I wanted to show my family a little of it. Pepper Market has several types of food to choose from, which is great when none of us were sure what we wanted to eat. I had chicken nacho’s that was way too much for me to eat, DD had a taco salad, and DH had Japanese. All of us ended up leaving food because of the fact that we were going straight back to MGM. Normally, we would have taken it back to the unit at OKW.

Once back at MGM we realized we needed to get in line for the Fantasmic show since the first one had already ended. We got a good seat for the show up at the back of one of the sections, so that we could duck out as it was ending and hopefully miss a lot of the masses at the end. None of us had seen this show in a while, and I think it has changed – for the better. It helped to have young children next to me, making the excitement of the show more “real” for me. Since Sorcerer Mickey is my favorite, I really got into it this time!

Since tonight was Extra Magic Hours at MGM, the plan was to ride our favs again, so we headed directly for TT. While in line, we ran into a family from our town. We chatted for a while and then all of us managed to get into the same car for the ride. W had a great drop sequence, one none of us had experienced before. Next, we all went over to RnR and rode that too. In the queue area, there was a poster of all the artists on the latest Disney Mania cd – one of which is Clay Aiken – my DD’s heartthrob. DD posed, and DH took a picture, so that DD could post on the Clayboard that she had a “Clay sighting”.

After that, we’d had enough for the night and headed back to OKW. We stopped at the general store on the way back to the unit and ended up spending way too much money. DH had heard about the new DVC watches and after looking at them, we both liked them. Now we have matching watches. Back to the unit to try them on, have a little snack and get a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow is going to be lot’s of fun. We get to ride segways!!

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your report ~ Thanx for posting.

 

[merlib]

Day 3 - Tuesday, Feb. 21st
We were all up and ready to go early because we were headed to Epcot for a special tour. We were taking the 2 hour Segway tour! Now that DD is sixteen, we are finally taking some of the “behind the scenes” tours - this one and on Thursday, we’ll be doing the Backstage Magic Tour. We drove over to Epcot and found out group at guest services. We sent DD over to Soarin to pick up fast passes because today is EE day for Epcot, and we didn’t want to miss this new attraction. She got back in plenty of time, and picked up her birthday pin to wear. Once everyone was there, we were taken to the area of Epcot where we met our other trainer, and got started!

The first hour we learned how to maneuver the Segway and then we got to go out into the World Showcase area and tried our new found skills. At first, we all were a little shaky, but soon got the hang of it. Our trainers were Robert and Larry - both of whom were patient and easy going. Once out in the World Showcase area, DD got a little cocky as most teens will do, and had to be told to stop horsing around. Too soon, the hour was up and we made our way back to Innoventions to put the Segways away. Once we’d taken out helmets off, we all were given a special pin (yeah, another pin to trade), and DD was given a Magical Moment certificate celebrating her birthday. That was a nice surprise!! My back was hurting me by then, because you really have to stand up straight and use your body to turn and stop the Segway, so I took 2 Aleve’s and was good for the rest of the day.

It was off to Soarin’ after that and after seeing that the line wasn’t that bad, we hopped into the regular line, with the intention of using our fast passes immediately after. When we got to the front of the line, we asked if we could sit in the front row and were granted our wish. What a ride! You really can smell the pine forest and the orange groves. We all ducked when the golf ball came at us when flying over Palm Springs too. Too bad the ride isn’t longer! Rode again and got the first row again. Then it was off to Mission Space. We blasted off fairly quickly and enjoyed our ride. The initial takeoff is such a charge! Played a game in the area where you exit into while waiting for DH who had to use the facilities.

Our plan was to spend the day in Epcot, finishing the night with dinner at the Rose & Crown. Hopefully we’d get to see Illuminations from there. It was time for lunch, so it was off to the Garden Grille. We had been to the ice cream social they used to have here when DD was younger, and she wanted to eat here again. I’m glad we did. The food is served family style and there certainly was plenty of it. The tastiest items were the catfish and the potatoes. Chip, Dale, Pluto and Mickey came around and DD got pictures taken with each one. Once we ate out fill, we headed out and walked around the World Showcase for a while. We had gotten TT fast passes, but our return time wasn’t until 4 something. It was nice to walk around World Showcase with no destination in mind - just taking our time.

It was time for TT, so we made our way over there. This is one of DH’s favorite rides and even though we can practically say the pre-show by heart, it was fun to ride. We all get a real rush out of the 65mph ride around the outside of the building. It was almost time for dinner at Rose and Crown, so we made our way over there. It was packed and took about 10 minutes just to get up to the podium to check in. I mentioned it was my DD birthday and the person wrote it right on the reservation slip. Other than the magical moment certificate DD hadn’t gotten much notice even though she had the b-day button on. Some CM’s wished her happy birthday, but nothing special beyond that. That was about to change. The meal was yummy and my DH kept marveling how the black-n-tan beer he was drinking kept the same level of black vs. tan all the way to the bottom! He even took a picture of it! As the meal was drawing to an end, the nice cm (Sheila) who was our waitress brought out our desert and had all the other waiter/waitresses come over and sing happy birthday to DD. She was a little embarrassed, but also seemed to enjoy the attention. As we finished, it was time for Illuminations and Sheila showed us to the special viewing area at the back of R&C for their guests. Illuminations is my favorite fireworks display at WDW and it didn’t disappoint. It was a great way to finish the day!!!

We made our way out of Epcot, making sure we looked for the magical lights in the bricks -- it always looks like diamonds and I love the effect! Tomorrow will be our day at Animal Kingdom -- can’t wait to try Expedition Everest!

 

[merlib]

Day 4 – Wednesday, Feb. 22nd
Today was Animal Kingdom day – we were raring to go try out Expedition Everest and made sure to be at AK by 9am when the gates opened. Got delayed for a few minutes waiting in line to get DD her birthday button, but it would prove to be worth it later in the day! Then, a beeline for EE. When we got there I quickly got us fast passes while the other 2 checked out the wait time. Since it was only a 20 minute wait, we immediately hopped in line! My DH had fun taking pictures in the queue area but the line was moving fast enough that we still missed some of the great “atmosphere”. Soon, it was time to go. We got mid-train for our first ride. When the ride was over, both DD and I just thought that it was “okay”. DH loved it. We had about 30 minutes before our fast past return, so we watch the train from the overlook area for a while, strolled through the gift shop (spotting a pin we wanted), and took more pictures. Then, it was time to go again and we asked if we could have the front car. Let me tell ya – that made all the difference in the world. The experience was a lot better!! We had read some of the reviews from other Diser’s and knew to look around as we went up the track – it is really cool!! Both DD and I enjoyed the ride ten times better from the front. Next time, we’ll have to try the back and see what the experience is like.

Now that we had done the one thing we had to do, it was time to wander around. We meandered our way over toward Dino land and DD and I went on Prime Evil Whirl. DD and her friend had tried it last time and ended up bonking heads because the seat was one piece. DD was happy that the cars now are divided so you don’t have that happen. Next, DD and DH wanted to ride Dinosaur. I don’t like it because it is too rough for my back. I waited and people watched, it is one of my favorite things to do anyway. About a half hour later, they came back saying the ride had broken down just before it would have been their turn – bummer! After that, we tried to do a Safari, but the wait was just too long for our taste – there will always be a next time since we are DVC members, so we tend not to go on things with wait times of more than 20-30 minutes.

By now, it was lunch-time so we headed over toward the Flame Tree Barbecue. DH had wanted to try it out after reading favorable reviews. While standing in line to order an older (read my age) cm noticed DD’s button and asked how old she was. When she said 16, he shouted out to everyone in line “Listen up, Kim is celebrating her sweet 16, so I want everyone here to wish her a Happy Birthday” and he had them all sing Happy Birthday to her! I was laughing my head off!! That was the best (even if it did embarrass her). One of the other mom’s said to me – you know she isn’t going to speak to you for a week.

After eating, we headed out of the park, but when DH saw that Dinosaur was working again, the two of them went off to ride it (they had gotten a free-ride pass from a cm when the ride broke down before). I sat down to people watch again while they headed back in. It had gotten kind of hot and I wanted something cool – a Mickey bar was calling my name and I tried really hard to resist – but resistance was futile! I sat and ate my Mickey bar quickly, cause I didn’t want the rest of my crew to know. For those of you that have been reading my opus, you know that DH and I have been on a diet – well – I just fell of the wagon! Ice cream is my one major weakness, other than potato chips, and Ritz bits with cheese, and oh well – you know what I mean. I couldn’t’ pass up the opportunity. Let me tell ya – that tasted sooooo gooood! Wow was that chocolate rich! I think I almost groaned out loud it tasted so good!

Luckily, I had finished my guilty pleasure before my cell phone rang asking where I was. I turned around and waved to DD who was almost right behind me. We met up and moseyed our way out of the park. By now, it was about 2 in the afternoon. We went back to the room and rested for an hour and then headed over to the main pool at OKW to try out the new slide. Since the weather was so nice, there were quite a few people in the pool. We finally found a place to put our stuff and into the pool DD and I went. We quickly waded/swam our way over and got out, following a bunch of much younger kids up the stairs, round and round up to the top of the slide. It was kinda chilly up there when you’re wet, so we shivered patiently waiting our turn for the light to turn green. Woosh I went down the slide and into the pool. Not bad! DD liked it too. I turned around to find DH watching and I enticed him to try it too. DD decided once was enough and said she’d watch instead. DH and I went on the slide a couple of times, pronouncing it “fun”. The younger set was getting a big kick out of it.

Having had our fill of sliding, we all went back to our chaises to ‘rest” awhile. DD stayed in the water, watching a dad play monkey in the middle with his kids. Soon, he had a bunch of kids playing. Looked like they all were having a good time. I decided to wander over toward Goods to Go to see what I could pick up for dinner. We had some leftovers from last night’s dinner and I just wanted to supplement it with something. I was dismayed that the choices were so few. I went around to Olivia’s and asked if they did takeout and they said no, so back I went. I ended up ordering a salad (way over priced), and a chicken strip meal. I asked for it without the french fries and the cm seemed confused. She said I’d still have to pay for them, which I was fine with, but she looked like I was crazy or something!

We went back to the unit, had dinner and then it was out the door to the Magic Kingdom. Our goal was to ride some of the mountains while the parade was going on and then watch Wishes. We managed to ride BTM,Splash, the railroad, Buzz and Stich (never again). All this in about 2.5 hours. Back on main street, we got ice cream and waited for Wishes to start. This one is DH’s favorite and he wanted to try his new digital camera out on fireworks. Once Wishes was over, we headed out to the busstop. We had decided to take the bus instead of driving, and our experience on the way over had not been very good. It probably took about an hour to get there. Luckily, on the way home we managed to get on the first bus and were home in about 20 minutes. Another good day! Tomorrow we were taking the Backstage Magic Tour – so it was off to bed for all.

 

[dismom9761]

Great trip report,I can't wait to ride EE.

 

[DJR]

a Mickey bar was calling my name and I tried really hard to resist – but resistance was futile! I sat and ate my Mickey bar quickly, cause I didn’t want the rest of my crew to know. For those of you that have been reading my opus, you know that DH and I have been on a diet – well – I just fell of the wagon! Ice cream is my one major weakness, other than potato chips, and Ritz bits with cheese, and oh well – you know what I mean. I couldn’t’ pass up the opportunity. Let me tell ya – that tasted sooooo gooood! Wow was that chocolate rich! I think I almost groaned out loud it tasted so good!

OK, as the DH in this report, I'm glad she finally came clean. She didn't confess until a few days ago (probably because she knew I'd see it in this report). Truth be told she did better during the trip than I did, as our first Weight Watchers weigh in proved. Oh well, back to the old diet and exercise.

 

[merlib]

Day 5 – Thursday, Feb.23rd – Backstage Magic Tour
We had to be at Epcot by 8:45, and barely made it! We were the last family to check in and almost didn’t get to go! Our cm guide, Nancy asked to see ID for DD, and DH had left it in the room. We had taken her passport with us on Tuesday when we did the Segway tour and since they didn’t ask for it, he decided we didn’t need to have it. Luckily, DD saved the day by having her school id with her! After that flurry of excitement, we all got our nametags and we were off on our tour. I won’t go into a blow by blow description of the day because I know my style of writing would put everyone to sleep in a blink of an eye, so I’ll just give some highlights.

Nancy, our cm guide really knew her stuff and was able to answer everyone’s questions along the way except for the number of G’s you feel in Mission Space. My guess is she’ll research that and have it in her book that she carries with her – just in case someone else wants to know. We saw backstage areas in Epcot, MGM and the Magic Kingdom, including the utilidor system. I think all of us came away with a new-found respect for the major effort it takes to keep the “magic” in the experience. My two favorite parts to the day were seeing the huge building where they store the Christmas decorations. The level of detail that is taken in making sure each decoration is top notch is awesome! The other part I really enjoyed was listening to Nancy talk about her years with the “company”, along with the experiences her two children have had. Lunch was at Mama Melrose in MGM and boy was it good. We definitely will be back.

One of the tidbits of information that Nancy shared was about the possibility of a DVC addition to the Contemporary. She says it is a “go”. She seemed very confident, because she actually knows the architect who has been hired for the design phase. She told us a little bit about how it will look and also said it could be years before we actually see any of this. The DVC crowd has been lobbying for some units at either the Poly or the Contemp, so this is definitely good news. Those units will sell fast, I’m sure.

At the end of the day, the bus took us back to Epcot, where we had started the day and Nancy bid all of us goodbye. We each received an exclusive pin (yeah!!), and dispersed back to reality. By now, it was approaching 5 o’clock and our plan for the rest of the day was to get cleaned up, prettied up and head to the Yachtman’s Steakhouse for dinner. DH had seen some good reviews and wanted to try it. If you like to eat a lot of red meat – this is the place to go. Me, I can eat chicken almost every day of the week, so I wasn’t’ over impressed. DH had the rib eye and DD and I each had the petit filet. None of us ate all the meat, so we took the leftovers back to OKW to have as “steak and eggs” in the morning. We are glad we tried the Yachtmans, but probably won’t be back anytime soon.

Tomorrow we will spend the day at Magic Kingdom and the over to the Whispering Canyon for dinner. Both DD and I like the antics and can’t wait to get involved.

 

[roberrl187]

Great start.

 

[OhMari]

That was hiliarious that your husband found out you ate a Mickey Bar. Good job loosing the weight. If you can't reward yourself and eat something you love just once, what is the point of happy living.

Hope you continue, you write really well, and you are not boring at all.

 

[merlib]

Day 6 – Friday, Feb.24th
When we woke up, the weather report said it would be a cool day, but should warm up into the upper 50’s or 60’s (still better than the 20’s we had at home!). It was very damp and cold and when the wind blew, you reallllly felt the cold. We were headed for the Magic Kingdom, so we dressed for the cool, expecting it to get warmer as the day went on. That would prove to be the wrong way of thinking!

We got to MK fairly early and hit Space Mountain, People Mover, Buzz, Philharmagic, Small World (just DD and I), Splash and Pirates all before our 1pm lunch ADR at Crystal Palace. It felt good to sit inside for a while, and the food at CP was as good as always. For those of you who have been reading, you know that DD had gotten birthday buttons at all of the parks, but she decided enough was enough and refused to wear her button anymore. I guess the birthday singing at Animal Kingdom did her in!!

After lunch we did Big Thunder Mountain and the Haunted Mansion. By now, it was about 2:30 and it never did warm up. I finally broke down and bought a sweatshirt I was so cold! DD was still on a quest for a certain sweatshirt and had been stopping in every store to look. Because the weather had been so cold up until the week we were there, the only sizes left in just about everything were large and extra-large. DD at best fits a medium, so she was SOL. Once we had “shopped” our way down Main Street, we decided to head out of MK and go over to Epcot. We are Disney Visa Card owners, and wanted to get the free picture, and hopefully go on Soarin and Test Track again.

Took the monorail over to Epcot, went directly to Innoventions and were the last family in to get our free picture. Picture was with Mickey, Donald and Pluto. Once we were done there, it was off to the Land to see if we could get on Soarin, but our luck ran out. All fastpasses were gone, and the wait-time was too long for us. So, we decided to try and see Turtle Talk with Crush over at the Living Seas. We had heard good things about it, so were willing to wait in line. Our wait was about 40 minutes, but we were entertained by talking to those around us in line, along with the fact that we were lined up next to the entrance to the dive tank and they gave a talk/demonstration by one of the divers. Once inside for Turtle Talk, it was really cute to watch the little kids interact with the Crush. All the little dudes and duddettes really got a kick out of him. After Crush, we decided we had just enough time to ride Test Track before we had to head back to the MK, grab our car and get over to Whispering Canyon to eat. While in the single riders line, we talked to a young man from Wisconsin who had ditched his school group and was trying to see how many times he could ride before he had to leave for the day; so far he had ridden 7 times. After our successful turn around the track (looking for something hidden that we learned about in the Backstage Magic Tour), we were off to the monorail with a not so quick stop in the Camera shop to pick up our free picture.

Once back at the Magic Kingdom, we got our car and started off to the Wilderness Lodge. Did you know that you can’t easily get to the Wilderness Lodge if you have driven to the Magic Kingdom? At least we couldn’t. We ended up back at OKW and then taking the back way to the Lodge that we normally take. We still made it there with some time to spare, so looked around in the gift shop for a little while. Once seated, we were introduced to our waitress – “Hetta Lettas” otherwise known as Suzanne. She was a hoot! She cracked me up several times with some of the things she said. DD and I each got the dinner skillet, and DH had pork chops. Both DD and I thought the sausage, pulled pork and ribs were great. I had a Margarita and was so thirsty, had to ask for another. Hetta made some joke that had me laughing out loud! DD got into the action when cm’s would shout out asking for ketchup or crayons. Whispering Canyon is always a fun place to eat. I know I over-indulged, but didn’t really care. I’d just have to live on carrots and salad for a week when I got home!! Once we had finally had our fill of food and drink, we rolled ourselves back to our car and quickly drove back to OKW. Tomorrow is our day to “relax” and sleep late. We’ll hit the outlets and then get ready for our evening at Cirque de Soleil.

Merlib
OKW '93