michygoomy
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2003
- Messages
- 822
Latecomers! Whattya say, give me a bump! Give a girl a thrill--I miss page 1
This is my first trip report ever, and I'm finding it kind of fun, we'll see how the rest of the days go.
Our cast:
Me--excellent trip planner, bad traveler, 5th trip to the world
R--DH, ? trips to the world
JL--DS10, fourth trip, just like Momma, not a thrill-seeker
Saba--DD7, third trip, thrill seeker who is finally tall enough
Day 1: August 13, 2003: Its Not Vacation Without the Weather Channel
I go to bed the night before just certain that I will hit that snooze button a million times like work mornings and we wont get on the road on time. I think this every single time I travel and it has never, ever happened. Morning (or middle of the night) comes and Im actually awake a half an hour early, no alarm necessary. R wakes up shortly after and I wake up the kids by asking them if they want to go to Disney World. For once they give me no problems getting out of bed. We have the weather channel on while getting readyit just doesnt feel like were going on vacation if we dont have the weather channel on in the wee hours of the morning. Its comfortingI already knew the forecast, I just need it on to feel like vacation.
Everything is ready to go and we actually end up on the road a couple of minutes early. The 2+ hour drive to Pittsburgh airport consists of lots of fog and lots of road constructionno a particularly pleasant combination. But there is usually a semi in front of us whose taillights are easy to follow so we get to the Pittsburgh area safely. However, about an hour into our drive is when we have our first Eureka moment. R asks me, Did you pack the power cord for the laptop?. I just look at him blankly. It wasnt on the list, darnnit, and if it wasnt on the list it didnt get packed. Who cares if it is obvious? DOH!
Pittsburghiansor Pittsburghiteswhy do you hide your airport? Ive only flown into it, never driven to it, and I cant believe how far off the interstate it is. Im following a map I made in Microsoft Streets & Trips, but still direct R off a wrong turn. I find an alternate route on the mapBroadhead Drivethat I now refer to as Bonehead Drive for missing our turn.
We make it to Charlie Browns OK, leave the car, make a pit stop and board the shuttle to the airport. My tension level is high at this point, as this is my first plane trip since August 2001 and I was a horrible flyer before.
We get to the airport, and this is my first experience with the new security. Were sent to a line with our checked baggage, and I watch other lines as they x-ray baggage and swab for explosives. Yes, it is a whole new world. Im quite surprised when we get to the end of the linewe hand our baggage over and the man says, Thats all, you can go. I guess our little family of four doesnt fit any profiles.
We get to our gate at 7:30 for our 9:05 flight, plenty of time to spare. The kids and I go off for breakfast, while R goes hunting for a new power cord for the laptop. He says he thinks it will cost about 20 bucks. He doesnt tell me until the day we return that it actually cost $100! Yikes! He knows I wouldve vetoed that purchase if I knew.
Board the plane, say about 20 Hail Marys and 20 Our Fathers and were off into the big blue. Now for years when flying I was paranoid about going to the bathroom on the plane. I always remembered a Get Smart episode where they open the door to the lavatory and there is a big gaping hole where the toilet used to be. It took me about 5 years before I would go to the bathroom on the plane, and once that barrier was broken, I cannot fly even a short flight without peeing at least twice. At one point someone squishes me in the door, they didnt see me trying to get out.
A short 2 hours later were flying low over sunny FL, and Im looking out the window trying to find WDW. I always look and I never see it. Wonder if anyone does? We land uneventfully, and I get my first high of the week as the relief of being on the ground hits. Halleluiah! I turn on my cell as we start taxing toward the gate and low and behold, it rings! Its Ali, our driver from Cartier. He was tracking our flight and the originating flight from Buffalo to Pittsburgh was cancelled, and they wouldnt give him the status of the passengers when he called. I tell him were taxing across the tarmac right now and he signs off by saying hes coming. I think to myself, so much for having the car waiting at the airport!
What a surprise, then, when we get down to baggage claim and find Ali waiting there. The bags take a long time to come, but Alis car is really nice and very cool. We do our grocery stop and get our snacks for the week along with a really nice foam coolermuch better than the ones Ive seen in the stores at home.
We arrive in WDWyeah!and head to All-Star Music. The line is kind of long, and I have the kids come up with me when I get close because I notice they are giving all the kids balloons. The CM checks our reservation and says she has a smoking room for us in Broadway. But, oh, wait, when she tries to assign us to it its gone! Dangit. She says she can put us in non-smoking and we can smoke right outside our door. Well, I think of what the DISboarders will say about this and say, no, that just wont work. She makes a call and says shell have to move us over to Sports. Saba is bummedshe really liked the pool at Music from the pictures, so I tell her well come back over to go swimming there (and I hear the DISboarders in my head saying, Boo, Hiss, no pool hopping!). We walk out with no balloons and no Music room.
They bring us a van and we head over to Sports. R wanted to walk over since he had the cart already loaded up with all our stuff, but they wouldnt let him take the cart. We walk into Sports and there is no line and no balloons. We hadnt even looked at Sports when we booked, because were not into sports at all, but when I check in Im pleased to be informed by the CM that they have upgraded us to a preferred building at no extra charge. OK, now I feel a little better about the unexpected switch.
We head off to our room and find it is on the third floor right across from the pool. How cool is that! Put our keycard in, and the light blinks red. Try the other adult key card, same deal. Try all four key cards a couple of times each, same thing. Dagnabbit! I head down to the front desk to tell him our key cards dont work.
CM makes me some new key cards and tells me that there are house phones on every floor so if I have any trouble just call and theyll send someone right out. I go back up with the new key cards, and none of them work again! In the meantime, R finds someone from maintenance who doesnt have a key to the room and cant help us. I go looking for the house phone the CM mentioned and cant find it either. R finds a mousekeeper and asks her where the house phone is and she says, What house phone?. R finally finds someone from maintenance who lets us into the room, but the keys still dont work and we dont want to leave without them working.
The kids and I change into bathing suits and head down to the pool while R waits for someone from maintenance to come up and re-code our lock. We actually do some swimming and come back and no one has come. We are not happy campersmy day 1 plan had us going to AK in time for the parade, but parade time is coming and we have no working keys. Were too afraid to unpack on the chance that we wont get to keep this room.
R has finally called the CM and is getting angry when the maintenance guy shows up to re-code our door. We now have working key cards, but the AK plan is out. We decide to go down to the food court, get an early dinner, then head over to MK for our first evening.
Bus for MK comes in a reasonable amount of time and were finally starting our vacation! The bus ride to MK is shorter than I expected, and its great seeing the sights, especially as we draw close. We get to MK around 5 and head right to Tomorrowland, my favorite MK land. My first discovery is that Timekeeper is closed, which is such a disappointment. I was prepared for it, but its still a bummer, it is such a great attraction. We head to Buzz Lightyear SPACE RANGER Spin (which must always be said with the proper emphasis on space ranger) and find a 40-or-so minute wait, but FP returns in a half an hour. No-brainer there! We get our FP and head off to Carousel of Progress, which Im pleased to find still operating. We walk right in and enjoy the ride. I wonder at one point if the rest of the audience picks up on the oven being set to 500 degrees.
We head off to Buzz Lightyear SPACE RANGER Spin (you can hear Buzz's voice now, can't you?) and barely wait before boarding. I wonder about the poor people waiting in the standby line when FP is right outside with quick return times. Oh, well, theyll learn. R gets a ton of points, JL does quite well, and Saba and I suck royally. Gee, gender stereotypes, anyone?
We take a quick peek at Space Mountain when getting off Buzz and the line looks pretty long. I promise R and Saba that well have an EMH day and they will definitely get on it then. We pop on to TTA and take a nice ride through Space Mountain so Saba can get a look at it. I forget how cool it is. I rode it once on my honeymoon, but that was for R, Im not to thrilled with Rollercoasters, even whimpy ones.
Out of Space Mountain TTA stops suddenly. Announcements come over the intercom tell us to stay in our seats. Where the heck are we going to go, were up in the air? We are quite stranded, and I wonder how theyll get us off if they cant get it going again. Were baking in the hot sun and Im wondering why we didnt get stopped while in Space Mountainthat would be cool in both senses of the word.
We get going about 5 minutes later, and get off and head towards Toontown Fair. The kids want to go on the Speedway, but there is no way in heck Im waiting in that line for such a silly little ride. I again promise well get on it on EMH day. On the way we stop in Minnies house and Mickeys house, but decide to eschew visiting Mickey for another day. It is quite crowded and weve been up since 4 am (3:30 for me) and Im just not in the mood for long lines. We head for the train with plans to check out the FP for BTMRR and Splash, and walk up just as the last people are let on. We go find the smoking area near the train, and sit for a while waiting for the next one. Were all getting tired and cranky and hot, and decide that well wait for the mountains for our EMH day too. So now the plan is to get on Its a Small World then head out, so the train doesnt make as much sense anymore. We decide to ride it anyway just to avoid walking. Oh, this is not a good sign, being this tired; we have a lot to do this week!
We hop on the train, which is crowded as all heck. I forget that this late in the day most people take it from Frontierland to the front entrance. Oh, well, were still in the shade and riding instead of walking. We get to Frontierland and walk over to Its a Small World. At least this is one ride you can count on getting on without a long wait, even in the busiest times. As the ride progresses, I do begin wondering what kinds of substances were abused in its design. Oh, sure, it starts out cute, but as it goes on it gets weirder and weirder. I like the part near the end where all the peoples of the world come together in harmony and pastels. Ah, thats the ticket to world peace! Similar-colored clothing! And why do some of the dolls now have purple or green hair? Again, I suspect some creativity-inducing substance was at work here.
On the way back it does begin to rain, and us with no ponchos! They hadnt been unpacked yet. Saba could care lesswhile we walked under the bus shelters, she skipped along beside them in the rain, happy as a clam. I realized this is what vacation is all about, and vowed that the rest of the week Id be skipping in the rain in spirit.
http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/michy_goomy/vwp?.dir=/My+Photos&.dnm=Rain--who+cares.jpg&.view=t
So we arrive back at the resort and R and kids make a trip to the gift shop for their first souvenirs and some postcards and stamps for Mommy. Cable is still out (did I mention earlier that the TV wasnt working either?) so its an early night for us all. We have Blizzard Beach planned in the morning, what could go wrong there?
Day 2: A Tropical Wave is a Future Tropical Storm
This is my first trip report ever, and I'm finding it kind of fun, we'll see how the rest of the days go.
Our cast:
Me--excellent trip planner, bad traveler, 5th trip to the world
R--DH, ? trips to the world
JL--DS10, fourth trip, just like Momma, not a thrill-seeker
Saba--DD7, third trip, thrill seeker who is finally tall enough
Day 1: August 13, 2003: Its Not Vacation Without the Weather Channel
I go to bed the night before just certain that I will hit that snooze button a million times like work mornings and we wont get on the road on time. I think this every single time I travel and it has never, ever happened. Morning (or middle of the night) comes and Im actually awake a half an hour early, no alarm necessary. R wakes up shortly after and I wake up the kids by asking them if they want to go to Disney World. For once they give me no problems getting out of bed. We have the weather channel on while getting readyit just doesnt feel like were going on vacation if we dont have the weather channel on in the wee hours of the morning. Its comfortingI already knew the forecast, I just need it on to feel like vacation.
Everything is ready to go and we actually end up on the road a couple of minutes early. The 2+ hour drive to Pittsburgh airport consists of lots of fog and lots of road constructionno a particularly pleasant combination. But there is usually a semi in front of us whose taillights are easy to follow so we get to the Pittsburgh area safely. However, about an hour into our drive is when we have our first Eureka moment. R asks me, Did you pack the power cord for the laptop?. I just look at him blankly. It wasnt on the list, darnnit, and if it wasnt on the list it didnt get packed. Who cares if it is obvious? DOH!
Pittsburghiansor Pittsburghiteswhy do you hide your airport? Ive only flown into it, never driven to it, and I cant believe how far off the interstate it is. Im following a map I made in Microsoft Streets & Trips, but still direct R off a wrong turn. I find an alternate route on the mapBroadhead Drivethat I now refer to as Bonehead Drive for missing our turn.
We make it to Charlie Browns OK, leave the car, make a pit stop and board the shuttle to the airport. My tension level is high at this point, as this is my first plane trip since August 2001 and I was a horrible flyer before.
We get to the airport, and this is my first experience with the new security. Were sent to a line with our checked baggage, and I watch other lines as they x-ray baggage and swab for explosives. Yes, it is a whole new world. Im quite surprised when we get to the end of the linewe hand our baggage over and the man says, Thats all, you can go. I guess our little family of four doesnt fit any profiles.
We get to our gate at 7:30 for our 9:05 flight, plenty of time to spare. The kids and I go off for breakfast, while R goes hunting for a new power cord for the laptop. He says he thinks it will cost about 20 bucks. He doesnt tell me until the day we return that it actually cost $100! Yikes! He knows I wouldve vetoed that purchase if I knew.
Board the plane, say about 20 Hail Marys and 20 Our Fathers and were off into the big blue. Now for years when flying I was paranoid about going to the bathroom on the plane. I always remembered a Get Smart episode where they open the door to the lavatory and there is a big gaping hole where the toilet used to be. It took me about 5 years before I would go to the bathroom on the plane, and once that barrier was broken, I cannot fly even a short flight without peeing at least twice. At one point someone squishes me in the door, they didnt see me trying to get out.
A short 2 hours later were flying low over sunny FL, and Im looking out the window trying to find WDW. I always look and I never see it. Wonder if anyone does? We land uneventfully, and I get my first high of the week as the relief of being on the ground hits. Halleluiah! I turn on my cell as we start taxing toward the gate and low and behold, it rings! Its Ali, our driver from Cartier. He was tracking our flight and the originating flight from Buffalo to Pittsburgh was cancelled, and they wouldnt give him the status of the passengers when he called. I tell him were taxing across the tarmac right now and he signs off by saying hes coming. I think to myself, so much for having the car waiting at the airport!
What a surprise, then, when we get down to baggage claim and find Ali waiting there. The bags take a long time to come, but Alis car is really nice and very cool. We do our grocery stop and get our snacks for the week along with a really nice foam coolermuch better than the ones Ive seen in the stores at home.
We arrive in WDWyeah!and head to All-Star Music. The line is kind of long, and I have the kids come up with me when I get close because I notice they are giving all the kids balloons. The CM checks our reservation and says she has a smoking room for us in Broadway. But, oh, wait, when she tries to assign us to it its gone! Dangit. She says she can put us in non-smoking and we can smoke right outside our door. Well, I think of what the DISboarders will say about this and say, no, that just wont work. She makes a call and says shell have to move us over to Sports. Saba is bummedshe really liked the pool at Music from the pictures, so I tell her well come back over to go swimming there (and I hear the DISboarders in my head saying, Boo, Hiss, no pool hopping!). We walk out with no balloons and no Music room.
They bring us a van and we head over to Sports. R wanted to walk over since he had the cart already loaded up with all our stuff, but they wouldnt let him take the cart. We walk into Sports and there is no line and no balloons. We hadnt even looked at Sports when we booked, because were not into sports at all, but when I check in Im pleased to be informed by the CM that they have upgraded us to a preferred building at no extra charge. OK, now I feel a little better about the unexpected switch.
We head off to our room and find it is on the third floor right across from the pool. How cool is that! Put our keycard in, and the light blinks red. Try the other adult key card, same deal. Try all four key cards a couple of times each, same thing. Dagnabbit! I head down to the front desk to tell him our key cards dont work.
CM makes me some new key cards and tells me that there are house phones on every floor so if I have any trouble just call and theyll send someone right out. I go back up with the new key cards, and none of them work again! In the meantime, R finds someone from maintenance who doesnt have a key to the room and cant help us. I go looking for the house phone the CM mentioned and cant find it either. R finds a mousekeeper and asks her where the house phone is and she says, What house phone?. R finally finds someone from maintenance who lets us into the room, but the keys still dont work and we dont want to leave without them working.
The kids and I change into bathing suits and head down to the pool while R waits for someone from maintenance to come up and re-code our lock. We actually do some swimming and come back and no one has come. We are not happy campersmy day 1 plan had us going to AK in time for the parade, but parade time is coming and we have no working keys. Were too afraid to unpack on the chance that we wont get to keep this room.
R has finally called the CM and is getting angry when the maintenance guy shows up to re-code our door. We now have working key cards, but the AK plan is out. We decide to go down to the food court, get an early dinner, then head over to MK for our first evening.
Bus for MK comes in a reasonable amount of time and were finally starting our vacation! The bus ride to MK is shorter than I expected, and its great seeing the sights, especially as we draw close. We get to MK around 5 and head right to Tomorrowland, my favorite MK land. My first discovery is that Timekeeper is closed, which is such a disappointment. I was prepared for it, but its still a bummer, it is such a great attraction. We head to Buzz Lightyear SPACE RANGER Spin (which must always be said with the proper emphasis on space ranger) and find a 40-or-so minute wait, but FP returns in a half an hour. No-brainer there! We get our FP and head off to Carousel of Progress, which Im pleased to find still operating. We walk right in and enjoy the ride. I wonder at one point if the rest of the audience picks up on the oven being set to 500 degrees.
We head off to Buzz Lightyear SPACE RANGER Spin (you can hear Buzz's voice now, can't you?) and barely wait before boarding. I wonder about the poor people waiting in the standby line when FP is right outside with quick return times. Oh, well, theyll learn. R gets a ton of points, JL does quite well, and Saba and I suck royally. Gee, gender stereotypes, anyone?
We take a quick peek at Space Mountain when getting off Buzz and the line looks pretty long. I promise R and Saba that well have an EMH day and they will definitely get on it then. We pop on to TTA and take a nice ride through Space Mountain so Saba can get a look at it. I forget how cool it is. I rode it once on my honeymoon, but that was for R, Im not to thrilled with Rollercoasters, even whimpy ones.
Out of Space Mountain TTA stops suddenly. Announcements come over the intercom tell us to stay in our seats. Where the heck are we going to go, were up in the air? We are quite stranded, and I wonder how theyll get us off if they cant get it going again. Were baking in the hot sun and Im wondering why we didnt get stopped while in Space Mountainthat would be cool in both senses of the word.
We get going about 5 minutes later, and get off and head towards Toontown Fair. The kids want to go on the Speedway, but there is no way in heck Im waiting in that line for such a silly little ride. I again promise well get on it on EMH day. On the way we stop in Minnies house and Mickeys house, but decide to eschew visiting Mickey for another day. It is quite crowded and weve been up since 4 am (3:30 for me) and Im just not in the mood for long lines. We head for the train with plans to check out the FP for BTMRR and Splash, and walk up just as the last people are let on. We go find the smoking area near the train, and sit for a while waiting for the next one. Were all getting tired and cranky and hot, and decide that well wait for the mountains for our EMH day too. So now the plan is to get on Its a Small World then head out, so the train doesnt make as much sense anymore. We decide to ride it anyway just to avoid walking. Oh, this is not a good sign, being this tired; we have a lot to do this week!
We hop on the train, which is crowded as all heck. I forget that this late in the day most people take it from Frontierland to the front entrance. Oh, well, were still in the shade and riding instead of walking. We get to Frontierland and walk over to Its a Small World. At least this is one ride you can count on getting on without a long wait, even in the busiest times. As the ride progresses, I do begin wondering what kinds of substances were abused in its design. Oh, sure, it starts out cute, but as it goes on it gets weirder and weirder. I like the part near the end where all the peoples of the world come together in harmony and pastels. Ah, thats the ticket to world peace! Similar-colored clothing! And why do some of the dolls now have purple or green hair? Again, I suspect some creativity-inducing substance was at work here.
On the way back it does begin to rain, and us with no ponchos! They hadnt been unpacked yet. Saba could care lesswhile we walked under the bus shelters, she skipped along beside them in the rain, happy as a clam. I realized this is what vacation is all about, and vowed that the rest of the week Id be skipping in the rain in spirit.
http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/michy_goomy/vwp?.dir=/My+Photos&.dnm=Rain--who+cares.jpg&.view=t
So we arrive back at the resort and R and kids make a trip to the gift shop for their first souvenirs and some postcards and stamps for Mommy. Cable is still out (did I mention earlier that the TV wasnt working either?) so its an early night for us all. We have Blizzard Beach planned in the morning, what could go wrong there?
Day 2: A Tropical Wave is a Future Tropical Storm
Usually just after we've been strapped in and are waiting to roll my bladder starts calling me! 
The perpetual construction does make things rather interesting, though... they put up so many orange signs that you can either read the signs or drive, but not both.
