Hedonists on Holiday - Days 7 & 8

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Friday, October 21 Magic Kingdom, DTD UG crowd level "5"

We get up early on Friday and prepare to hit MK for EE. DH asks about breakfast. I tell him I am consdiering the bakery on Main St. He says he will not settle for baked goods for breakfast. Grrr. I tell him to take DS down for breakfast while I finish getting ready. Now, we have already covered the fact that our room was WAAAAAY far away from the main building and there was no direct route to get there. The best way to get there was across the parking lot, past the bus stops. This KILLED me, because we would often have to walk past a bus that was loading to go exactly where we needed to go. But we couldn't get ON the bus because we had to go eat first. I would rather not eat. I would rather GO!

I find DH and DS and they finish eating. We go out to the bus line. Every single day, no matter which park we were going to, the buses for the other 3 parks would come first. It NEVER failed. If I wasn't such an uber-planner I would have just jumped on whatever bus came first. Maybe we will try that in the future. Probably not, but I can say we might!

We get to MK and it is not crowded. We ride Peter Pan, the tea cups, IASW (DH sat that one out), Pooh, and the Indy cars (again!). We ride Buzz, and DH and DS decide (for reasons I will never comprehend) to go on Stitch. I sit THAT one out. I really want to see if DS can find a paintbrush over on Tom Sawyer's Island, but DH doesn't see the point in hurrying to get over there. We ride BTMRR first, I get an ice cream sandwich, then we get on the raft. It is only about 10:30 but the CM says all the brushes have been turned in. We have DS's picture taken with Woody & Jessie, then we end up at the Frontierland Shootin' Arcade. This is an enormous rip off because the guns are so heavy DS could hardly hold it, and half of the time we would put money in and nothing would happen. The first time we lost money we went into the shop next door and they reimbursed us. The next time we lost money I didn't go tell them because I should have known better! Arcades are a bit of a sore subject for me. We go see Hall of Presidents, mainly because it is something else we have never done. We head over to CRT for lunch. This is also NOT a buffet. DH is really annoying me with that question. We check in and see Fairy Godmother in the lobby. She does not look like she is having fun. We wait for awhile - not sure how long, exactly, but it feels long because the lobby is crazy. We enjoy our lunch and decide to go for a final spin on HM. We have a family photo taken with the hearse and the invisible horse.

At this point DH starts asking me WHEN we are going back to the hotel for nap. I said there would be a nap today. When is the nap? When can he go rest? What time are we leaving for the hotel? I grit my teeth and tell him to GO! I tell him DS and I will come back later, but he should go NOW. So he does. DS and I go to ride POTC, but we stop for a pic with Aladdin & Jasmine first. We ride Pirates. It is lovely. I wish we had sent DH back to the hotel by himself earlier in the trip. DS and I stop to view our Photo Pass pics on the way out. I buy the HM pic.

We get back to Pop around 4:00. We all have a nap before heading to DTD about 6:00. My friends from Tampa are having dinner with us at Fulton's at 7:40 so we have a little time to look in the shops. We go to World of Disney because our AAA membership gives us a 10% discount. I buy stuff for my mom, my sister, my niece, DS's teachers, DS and myself. I find a HCOE mouse pad so I can think of our trip every day. DS redeems the coupon from the Birnbaum guidebook for a free pin. My friend calls to say they are in traffic but will arrive shortly. It was raining while we were napping so the roads are slippery.

I haven't seen my friends for about 7 years, and they have never met DS. We had a terrific dinner followed by ice cream at Ghirardelli's. WE play in the Lego shop for awhile. We go to the pin shop to redeem our Kellogg's pin coupon. My friend buys 2 pins for DS. We look around Once Upon a Toy, then head for the bus. It was a very nice evening! We get back to Pop around 11:30. I can't believe how fast the time has gone! One more day of WDW, then we head for home!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

This is it! Our LAST day! This trip has FLOWN, and I am so sad that we are going home. I want to stay longer. I want to stay forever! But Hurricane Wilma is coming so I might change my mind.

It is EE at AK, so another early start. Luckily we have ressies for Donald's. This means we do NOT have to have breakfast before we get on the bus. Also, Donald's is a BUFFET so I don't have to deal with DH!

We get to AK and do the safari. It is great! Lots of animals up and around! We get FP's to do the safari again later and head for Dino Land. We stop for a pic with Lilo and Stitch. While we are waiting they go on break. Grrr. The man says they will be ack in 5 minutes. We wait. Stitch comes back out alone. We have already had pics with Stitch TWICE - we wanted Lilo! But she isn't coming back! We get out of line and go to breakfast. We have our photo taken and go right in. Food & characters are good, service is not too bad. We are in and out in less than 40 minutes!

We ride Dinosaur and decide to try to see some shows. We miss Tarzan Rocks. We head for Flights of Wonder. Nope - mess that timing up, too! We do the Maharajah jungle trek - the tigers are fabulous! We head to Camp Mickey. We are about to go in for Pocahontas but DS and DH have to use the restroom. Fine. EXCEPT while they are in the bathroom a Lion King show lets out and there are people EVERYWHERE. And where to almost all of them go? To Pocahontas! We fight our way through the masses and get into the theater which is nearly at capacity. DS gets a seat in the fourth row that is reserved for kids. DH and I sit all the way over on the right about halfway back. At least we can SEE DS. There is a big sweaty guy with a camera standing in the aisle. The CM's tell him repeatedly that he CAN NOT stand there. Apparently his child is somewhere over near DS, and the only way he can take pics is if he stands in an area that is designated as off limits. They tell him over and over to move back or sit down. He decides to argue with them. He needs a map whap. Jerk. The show is cute, the animals are very cool. We go immediately to FOTLK after Pocahontas.

I remember from January that kids are chosen to participate at the very end. I am hoping for a seat up front, but there are already too many people ahead of us. We get good seats, but there is no way DS will get to be in the show. Again, he is disappointed. But not as much as he was about the sword in the stone.

After Lion King we go back to Dino Land so we can ride Primeval Whirl again. DH sits it out. DS and I ride. The CM's attempt to put a rather Pooh sized man in the car with us, but the bar won't come down around him. He gets out and DS and I ride by ourselves. By now people are starting to line up for the parade. We find a bench right along the route and stake our claim. We are right beside an ice cream cart so I get a Toll House cookie sandwich. Those are amazing. I eat my ice cream. DH decides he would like some popcorn. DS and I leave him to defend our bench and we go in search of popcorn. We find pretzels, but no popcorn. We keep walking. We find popcorn, and get a Coke for DH and lemonade for DS. Unfortunately they are fountain drinks, no lids, no straws. The cups are very full, which makes it tricky to walk back. The popcorn took our last snack credit. I thought we timed that pretty well! And DH was all snippy with me at F&WF about using snack credits for booth samples!

We get back to our bench and wait for the parade. The clouds are getting blacker and blacker. We can hear the parade, but we are closer to the end than the beginning so it will take awhile to get around to us. It starts to sprinkle. Our umbrellas are in the locker, and we only have 2 ponchos in the backpack. We put a poncho on DS. It starts to rain a little harder. I put on the other poncho and put the backpack under it. DH moves back under a tree. The parade shifts into fast forward and goes by, we start to move towrds the exit. It is POURING and DH is drenched. We get to the locker and retrieve our umbrellas. We give our 2 gently used ponchos to some folks near the lockers. I tell DH he needs to buy a dry shirt before dinner. He refuses. I have been begging him all week to choose a souvenir, and I think this is my chance to MAKE him choose a shirt. But he doesn't see one he likes at AK ( we are at the shop at the VERY front of the park) so we head for the bus stop. The bus is pulling away as we are walking up. We are going to Kona for dinner, so we are in line for the bus to the Poly. They share a bus with the Contemporary. The bus comes along about 15 minutes later. No problem. Plenty of time to make our ADR. The bus stops at a water park. I forgot the AK buses share a route with the water park. The water park was down for refurb in January so I hadn't really thought anything of it. We leave the water park and the bus continues to the Contemporary. DH asks me if the Poly and the Contemporary are one hotel. What? No, they share a bus! DH declares that he has to use the restroom NOW. Right this second. Right this red hot second we must get OFF the bus and go in the Contemporary so he can use the restroom. Grrr. Fine. We still haev time. I can still get us to the Poly. But DH decides I must NOT know how to get to the Poly so he stands there talking to the bus driver about WHEN another bus will come. I KNOW HOW TO GET THERE!!! Shut your pie hole and go use the restroom so we can be on our way!!! We decide to take the monorail to the Poly. DH asks where we are having dinner. Kona Cafe. All together now: "IS IT A BUFFET?" NO! IT IS NOT A FREAKING BUFFET! I am getting more peeved by the minute. I ask him if he wants to see if Chef Mickey's can take us as a walk up. He does. Grrr. The line is miles long. We get on the monorail for Kona.

We have an absolutely FABULOUS dinner at Kona - easily the best of the entire trip. I am SO glad we didn't actually try for a seat at CM's. The food, the service, everything was outstanding. Could have done without the puking kid at the next table, but oh well!

We get back on the monorail for MK, then take the bus back to Pop. DH takes DS to the arcade for one last time. I take some pants back to the gift shop and buy a few more last minute souvenirs. Including a hat and shirt for DH. DS redeems his tickets at the arcade. I go to the front desk to put our last $10 Disney Dollars towards our room charges. I ask the guy about the procedure for airline and ME check in the next morning. He says I can call for luggage assistance in the morning and they will help us bring our bags down to airline check in. Sounds good.

We go back to the room. Hey! What's that? We have towel animals for the first time this trip! We pack up, and eat our cheesecake from Kona. Lights out about 10 PM.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Sunday, October 23 Going home

Wake up call at 5:30 AM. Our flight is at 10:37, so we have to be at the Magical Express bus stop at 7:30 for the 7:45 bus. We shower and get the last few odds & ends into the luggage. This is where it starts to get interesting.

I call Luggage Services to help us take our stuff to airline check-in. They don't open until 7 AM so we are on our own. Explain to me how airline check-in opens at 5 AM, and you have to have ALL of your checked bags with you, yet Luggage doesn't open until 7 am? Grrr. We decide to drag our checked bags, all 5 of them, down by ourselves. DH will then have to come back to the room and get our carry-ons while I get DS situated with breakfast. We have 5 CS credits left, so I am hoping to get breakfast for each of us and some sandwiches to take on the plane.

We get down to the front desk, which is where the guy from Saturday night told me we should come. There are only 2 CM's working. They are checking people in and it is taking forever. It is now 6:30 AM. I get to a CM and tell her we need to do airline check in. She says "Oh, that's outside!" What do you mean it's OUTSIDE? We drag our luggage outside where there is a little window with an airline check-in sign. There is a big line of people there. Brilliant. We finally get to a CM. We show our picture ID's, check our bags, get our boarding passes. The process is smooth, but it is now 6:50 AM. DH goes back to the room for the carry-ons (the room that is 600 miles away from the front desk). I take DS to the food court for breakfast. He gets a waffle because the other food stations don't open until 7 AM. The waffles are made when you order, so it takes about 5 minutes. I get hoim settled at a table before DH makes it back. DH and I get breakfast and sit down with DS. It is 7:10. By the time we finish eating it is 7:30 - we're supposed to be outside. The deli items are still covered up, and the CM at the register says we will need to find a CM in the "market" area to help us. Forget it. We are leaving with 2 unused CS credits. We get outside and wait for the ME bus. A bus comes, but it parks off to the side. A manager from Pop hikes out to see WHY he isn't boarding passengers. He is the "back up" bus. The main bus has been delayed, but he doesn't have permission to load us until he hears back from ME. The main bus shows up and we load up, with the back up bus taking overflow passengers. Whatever.

We make it to MCO in plenty of time, we get to our gate just fine, flight home is fine. Except for the kid in the seat behind us who had been puking all morning and his mom was gathering up airsick bags in case he needed them. It's a wonder we weren't all deathly ill by the time we got home.

So we missed Wilma by a day. We had a great trip overall. I can not wait to go back. As soon as DH gets his vacation schedule for 2006 I'll be back in the planning saddle!

I have to say my biggest annoyance on this trip was the smokers! People would NOT obey the designated areas - they smoked where they felt like smoking, they walked with lit cigarettes, they smoked in the lines for the buses, they had absolutely no consideration for other people.

I had no issues with strollers, wheelchairs, scooters, buses, rude CM's or restaurant staff. There was the occasional annoying guest, but nothing truly shocking. Very few "casual cutters", very few issues with other guests overall. Pop was great, with the exception of the kid who figured out one afternoon that if you bang on those metal railings that it echoes the entire length of the floor. BWONGGGG! Over and over. I was just about to head out in search of this child when he stopped. Good choice, kid. Or you would have gotten up close and personal with my map!

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

Great trip reports! i am soo behind on mine! just wanted to say thanks for the message you left on our wipe board! Had fun reading about your stay!!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Hi!

I looked for you guys on our many visits to the food court but I never saw anyone that I thought might be you! DH was HORRIFIED that I was writing a message on someone's door! He actually made DS walk away and leave me there by myself!

Hope you all had fun!

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

Hi!

I looked for you guys on our many visits to the food court but I never saw anyone that I thought might be you! DH was HORRIFIED that I was writing a message on someone's door! He actually made DS walk away and leave me there by myself!

Hope you all had fun!

HAHA that's funny! When i first put the board up my DH thought i was a nut, and by the second day he was racing me to the door to read the messages first! It was soo much fun!

We too spent WAAAAAY too much time in the food court!!!