How Disney Brought Me Out of My Coma

[flamingglobessigmund]

I figure I better get this started or I'll never get it finished.

Date of trip: 17 May-24 May 2009
Who went: Me (44), DH (41), DD (21), DS (18)

My daughter-Pixen, My son-John Lennon, Me-She Who Must Be Obeyed, DH-Just Happy to Be Here
From where: Me, DH, DD—NM. DS--MN
Trip Plan: 4/3 free
Meal Plan: QSD/CSD
Dietary requirement: Vegan/vegetarian for the 18 yo.

I am not a morning person. I come alive around 2:30 in the afternoon, (even if I wake up in the morning) and stay up until 3am.

That all changed when our trip started.

17 May--
The alarm rang at 6am. SIX?? I was mostly ready, from preparations the night before. Drops in my blood shot eyes barely allowed me to see. Eye cream perked up the bags I was carrying under my eyes. (At least that's what I told myself)

We left the house at 6:45am for our 8:30am flight with Southwest from ABQ. It's a 20-25 drive from our house to the airport. When we arrived at the ticket counter, there were 800 people ahead of us. (Ok, not really, but I was shocked at how many people there were on a Sunday.) DH and DD checked their bags. I had foolishly decided to carry my leather valise through security. My elbow is still not talking to me, but yells every time I try to lift something.

My husband has flown SWA, during the week, 2x in the last 2 years. He flew to Raleigh not Orlando. I guess they put the comedian flight attendants on the Orlando flight, because DH didn't know what was going on with her comments. I told him, they are trained to be funny. The fight attendant was hilarious, and she had us rolling in the aisles. It really got us into the jovial mood, despite hitting 30 minutes total of 3 various turbulent areas. Thankfully, we landed ahead of schedule. (Guess that hard wind gave us an extra push)

Who cares about the plane ride, let's go to D I S N E Y!!!

DD and DH didn't want to use DME bag pick-up, so we had to go get their suitcases. Onto the monorail, across the concourse, to side “A” down to baggage claim. At this point, my husband is so overwhelmed by the flight (he hates to fly) and by the size or Orlando airport, that he's no used to me, when I'm trying to figure out where we go to meet the bus. We also have to meet my son who arrived on NWA around the same time. Luckily, there were 2 CMs standing at the bottom of the escalator and one was able to point me in the right direction to side “B” where the buses are.

Back up to the concourse, Oh look! There's my son!! Over to side “B”. Now when you get to side “B” don't take a left. Go right. You will do a lot of walking to end of side “B” where the DME are.

Immediately, when you arrive at DME you're put into queue lines, or as my DD likes to call it “lining up like cattle.” We wait at our designated area, and then are directed to our DME bus. It's a Mears with the videos. Who care?? We're in Orlando!! Look out the window. My husband couldn't believe all the ponds, and pooled areas of water he saw.

We made 2 stops before getting dumped off at POFQ. At OKW, I saw bell men loading luggage onto rolling luggage carts. At “the sasquatch one” as my daughter called it (SS) there were more bell men and more rolling carts. Is it any wonder then, that I assumed we'd have the same service?

No such luck. There was one other family that got off the bus when we did at POFQ. We were dumped to the curb at Bell Service. Greeted by a bell man who gave us beads, and then walked away. We had to schlep our luggage up to the main entrance. No door man that day.

Online check-in went really well. I felt funny giving them my CC # during the 10-before trip online check-in. It wasn't a problem though. The CM took my visa and swiped it then. She asked us why we picked POFQ. We told her why and she started typing things into the computer. She gave me my file, went over everything thoroughly, and told us our room was in building 1.

That's when my mind started racing, trying to remember what was said about building 1. As we walked to over, I saw the parking lot. “Oh great,” I thought, “we're going to end up facing the cars all week.”

However, I was extremely happy to discover I was wrong by the time we reached our room. When I saw the water, I jumped up and down for joy!

We got a water view, without even asking!

Our room was very clean. However the towels on the first day weren't. One towel had a pubic hair on it, and some dirt. Another towel had ragged/frayed edges. Fortunately though, that was the only time the towels were not clean or fraying. The TV says (ha-which channel? Probably POFQ) that sheets are changed every 3 days of your stay, unless otherwise requested. Our sheets felt fresh every night. There is a tissue dispenser on the shelf under the vanity mirrors, above the sinks. I hadn't read about that detail, so I brought little packs of tissues. Having tissues already provided in the room was nice. There are not enough outlets for 4 cell phones, 1 ipod, 1 iPod touch, and 2 DS's and other electronics. Someone should have brought a power strip. (Not me, I've got 1 lil ol cell phone )

I had prepared a touring plan for Sunday night, using the EMH, but the thunderstorm and travel fatigue kept us from going to MK that night.
Speaking of Rain...I'm SOOOO glad I read on Dis that it was going to be raining during our stay. I packed 3 Wal Mart $3/rain ponchos and DH brought his rain jacket (he should have brought the pants too) Me, DD, and DS lived under those ponchos during our time in the parks. I brought one for DS, and the first night, he asked me if he could keep it. I said sure. However, by the end of the trip, he was resisting putting it on, and wanted nothing more to do with it by the time we were going back home.

We ate dinner (late lunch time there) our first night at the foodcourt in POFQ. DH and I had the grilled cheesesteak. DD had a cheeseburger. DS(our vegan/vegetarian) ordered the grilled veggie sandwich, but got it with cheese (should have asked about that, my fault) and wouldn't eat it. I tasted it and it was delicious. He ate fries, and the pasta salad, carrots and celery sticks and fruit cup instead. The pasta salad has chick peas, pasta, cucumber, tomato, and Italian-type dressing. We got our refillable mugs too.

It's funny. At the beginning of the week, I'm trying to explain the QSM plan to everyone, and what it includes. We have to ask the CMs several times for a few days of what we actually get. The day we were leaving, and eating breakfast there for the last time, a new group arrived. One guy was explaining over and over to his group what plan they have, and what they should get. By the end of our time, we were pros at the meal plan. To see that new group struggling made me feel like a Senior in HS, watching freshmen try to find their lockers and classrooms.

It was a good thing we didn't try to go to the MK, even though losing a day of park ticket tormented my frugal loving soul. DD was asleep by 7pm EST (we're 2 hours behind in MT) and DS was asleep by 7:30. DH fell asleep by 10pm EST. I dosed off at 10:30, which is 8:30 according to my body clock. It was no surprise I was awake again at 12:30am. My body thought I just took a nap! I used that time to fill in the pages of my trip journal that I printed out from The Mouseforless website. I was awake for 4 hours, and finally got back to sleep when the alarm clock, that nobody in our group set, rang at 6:30AM!

So there I was, with DD and DH eating breakfast at 5am body clock time. It was actually 7am. DH and I had the King Creole Breakfast, DS had fruit I brought to him in the room. DD had french toast breakfast. There is so much food and so many drinks, it's hard to finish it all.

I had printed out a touring plan for MK that started at 11am, thinking we'd sleep in. We went back to the room, drank (in our refillable mugs)what passes for coffee at the resorts, and prepared for Rain. How really do you prepare for that Rain? You can't. You just load up your ponchos, and umbrellas, and figure out which shoes you are willing to sacrifice to the Rain gods. Many people bought $37.95 Crocks from WDW during that week. I chose to wear my white leather sneakers, with “the softest socks”. They are soft for about the first 2 hours walking around the parks. I brought a large canvas Sak bag, and a small Bagellini mini—it's like a wallet on a strap. That little bag became my carry-most.

I had my room card, photopass card, credit cards, cell phone, clip on sunglasses (didn't need them very often) and room for cash and storing receipts of the day. It fit cross body, and under the poncho.

We waited 20 minutes for the MK bus. It was a dedicated bus with no other stops. We arrived @ 10am. DD wanted a water bottle strap. We looked in the Emporium, but she found one later at a kiosk around Frontierland. On Mainstreet, we found the photopass photog. We posed with the Castle behind us. It had stopped raining and was sunny, for about 2 minutes. We never saw another photopass photog again that day. My heart sank because I had preordered that photopass CD, in hopes that my husband, whose our resident photog, would be IN the pictures instead of always behind the camera.

More to follow...

 

[flamingglobessigmund]

Monday, 18 May

My touring plan in MK was for the “left side”. It was already raining so we skipped Splash Mountain (because we didn't want to get wet ) and Big Thunder Mountain, because of Rain. We headed to the Country Bears Jamboree. Yes, it's cheesy, and somewhat rickety (the talking heads could use some W-D 40) but it was out of the Rain and being from New Mexico, where we don't get a lot of Rain, we needed a break—already. Next stop: Enchanted Tiki Birds.

After ETB it was time for lunch. My son has been a vegetarian since his father (my ex) became one, 10 years ago. Last year, I was told he was now a vegan, so I did as much research as I could to find him suitable food using the QSM while we were at WDW. Suffice it say, I think my son is a vegan only because that's what his dad wants. (He lives with his dad in MN) This explanation may make his food choices more understandable as I describe them.

We went to Columbia Harbor House for lunch. Food choices: DH-fish and chicken strips & fries, DD-clam chowder, DS-vegetarian chili & fries, Me-Tuna salad sandwich & sea salt chips (DS ate the chips a few days later in the room) Everyone was full, and ready to trod through the Rain again.

Because of Rain, we pretty much walked onto every ride on the touring plan. Haunted Mansion, Enchanted Tiki Birds, Pirates of the Caribbean. Jungle Cruise was a 25 minute wait, so we got fastpasses for 30 minutes later, and took a drink respite close by and came back at FP time. I heard a woman in the wait line say rather loudly: “How come they get to walk right through???” Some one told her, they have FPs. I have to say, this was my first organized trip to WDW. The 3 other times I went, from the 70's to the early 90's, was a fustercluck of flurry and running to get on rides that had enormous waits.

We tried to see It's a Small World, but it must have been boarded up for refurbishment. I really wish Disney would spray paint on the boards what ride they are refurbishing. Even with the guidemap, and my touring plan map, I wasn't 100% sure that's what was behind the refurbishment wall.

Before we left, we walked into Mickey's PhilharMagic with only a 5 min wait. That show was F A B U L O U S! and the best way to end our first day in MK. We smashed pennies (I brought a roll of pennies and a roll of quarters to divvy up among us) and bought a few souvenirs.

We left MK by Disney bus, and ate dinner at POFQ. Dinner Choices: DH & DD-cheeseburgers, DS-salad & carrots/celery sticks. Me-Some of the best tasting Pot Roast, & mashed potatoes I've ever eaten.
I was so full, I couldn't eat the corn bread. DH said it was really good. DS-ate my brownie dessert.

 

[flamingglobessigmund]

Tuesday, 19 May
Torrential Rain All Day eek
Animal Kingdom

We got one photopass pic on arrival, when it stopped raining for 2 seconds. Our doorman suggested we try to see the bird show, but by the time we got there, it was not showing. We decided to stay on the lower ring and do the inside stuff. We got FPs for Dinosaur, skipped the Kali River Rapids (we were wet enough ) and skipped Everest Asia. We saw Finding Nemo, Lion King, It's Tough to Be a Bug.

Because of Rain, there really wasn't much waiting to see things. We wandered around and found a character photo OP, in, well, I don't remember. We just sort of stumbled on Pluto and Goofy out of the Rain, in a building with picnic tables. There were 2 families ahead of us. We got many pictures with those two crazy dogs.

For lunch we ate at Flame Tree Barbecue. Choices: DH & Me- ½ chicken (the best!) & ½ rack of ribs, DD-pork sandwich, DS-french fries & onion rings. Eating there was a battle. My husband took one tray, with one of the kids holding the umbrella over the food, and walked around looking for a table under the pavillions. I waited under cover, for some one to come get me and cover me and the tray of food. DH is a big camping fan. I'm not. Before that lunch experience, I was almost willing to give camping another chance. One thing I hated about camping as a kid was when it rained. Slogging through that rain, just to find a semi-dry place to eat, brought back the bad camping memories. Sorry honey. My kids went back there on Friday, when it was not raining at the time, for lunch, and said it was really nice. Oh well...

 

[mickeystoontown]

Signing on. I hope you'll be posting pictures of your group. It's so nice to put a face to the person/typer/you know what I mean.

 

[flamingglobessigmund]

Signing on. I hope you'll be posting pictures of your group. It's so nice to put a face to the person/typer/you know what I mean.

Will do!

 

[flamingglobessigmund]

Despite the Rain, we are having a good time. The shows at AK are mesmerizing and enchanting. We enjoyed DINOSAUR so much, we bought the reaction shots.

My kids are being troopers and not whining about the weather. I'm waking up early, and going on minimal sleep but it's not a problem so far, and I'm hoping I can push back my bed time so I can get enough rest to continue. Eating breakfast with my family, in the resort's foodcourt is really enjoyable.

We're all walking so much that our appetites are increasing. The QSM has got some really good, filling choices. Even though I decided I would not eat one burger this week, just to see if I could get something not fast food, DD assures me the cheeseburgers taste like Red Robins, not Mc Donalds. Before we left, we did some shopping @ AK. DH got a Mickey watch, I bought an umbrella, and a M&M throw promotional with purchase. The buses were not crowded, making for a pleasant ride home. We all agreed we would try to go back to AK on Friday.

I forgot to mention that since Monday morning, I've been leaving a “thanks for the mousekeeping” envelope with a $5 bill for our mousekeeper. I worked for Disney briefly in the mid-80's and I know from that and further online research that they don't pay that much. Tipping mousekeeping is a hot topic on Dis, and I don't tell anyone what to do about that. For me, I felt it was appropriate to tip our mousekeeper. I went into it, not expecting anything but a clean room in return from her. That's her job. My tip was just an extra thank you.

When we got back to our room, our mousekeeper had left us two animal towel characters. We were so pleasantly surprised. It probably sounds silly, but seeing those wash clothes, all twisted up into animals, lifted our soggy spirits and was the topping on the cake to all the fun we had that day.

He was on the table.

This little guy was on the TV

Already, I'm experiencing a wardrobe malfunction. I brought 2 capris (took out 1 more from my suitcase while packing) and they are both dirty. I have 2 canvas skirts but who wants to wear skirts in the Rain?

For dinner that night we ordered 3 meat pizza (really wonderful pizza sauce. Sweet and not acidic) and garlic breadsticks and marinara sauce for my son. OOP cost $30.93. No one felt like donning the ponchos and going to the foodcourt. Our room, though very nice and quiet, is really far (relatively speaking) to the food.

 

[flamingglobessigmund]

Wednesday, 20 May
B/c of R = Because of Rain
Epcot (leftside)

For breakfast today I got the biscuits and sausage gravy. DH got the Bounty Platter. The kids decided to sleep in a little longer. I brought the other biscuit and gravy back to DD, splitting our meal, and brought an orange and banana for DS.

As we were walking to our room, we ran into our mousekeeper. I told her how much I appreciated the character towels. That seeing them, after such a long, soggy day in the Park really perked us up and made our day. She seemed genuinely touched.

When we got to Epcot, the kids immediately went to get Test Track Fast Passes. Try saying that three times. We rode the Ellen's Energy Adventure—very boring. No wonder there was no waiting. Mission Space and Space Ship Earth were a blast. We got to send a video email back from Mission Space, and email a pic of ourselves from Space Ship Earth.

It started to pour, so we went to Electric Umbrella for lunch...along with 2000 of our closest friends. It was so packed in there with no empty tables. My family ate their lunches, sitting on the floor. However, because I was wearing a skirt, ate mine standing, over the top of a trash can.
Food choices: DH & Me- Split the Caesar chicken salad. DD-Bacon Double cheeseburger, DS-Greek salad.

Finally, a table opened up next to where we were camped out. I was able to sit down, and tend to the blister that had formed on my foot the day before. I brought along bandaids and this spongy purple wrap stuff I found at Target. It's apparently for cheerleaders. I took off my comfy sandals, re-wrapped my foot, and put on the leather sneakers again, that had given me the blister. I had the puffy walk on a cloud pair of socks, but really, nothing helped much. When we got up to leave, this little family asked if they could have our table, and were so grateful when we said sure. We became heroes after giving up a table we sat at for 5 minutes. IDK, maybe that's just ironic to me. The trash can luncheon brought out my sense of the ironic.

After lunch, our Test Track FP time came up. However they closed the ride B/C of R. We did a little shopping. I tried on some Crocs. They really didn't seem to be worth it to me, they didn't fit right, so I passed them up. I bought a Mickey Mouse Scrapbook kit (I've never scrapbooked before. What was I thinking??) and had it sent to our resort. (LOVE that service. It's great! We didn't have to lug packages around and get them wet.)

Will write more later. Gotta take a break.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Yeah pictures!

 

[flamingglobessigmund]

With our purchase securely in the ship to resort process, we headed up to Mexico. By now it's so dreary outside. We are soggy, and down-trodden. Really missing the warmth and dry of New Mexico. We walked into the Mexican Pavilion and it was like going home. A Mariachi band was playing.

The CMs were personable and inviting, and tucked away in a corner was Mexican Donald Duck!! PHOTOPASS OP!!

We listened and danced to the music. Ok. I danced. My spirit was lifted. Then we took the boat tour. That Pavilion was a wonderful break from the Rain. Back out into the elements, and into Norway. DH and DS decided to take the Maelstrom. DD got a coffee, and we wandered around the gift shop.

This was when I started getting really tired. When DH and DS met up with us, I said: “I need a country I can sit in.”

We left Norway behind, and walked the 2 steps to China. We sat in the theater lobby until the movie, Reflections of China. It's 360o circle vision. That means standing. Standing on the blister that now feels like Mt Everest. Oh well, it's only 14 minutes. We ate dinner at Lotus Blossom Cafe. Choices: Me-Shrimp Fried Rice,(tasteless) and eggroll, DD-Beef Noodle Soup, DH-Orange Chicken, DS-Vegetarian Stir Fry (he REALLY liked this one). The food was so-so, the strawberry red bean ice cream was good, but the ginger ice cream was terrible. However, DD liked it. The CM s were very nice.


It was after China that things started to fall apart.

 

[flamingglobessigmund]

My foot was really hurting. I wanted to get the American Adventure, and that was at the top of the park. I pushed myself too much. We walked to Outpost, pressed some pennies, glanced at Germany and Italy, (nothing but restaurants there at night) and got to the American Adventure. We saw a launch for a boat that goes back to Future World, but it had sailed for the night. Dejected, we entered the AA theater lobby, and climbed innumerable stars and corridors, to the theater. The show is similar to Hall of Presidents, but more heavy handed. Who cares. I was sitting down and off that blister.

But I had the walk back, in the downpour, to Future World and the bus to conquer. Somewhere, I had to muster up the energy to do so. We walked back down to FW. I needed to sit down. I thought we could see Illuminations from behind the Big Ball. (See, I wasn't thinking straight) DH and the kids walked past the water breakers (what I call those big concrete monuments) to see the show. Illuminations gave three toots, and then nothing for several minutes. Guess their matches got wet. DD wanted to go back to the room, and so they left their viewing area. As they were walking back, the show started again. I didn't want to stay for Illuminations the next night, but now we didn't have a choice. I limped to the bus, and stood in line. The bus was SRO. And I was standing. I barely had the strength to hold onto the poll, balance on the blister, and not lurch onto the man sitting in front of me. I longed for the days when men gave up their seats for women. I wished more than 3 people would get off the bus at one stop. I cursed getting onto this stupid crowded bus and agreeing to cling to a poll until my stop.

Never again!

Our mousekeeper is a sweet, young woman. I had written a note on the thanks mousekeeping envelope, thanking her for the character towels, before we met her. When we returned that night, 2 new character towels greeted us.

She had thought of us again, and left us two pals to cheer us up.

On the walk to our room, something exploded on my foot. I'm thinking the blister popped. Lovely, eh?

 

[flamingglobessigmund]

Thursday, 21 May
Epcot (right side)
Sunny until 8pm

Since we knew we were going to stay until Illuminations, we ate breakfast around 9am (very busy in the foodcourt) and went into Epcot by 11:00am.

This was Pixen's favorite breakfast--Mickey Waffle and Fruit
The kids went for the Test Track Fastpasses again. I've since read online that we might have been able to use our FP s from the day before. Anyway, they are scrapbook material now.

We went through FP for TT and man, what a ride!

Afterwards, the kids got FP s for Soarin'.

Our time wasn't until 6:15pm. We had a lot of time to kill.

We headed over to The Land, and ate lunch at Sunshine Seasons. Choices: DH & Me— ½ chicken, mashed potatoes, brown sugar carrots. DS—Vegetarian platter, DD— ½ big sandwich. There was plenty of empty tables in SS. No one had to eat on the floor or over a trash can. The food was really good, but the best ½ chicken was at Flame Tree in AK.

After lunch, we went to the Epcot Character Spot, and got in line. I was so excited when it was time to meet Mickey. I'm usually so jaded but at that moment, I felt like a kid again.
We had fun going through all the characters. Pixen (DD) got autographs from each one.


The kids wanted to ride Mission Space—intense ride.
After the ride, we were able to put our reaction shot on the photopass card. Which was a nice perk, until I realized the other night, that it's just another way for Disney to get people to use the photopass feature, and B U Y the reaction shot.

While the kids were riding Mission Space, DH and I went to the Photo Pass shop. That's where the trouble began...

 

[flamingglobessigmund]

When I was booking my WDW package, I got the Disney Visa card. One of the perks was a character meet n greet. The info says to meet them in Innovations West. That's where we were. We went through the Character Spot, which is located in Innovations West. We wanted our free 5x7. The Photo Pass photog asked if we had our coupon. What coupon?? We didn't have a coupon. She told us that we needed a coupon from the PRIVATE character meet n greet for Disney Visa card holders. Oh great!!! I had no info whatsoever that it was private. She said, the sign for it is not clearly marked. She then whispered: “Go over to Guest Relations. Tell them what happened, and they should be able to get you a free 5x7. Then come back here and let me know how it went.” Good advice. So across the way we walked, with me limping on my foot, but still in good spirits.

DH and I entered the Guest Relations building. We walked up to 2 CMs. Christopher asked us how he could help us. I told him what happened, what I was told GR could do for us. First, he told us he could not give us any thing. The Visa Office (VISA OFFICE???) closed at 4:30pm. Who knew there was a Visa Office? Christopher never told me where that was located. He just kept belligerently telling me it was MY FAULT for not seeing the sign. Basically implying I was lying. He would NOT stop telling me it was clearly marked. So I said fine, I'll walk over there and find the sign you're talking about. “Oh, it's taken down now,” he said. Well, la-dee-daaaa!! If a sign can be taken down after an event, logic would dictate that it could be missed being seen. In that case, he would just have to take my word for it that we did not see the sign, went to the regular character meet n greet, just as I would have to take his word for it that it was EVER put up!

That SOB kept saying, “well, next time you'll know...” “well, it was clearly marked”. Eventually, he admitted he could give us a voucher for a free 5x7 but it wouldn't be for the “special, private” character meet n greet. He started again with, “and next time...well...I just won't say that again.”

I was fighting having a melt down during this whole lack of customer service exchange. I was exhausted. I had walked all over these parks. His belligerent attitude and blaming pushed me over the edge.

I've worked retail. I've had to deal with all kinds of people. I was trained when a customer is upset, do what you can to defuse the situation, not stand there, blaming a person, (who doesn't consider Epcot old hat, and knows their way around) that they are wrong, they are to blame, and too bad, come back next time.

We walked out of Guest Relations with a photo voucher but no APOLOGY whatsoever from Christopher from WV.

 

[flamingglobessigmund]

The photopass photog who helped us, who backed us up with the fact the Visa meet n greet is not clearly signed, assisted us again when I had the voucher. She was so kind and understanding. What we think embodies the true WDW employee. Her kindness helped me to get over Christopher's ashhatness a lot quicker. I was able to push the incident out of my mind and emotions, not dwell on it for the remainder of the trip.


With pic in hand, we met up with the kids, and went back to The Land. We saw Journey Into Your Imagination, and took our time, milling around the shop.

Photo booth sticker pic. What happens when tourists have too much time on their hands
When our FP time arrived, we got to Soarin. It was still about a 15-20 minute wait for our turn. I believe the seats in the middle give a better, more realistic experience. We were on the end, in the front, and could see the edge of the screen.

DS wanted to see Honey, but we didn't have time. We still had the right side of World Showcase to walk, and I wanted to watch Illuminations in France, because that's where I had read was a good spot.
I met Heather French, the artist for the official poster of the Flower & Garden Festival. She signed my poster, and detailed how all the areas on the painting corresponded to sites in Epcot. She's there every weekend in May to sign that beautiful poster.

We stopped in Canada to see O Canada.

Then UK


I REALLY wanted to eat dinner in Morocco, but my foot never made it up that far. We got snacks in France. Nid Apeale (sp?), (delish cream filled pastry) apple danish, and a chocolate chip cookie. We took our snacks to a little bistro they had set up in the gift shop. That's where we found the photopass photog who had to run inside when the Rain started again. She took pics of me and DH.

DD and DS walked up to Japan and came back down in time for Illuminations. It was POURING but we stood, waiting and hoping things would go better this time. We walked out onto the viewing pier in France, and the show began. It was spectacular! DH says it was the best fireworks show he ever saw. I'm so glad we were able to see it. It's one of those special moments you don't quickly forget.

Show over, we had the long walk back down to the bus stop. When we got there, there was a line in front of us. I told DH, “I can't cling on a poll tonight. I just can't.” When the first bus filled up, to SRO, we let another family go ahead of us, and waited for the next bus. A few minutes later, that bus arrived. We went to the very back and sat down.

 

[flamingglobessigmund]

I couldn't handle having anyone standing over me either. (I don't like crowds) So I tucked into the corner on the back row. The bus filled to SRO again. We thought since we were last off in the AM, we'd be first off in the PM. WE WERE WRONG. The bus stopped, I think it was PORS, and 1 family got off at the last Bus stop. The bus was still packed. Maybe it would have been better if the bus driver had asked every one who got on, where they were going, and made a mental note to do POFQ first. Or maybe the route was out of the the bus driver's hands? IDK.

We had a great time, despite one un-customer friendly CM. We got some great pics with characters, and Pixen got autographs. I love France of all the Worlds, and I made it there on the Blister. The CM s in France were very warm, and invited us snackers into the bistro. I bought some perfume there, and a CM directed me to a gift package that contained the fragrance, and 1 other bottle, and 4 samples, plus the bag. “It cost the same, but you get more,” he said. I was touched he did that. He didn't have to alert me to a better offer. One day, I hope to go to the country of France. Getting to mill around World-France is my stop gap.

We returned to our room and saw that our toothbrushes found a new home.

 

[shannon47142]

love the toothbrush holder!! I still have mine from last August

 

[flamingglobessigmund]

love the toothbrush holder!! I still have mine from last August

That's cool!

You know, we debated whether we should/could take the character towels home. I didn't know for sure, so we lined them all up and took a picture.

Who would think wash rags could become something cute and fun?

 

[flamingglobessigmund]

Friday, 22 May
POFQ
Sunny morning. Rained all day. Then stopped at night.

The night before, DH and I decided to take a break from going to the Parks. We both needed a serious rest. I still woke up early (Disney has changed me. I'm sleeping by 11pm, and up by 7!) My ankles, and feet were swollen. The Blister needed a rest to recover. DH was so sweet. He went to the food court and brought breakfast back. I had the biscuit and sausage gravy, he had the hand and cheese omelet. He also brought the 2 drinks, and filled our mugs with coffee.

DD and DS got up early and went back to AK. DD wanted to do the Safari. I was so proud of DS. He's not a morning person either. I expected him to fain off and want to sleep/stay in too. He got up though, and went with his sister.

They had a good time, and ate lunch again at Flame Tree BBQ. This time DS had the fruit platter. DD had the pork sandwich again.
She said it's nice to eat there when it's not pouring down Rain.

I did a load of laundry. While I was waiting for the dryer to finish, 2 women entered with a huge suitcase. Alpha woman told her friend, as they were loading the first 4 washers, “I'm going to need all of those too,” pointing to the washers on the other side.
Wow! I thought. Wonder how long they've been here?? And why does she think no one else will need to do laundry today?

DH and I got to go to the hot tub. Later, DH was going to go down the pool slide. There were life guards “WE WORK TODAY!!” But just as DH was about to climb the stairs, huge globs of Rain pelted us. Before we went to the hot tub, we asked for housekeeping to come in, since we were going to be out. When we got back, we ran into our mousekeeper again on the balcony. We told her how we needed a break this morning. We got inside our room and found these on the A/C

The kids came back in the afternoon. It was raining and they were done. They didn't go to Asia, but did see what they wanted. We all went to the foodcourt for dinner. Choices: DH & Me-- ½ fried chicken & ½ BBQ ribs. I got collard greens, & mashed potatoes. DD—Cheeseburgers & fries. DS-- Salad, fries, cookie and fruit bowl for the next morning, so he wouldn't have to go to breakfast.

 

[flamingglobessigmund]

My plan was to return to MK this day, so we could get our monogrammed mouse ears. DD and DH went after dinner for them. They were just going to go get the ears, and come back to the resort. At the gate, however, DD ran into a glitch. She had used her KTTW card that morning and wasn't allowed entry. I didn't know that the system wouldn't just take her extra ticket off the card. We didn't get park hoppers. DH explained to the CM what they were after, and she was granted admission. They picked out ears, and got them monogrammed. I wanted something for us to commemorate the year we were at WDW. DH found a box of 4-2009 tac pins, which we put on our mouse ears.

Although I hated wasting that day's ticket, getting rested up for Star Wars Weekend, and letting my body recover, was more important.

 

[flamingglobessigmund]

Saturday, 23 May
Disney Hollywood Studios
Mostly clear. Rained slightly by 1pm. Stormed by 8pm.

EMH. I never gave it much thought, after I figured, back at home, we'd never get up that early. So, imagine my surprise when we arrived at DHS at 8:30am, and saw the EMH gate! First up, photopass op. The photopass photog instructed us to point to the ground, and act surprised. The is was the FIRST time all week, any PP photog did the magic shot.


The kids ran to TSM but fP s had already run out and the wait time was 209 minutes! So they ran over there, and got the FP s for ToT.

Meanwhile, we pressed pennies, took pics, and walked onto the The Great Movie Ride. We missed the time to check-in at SWA 24 hours in advance. By the time DH remembered and did it on his phone, we were in the “B” group. That night, back at the resort, I had the concierge print out our boarding passes. Very easy, and convenient!

Our ToT FP time came up and we did that.

Aftewards, DS got a hot pretzel.

Then we got FP s for Star Wars and went to Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular.

We ran into The Writers Stop. (not on the map) and had REAL coffee!! I bought the ToT Monopoly Game, and had it sent to package pickup. We then went to Muppet Vision 3D. It's a cute show but the 3D bird doesn't seem to really fit. It's not a muppet.

DH and DS wanted to do a meet n greet with Darth Maul. They found out when the event started that it was a FP event, and people had lined up for FP s at MIDNIGHT the night before!! So they go these shots instead.


We ate lunch at ABC Commissary. Choices: DH & DD-- Ugly Betty cheeseburgers with apple slices and parfait. Me-- Chicken cordon bleu sandwich, french fries and chocolate mousse. DS-- Asian salad (no meat in at all) & fruit bowl.

 

[flamingglobessigmund]

We walked back over to Star Tours and used our FP s. Had a blast! Next up Voyage of the Little Mermaid. I got my resort package free 5x7 at the photo shop. And we used up as many snack credits as we could

Then we went to Beauty and the Beast. No FP needed.

Fantasmic was canceled, and we were pretty much done. We went back to the resort, ordered the cheese pizza and breadsticks, and saved our last meal credits for breakfast the next morning.
This guy was waiting for us when we got back

I had packed just about everything the day before, which was a good thing. I had to help everyone else get their bags sorted.

Sunday, 24 May
We went to breakfast, and had our last meals. When we got back home, DD & I both miss seeing the flashing food boards, and just being able to walk up and get whatever we wanted. We met Ethel, she's a character, funny, and very dear.

Check out was a breeze. “You have $5000 charge on your credit card,” the CM told me, completely deadpanned. “Well, then I guess I'll just have to stay, and work it off,” I said. Another CM said, “Sure! We'll take you!”

Our DME pick up time was for 8:10am. We had to say goodbye to DS on the bus, because our airline drop offs were different. That was so sad for me to do. He lives with his dad in MN, and I don't get to see him but once a year.

We checked our bags (me included this time!), got through security without a hitch, and even though we were in the “B” group, our plan was not full, and we sat in front of the engine wing.

Going home is not as jovial as flying to Orlando. It was a great week in Orlando, with only a few snags. We didn't get to see everything, even with a touring plan. The Rain sucked, but at least it wasn't humid (until Saturday) and hot.

Going to Disney has given me a renewed vigor. I'm getting up in the early AM and (gulp) liking it! I feel energized and more focused. Disney really did bring me out of my coma of lethargy and the blues.

We're already discussing the next time we go back. Maybe next year, or maybe two. We'll see...