Is 7 Days Enough to Make a First Timer Fall in Love??--Aug'11 TR-- FINAL UPDATE 8/26

[misscmac]

Subscribing! We were in MK the same day as you and left around the same time - with the monorail still down, those lines were insane!! It took us almost 90 minutes to get back to our hotel, which probably isn't as bad as the time others had to wait!

 

[FosterA]

Loving all the details of your report!

Ok, I just have to get on that People Mover thing! I didn't do that when I went before so I'm not entirely sure what it even is but I really really want to take the family on it when it's dark out. I think all the lights are so beautiful!

Note taken on how your BF liked the castle show with the effects. I think my husband will be impressed with something like that also. You are getting me pumped up even more!

 

[heathsf]

What a great first day you guys had!

Love the idea of riding Splash Mountain when MSEP is running. Nice to be in your own log and not have to worry about anybody else.

DBF seems to be liking things so far. Can't wait to hear how he feels about the other parks.

Having our own log at Splash was a lot of fun And at this point in the trip, I was also wondering how BF would feel about the other parks...

Oh my goodness I just laughed so hard when I read that!!! "Formal interview." I just had to stop lurking and say how much I'm loving this report. Oh my word.

After our trip last year, one of my deals with my DBF (Disney skeptic extraordinaire) is that, as I lose weight, every 10 pounds he has to have a 1 hour conversation with me about planning our trip--I've got a questionnaire all prepped for our first "interview" tomorrow night. (e.g. "If you could veto 5 things from my finalized plans, what do you think they would be?") I just can't believe that other fellow GFs to skeptical BFs out there think of these conversations as "interviews" kind of like I do... I always feel like it's this careful balance between not trying to convert him, but like, trying to make sure he's having or will have a good time.

Also, riding Splash Mountain during the parade is such a great idea... will definitely do this!

I'm so glad your BF is having a good time in this trip! I'm so happy for you guys, you look like such a great couple and like you're having a GREAT time together in WDW!

Thanks for joining in! And thanks for all those nice things you said. I LOVE the deal you made with your BF. And congratulations on losing your first 10 pounds! So how did the interview go? You can do a lot of good Disney talking in an hour! Let me know how it went!

Love the pics of Tomorrowland at night!

Lol at DBF beating you on Buzz lightyear - think I'm going to lose at that and TSMM as well!

Yay on getting a Splash Mountain log to yourselves and enjoying MSEP from the ride. You guys sure had a great evening with that and then Wishes. Shame about the crowds afterwards - what a crazy way to end the day!

It really was a great night. I love MK at night. And it was totally a crazy way to end the day and we were both soooo tired. At home I'm ALWAYS the first person to fall asleep, sometimes hours before BF. At WDW, he was usually the first one sleeping!

I love Tomorrowland at night! Such pretty pictures. You two had such a good first day! I can't wait to hear what BF thinks of the other parks.

Thanks! I'm going to start Day 2 tonight...

Great night shots! Sounds like an absolutely fantastic first day.

Thanks! It really was I wish we could do it over again.

Subscribing! We were in MK the same day as you and left around the same time - with the monorail still down, those lines were insane!! It took us almost 90 minutes to get back to our hotel, which probably isn't as bad as the time others had to wait!

Thanks for joining! And oh my gosh! What hotel were you staying at? Had you ever seen lines like that for the buses before? That TTC line was insane!

Loving all the details of your report!

Ok, I just have to get on that People Mover thing! I didn't do that when I went before so I'm not entirely sure what it even is but I really really want to take the family on it when it's dark out. I think all the lights are so beautiful!

Note taken on how your BF liked the castle show with the effects. I think my husband will be impressed with something like that also. You are getting me pumped up even more!

I'm so glad you're getting pumped! The People Mover takes you on a relaxing tour of Tomorrowland. It's no thrill ride but it's great to cool down or take a break. And BF was totally impressed with the castle show, even more so than I had expected so hopefully your DH will have the same reaction!

 

[heathsf]

Thanks for the info on your camera. I need a new Point and Shoot since mine broke on the cruise so i'll probably be looking at this one. I think your night time pics are great! ESPECIALLY the ones of the castle. And oh my gosh, night time in Tomorrowland is probably the best land at night for SURE! I especially love riding the People Mover at night. It's relaxing, but bright and wonderful!

Your update was great! Ugh, that's the worst part at the end of the day...trying to get back 'home'. The first time we went to WDW we stayed at Pop during the Summer, and the lines were ridiculous for ALL resorts. It was mostly at MK when we experienced the madness of the busses.

There is probably a newer version of my camera out by now, you should look into it. I forget if I mentioned it in my last response but I have trouble taking movies on that camera. They sometimes cut off for no reason

 

[heathsf]

Sunday, August 21 - Part 1

We got up this morning at 7:10 and were out the door by 7:45 on our way to Epcot. We were actually running a little late because we needed to be at Guest Relations at 8:15 for our 8:30 Segway Tour and I felt like we were cutting it too close. I decided to stop at the gift shop at Pop Century so I could buy band-aids. I had brought a bunch with me but used almost all of them the night before on my wet ankles. I went through a lot of them because my socks weren't drying and they kept getting the band-aids wet and they kept falling off.

We waited 10 minutes for a bus and when it finally came I spent the entire ride frantically checking my watch as the minutes ticked by.

We arrived at Epcot at 8:35 and by the time I got my bag checked and we made it through the turnstiles to Guest Relations, it was 8:40! The very nice CM at guest relations told me that our group had already started their safety video and we would have to join the 9:00 tour instead. This kinda bummed me out because I didn't want to lose a half hour of morning-park-time but we were late and really didn't have a choice other than to skip the tour entirely which I didn't want to do. But this meant that we had about 15 minutes to hang out in the totally empty park before the tour started.

So BF's first look at Epcot was while it was totally empty (except for people who had the princess breakfast in Norway) and this was my first time in a park before opening. It was pretty cool. I took a few pictures of course.

Spaceship Earth really does it for me more so than the castle. I just love it.

I missed getting a picture of it but we saw them bring out the Test Track car that the Family of the Day would get to ride in. We asked a CM who was standing at the rope if she could take our picture in front of the fountain.

Then we headed back to Guest Relations. Before going back in, we tried to take some "jumping in the air pictures." This was my sad attempt:

While BF was actually able to get off the ground (unlike yours truly), he looks like he has no feet at all!

Now it was time for the tour to start! We had two instructors. They both taught us how to use the Segways but one of them was our guide out in the World Showcase. I forget both of their names but they were excellent! They led us to Innoventions where we would learn how to ride.

The first thing we had to do was pick out helmets that fit our heads and watch a safety video. Then the instructors showed us how to get on and off the Segway. It was pretty difficult the first time. Then we had to practice balancing which was also very difficult. My segway kept wanting to roll forward and I was having a hard time stopping it. It took me about 10 or 15 minutes before I really started to feel comfortable with it. By the end of the first hour (which is just getting practice indoors in Innoventions), I felt like my segway was reading my mind. If I wanted to go forward, it went forward. When I wanted to turn, it turned. Now of course I was actually doing it but the movements to control it just felt so natural at this point. It is such a neat thing. We were weaving in and out of cones, ducking under obstacles, and going up and down hills. I just couldn't believe how easy it became!

After the hour of practice, our guide led us to the World Showcase. Future World was open at this point so the instructors pretty much "stopped traffic" (even though it was only pedestrian traffic) so that we could cross through some of the more heavily populated areas. Everywhere we went, the other guests were pointing and staring at us like we were someone important. I have to say, I felt pretty cool! Once we got into the World Showcase it was great being able to ride through all that open space. It wasn't too hot yet although it was very sunny. I can't complain about that beautiful blue sky though.

They were very strict about not allowing us to take pictures or videos while we were on our segways. We stopped in China, Germany, and Italy to hear stories/information about the pavilions. While that was interesting, the real highlight of this tour is being on the segways. After hearing the spiel in Italy we were allowed to take a break, take pictures, and have some free timing riding in that area.

No people! At all!

After our break in Italy, we stopped in Japan and Morocco for more information/stories. At this point, our guide told us that we were running short on time so we could either stop in France to hear some more stories or we could ride straight through France and take the scenic route through the UK. Everyone voted for scenic route. We got some really good riding time in at this point. Then we made our way back to Innoventions for the end of the tour. I was very sad to leave my segway behind when it was over.

Walking was so boring and tiring after riding the segway for two hours. I would totally recommend this tour to anyone who has ever been interested in riding a segway. You need to be at least 16 years old to participate and I hear they strictly enforce this. You also need to weigh between 100 and 250 pounds (according to their website). The price was $99 per person but I got a discount for booking with my Disney Visa card. I'm not 100% sure on this but I think it was 15% off. I feel it was an excellent value. The tour was so so so much fun. I would love to try the other segway tour at Fort Wilderness one day.

So what did BF think? He loved it! It's funny because I first booked this as a surprise. But it turned out that I wasn't very good at keeping it a surprise. I wanted him to be more excited about the trip so I tried to tease him by saying that I booked something extra special and that led to him asking lots of questions and me totally enjoying him asking lots of questions so I told him he could keep asking me questions until he figured it out. Well, this was back in April and he really hadn't acquired much Disney knowledge yet at this point so it took him a very very very long time to figure out. And when he finally did, his response was, "Segways? They're for losers." At this point I tried to convince him that they absolutely were NOT for losers but were actually quite cool! On my Summer 2009 trip I had tried one for 5 minutes at Innoventions and thought it was totally awesome back then. I don't think I did a great job of convincing him though because he still didn't seem very excited about the tour. Fast forward 4 months to the actual trip and he totally 100% loved the segway. He got the hang of it a lot quicker than I did. And he also didn't want to give it up at the end of the tour. If we do end up going back to Disney World (without kids), I bet he would be up for trying the other tour at Fort Wilderness. This was a totally unique experience that we both really enjoyed

Up Next: Lunch at Le Cellier

 

[IheartDDuck]

How cool that you guys did a Segway tour. I actually signed up for one of Chicago at the end of this month. They were offering a special and a bunch of my friends were going, so I thought why not!

I love Spaceship Earth. It's been my favorite ride at Epcot for years now, and seeing it for me is kind of like seeing the castle, so I know what you mean.

 

[kollerbear]

Well, this was back in April and he really hadn't acquired much Disney knowledge yet at this point so it took him a very very very long time to figure out. And when he finally did, his response was, "Segways? They're for losers."

So how did the interview go? You can do a lot of good Disney talking in an hour! Let me know how it went!

After determining that he wanted to stay at a resort with "as few children as possible" :

DBF's Top 10 Favorite Things From Last Time:
1. Blizzard Beach; 2. Animal Kingdom--the animals, not the rides (I think he meant the Maharaja Jungle Trek?); 3. the arcade at POR headache: this was literally the 3rd thing off the top of his head); 4. Breakfast in bed (and by this he means that every morning I let him sleep in and went to the Riverside Mill and woke him up with breakfast as a thank you for being in Disney and also because I just couldn't sit still!); 5. the Frontierland Shooting Arcade; 6. Splash Mountain ("the one with the singing critters"); 7. the snacks in the parks (this was totally out of left field--we only had Dole Whip, popcorn, and frozen chai that I can remember); 8. the Tower of Terror; 9. the one morning that we got to sleep in and didn't have to leave the resort before 10:00 am ; 10. Magic Kingdom Extra Magic Hours at night

The five things DBF VETOS for upcoming trip:
1. Nothing with characters, especially no character meals or greets; 2. Nothing "inane" (I think this still had to do with characters. He felt that strongly about it); 3. No time in Downtown Disney, except for DisneyQuest; 4. No Space Mountain confused3 I was pretty sure he liked it last time, but now he said it made him sick?); 5. He reserves the right to veto one thing on the trip itself.

The things that Disney skeptics remember and like about WDW are so entertaining to me.

 

[teekathepony]

I'm with you on Spaceship Earth. I get goosebumps when I see it for the first time of my trip!
Love the segway tour!! I did the little 5 minute thing in Innoventions last year and even that was neat. I'd love to tour around Epcot with them!

 

[TanzUnited99]

Love the Spaceship Earth photos!

Yay on doing the Segway tour and getting the balance right - think I would be the same as you and all over the place at first! Also on DBF falling in love with the tour after calling Segways boring!

 

[okw19]

I love walking into Epcot and seeing Spaceship Earth for the first time.
I think I'm going to look into the Segway tour for our trip. DF might enjoy getting up early if it's for that.

 

[Leshaface]

The Segway Tour sounds awesome! This is something DH and I would totally want to do! I knew that the Disney Visa gave you discounts on certain tours, but didn't know you could use it for THIS tour! We'll have to look into some day!

Can't wait to hear what you think about Le Cellier

 

[Cin]

Oh Hi, joining in too. I've only gotten to the second page but so far, you've ridden my two favorite rides, and now haven eaten at one of my favorite places. I ordered the fish and chicken and the apple dessert too. I also took my DH for his first ever visit last fall and while he agreed he would go back, he could appreciate the attention to detail and the technology involved but he wasn't wooed by the magic and not a Disney lover like me, so I have to keep reading to see how your trip turns out.

 

[kokotg]

Joining in! I hope your poor feet got better soon...wet shoes are the worst.

Mickey's Philharmagic seems to have a strange effect on Disney skeptics. A couple of years ago I talked to some friends who had just gotten back; they hadn't liked much of anything at WDW except Mickey's Philharmagic. They went on and on about how cool it was.

 

[heathsf]

How cool that you guys did a Segway tour. I actually signed up for one of Chicago at the end of this month. They were offering a special and a bunch of my friends were going, so I thought why not!

I love Spaceship Earth. It's been my favorite ride at Epcot for years now, and seeing it for me is kind of like seeing the castle, so I know what you mean.

Wow it never occurred to me to look for segway tours outside of WDW! What a great idea! Will it be your first time riding?

After determining that he wanted to stay at a resort with "as few children as possible" :

DBF's Top 10 Favorite Things From Last Time:
1. Blizzard Beach; 2. Animal Kingdom--the animals, not the rides (I think he meant the Maharaja Jungle Trek?); 3. the arcade at POR headache: this was literally the 3rd thing off the top of his head); 4. Breakfast in bed (and by this he means that every morning I let him sleep in and went to the Riverside Mill and woke him up with breakfast as a thank you for being in Disney and also because I just couldn't sit still!); 5. the Frontierland Shooting Arcade; 6. Splash Mountain ("the one with the singing critters"); 7. the snacks in the parks (this was totally out of left field--we only had Dole Whip, popcorn, and frozen chai that I can remember); 8. the Tower of Terror; 9. the one morning that we got to sleep in and didn't have to leave the resort before 10:00 am ; 10. Magic Kingdom Extra Magic Hours at night

The five things DBF VETOS for upcoming trip:
1. Nothing with characters, especially no character meals or greets; 2. Nothing "inane" (I think this still had to do with characters. He felt that strongly about it); 3. No time in Downtown Disney, except for DisneyQuest; 4. No Space Mountain confused3 I was pretty sure he liked it last time, but now he said it made him sick?); 5. He reserves the right to veto one thing on the trip itself.

The things that Disney skeptics remember and like about WDW are so entertaining to me.

Wow that is so interesting! It's funny about the arcade because when we got our vacation booklet in the mail and BF saw the vouchers for the arcade, he got all excited about it. We ended up not using them but I still thought that was pretty funny. And about Space Mountain, was he on it before or after the refurb? Maybe you can tell him it's less jerky now. I honestly thought it was.

I'm with you on Spaceship Earth. I get goosebumps when I see it for the first time of my trip!
Love the segway tour!! I did the little 5 minute thing in Innoventions last year and even that was neat. I'd love to tour around Epcot with them!

It was so so cool! I just absolutely loved it. That 5 minute practice is such a tease! I definitely recommend it.

Love the Spaceship Earth photos!

Yay on doing the Segway tour and getting the balance right - think I would be the same as you and all over the place at first! Also on DBF falling in love with the tour after calling Segways boring!

I did get some satisfaction out of that And I of course reminded him about what he had said when I first told him about the tour!

I love walking into Epcot and seeing Spaceship Earth for the first time.
I think I'm going to look into the Segway tour for our trip. DF might enjoy getting up early if it's for that.

Look into it! I 100% recommend it!

 

[heathsf]

The Segway Tour sounds awesome! This is something DH and I would totally want to do! I knew that the Disney Visa gave you discounts on certain tours, but didn't know you could use it for THIS tour! We'll have to look into some day!

Can't wait to hear what you think about Le Cellier

Yes! Another reason you must go back!

Oh Hi, joining in too. I've only gotten to the second page but so far, you've ridden my two favorite rides, and now haven eaten at one of my favorite places. I ordered the fish and chicken and the apple dessert too. I also took my DH for his first ever visit last fall and while he agreed he would go back, he could appreciate the attention to detail and the technology involved but he wasn't wooed by the magic and not a Disney lover like me, so I have to keep reading to see how your trip turns out.

Thanks for joining in! That sounds just like how my BF felt. Great that he agreed to go back though!

Joining in! I hope your poor feet got better soon...wet shoes are the worst.

Mickey's Philharmagic seems to have a strange effect on Disney skeptics. A couple of years ago I talked to some friends who had just gotten back; they hadn't liked much of anything at WDW except Mickey's Philharmagic. They went on and on about how cool it was.

Wow, that's interesting...but they really didn't like much else? Was it their first time? Did they plan?

 

[heathsf]

My first week back to school with students has been totally exhausting (yet fun!) and I just didn't have the time or energy to write an update. However I will be posting one later today!!

I have a few errands to run this morning but should have something posted this afternoon. I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

 

[kokotg]

Wow, that's interesting...but they really didn't like much else? Was it their first time? Did they plan?

No, no planning at all, and I think it was just a spur of the moment, let's go to MK for a day since we're in Florida thing. They weren't really Disney types....I just thought it was funny how into Philharmagic they were--out of everything in the park.

 

[Leshaface]

My first week back to school with students has been totally exhausting (yet fun!) and I just didn't have the time or energy to write an update. However I will be posting one later today!!

I have a few errands to run this morning but should have something posted this afternoon. I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

Ugh, doesn't 'life' suck sometimes!? Especially when it interferes with our TR writing!

Have a great day!

 

[heathsf]

Sunday, August 21 - Part 2

The segway tour ended at 11 am, so the park had been open at this point for 2 hours. I know it shouldn’t have bothered me, but it upset me that we had been at the park since opening and didn’t have any FP to show for it! I’m crazy…I know.
After saying goodbye to our awesome instructors/tour guides, we headed straight for The Land. The standby wait for Soarin’ was 60 minutes at this point and our FP return time was for 4:00. What a bummer – 5 hours away! And I was *so* excited for BF to ride it.

Living with the Land had a 10 minute wait time posted but we could see that it would definitely be less than that. There was a line but it was short and moving quickly.

I’m not sure that I mentioned anything about this yet in the TR, but meteorolgists had been tracking this storm in the Atlantic for days before we left for the trip. At this point, they were expecting it to become a hurricane and make first landfall in Florida. Yes, this was Irene (which funny enough, is my grandmother’s name so my Dad got a kick out of texting me things like “Grandma is coming to Florida!”). This was Sunday, and they were expecting the hurricane to hit Florida on Thursday, our last full day in Disney. Our flight home was on Friday and I figured that if the hurricane did hit us, we wouldn’t be leaving on Friday without lots of delays, if at all. I was so stressed out thinking about losing the last 2 days of our trip and then getting stuck in the airport to top it all off. We spent our time on line for Living with the Land discussing some of our options. My favorite option was to extend the trip until Sunday that way if we missed two park days due to the storm, we would have two days after that to enjoy our trip and then we shouldn’t have to worry about our flight getting cancelled. But then it was time to get on the boat so I tried to push the hurricane thoughts out of my mind.

BF thought this was just okay, but he did say he liked it better than Jungle Cruise

As we were leaving The Land pavilion, I decided I really wanted to call the Disney Travel Company (since we booked our package including airfare through them) just to find out if and how we could change our check-out date and return flight if we needed to. We sat on a bench near the exit to call. We found out that we couldn't extend our package but would have to book a new room-only reservation but they did have availability at Pop at a cost of $213 and change for the two nights. The representative then put us on hold for a while so she could find out about changing the flight. She came back and said that Continental charges a $150 per person change fee + fare difference. Yikes. She suggested that we call Continental directly to see if they would waive those costs due to severe weather. Well, the storm was still 4 days away so I knew it was probably too early to do this but it was totally weighing on me that the end of our trip may get washed out---literally! I was also upset that even if we could extend our trip, if the storm hit Thursday we would lose our Ohana dinner reservation! Yes, I felt like I could cry over the idea of missing dinner at Ohana. Please don't judge me

It was at this time that I realized I did not bring enough prescription medication with me and would run out on Tuesday. My pharmacy is a CVS so I knew it would be easy enough to just refill it at another CVS...but the tricky part would be getting there without a car. I called the closest CVS I could find on Google Maps and they said it would be ready in 15 minutes which made me feel better, but I told the woman on the phone that I wouldn't be able to pick it up until later that day or even tomorrow. She said that was fine. I felt horrible that we would have to take time out of our trip to take a taxi to CVS but BF insisted it would be no big deal. Oh well...I really didn't have a choice.

By the way, in case anyone ever needs to know, there is a pharmacy in the area that delivers BUT they don't take insurance!

At this point I was feeling pretty down. I was so upset about the approaching storm and was totally convinced that our trip would be ruined.

Up Next: Will lunch at Le Cellier cheer me up?

 

[Leshaface]

Oh man, I HOPE Le Cellier cheers you up! Food usually cheers you up, so I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say, YES! It totally lifts this pessimistic attitude of yours