Jaime on Vacation! (9/2/06 - 9/10/06) COMPLETED: Page 14, Post #210

[smidgy]

hey there jamiee! mrs. nebo(aka diane) here I don't know about him, but I'm looking forward to free filet mignon and lobster tails, not fries! I am SOOO jealous that you have teens to take there. can't WAIT to take the grandkids there. have tons of fun, and warm up a lawn chair for me too

 

[tiggerbell]

hey there jamiee! mrs. nebo(aka diane) here I don't know about him, but I'm looking forward to free filet mignon and lobster tails, not fries! I am SOOO jealous that you have teens to take there. can't WAIT to take the grandkids there. have tons of fun, and warm up a lawn chair for me too

Whoo hoo!!!! She's got her own user name!!! I also am looking forward to the steak and lobster tail, Diane, (we are eating at Narccoossee's for the first time this trip) but I would never turn down FREE, free fries!

I can't believe we leave TOMORROW!!!!!!!!! And it's too bad we're gonna just miss you! But I just noticed that you're from the Chicago area - well, Howdy, neighbor!

 

[Michelle2]

Have a great trip Jaime. I can't wait until it is the day before I leave!
Are you going to do a live report, or just post it all when you get back?

 

[tiggerbell]

This is as LIVE as it's gonna get:

It's 4:10-ish in the morning. Meg is still not done packing (I'm just going to sit here and repeat the Serenity Prayer to myself). We leave in 35 minutes (whether or not she's done packing!)

My idiot neighbors were out until midnight in their yard, right under my window, yacking up a storm! I was asleep by 10pm, but they woke me up twice before midnight! And then the rest of the night was one of those nights where you don't FEEL like you got any sleep, but I know I did...

OK, off to put on makeup and then pack the liquid portions of the makeup... Pop Century - here we come!!! (After the Valium to get ON the plane, that is! )

 

[tiggerbell]

Explanation of this report format:

I list the PLANS we made (park, special events, and food choices) first (I do this when we plan the trip). Then tell you what REALLY happened under REALITY. (I do this after we get home; I’m not a fortuneteller!) And, face it, does it ever go as planned??? (Also works great when writing the trip report – really good reminder of what the day was supposed to be, then you can easily figure out what actually happened!)

So, as Mickey would say, “On with the show!”


SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 2ND, 2006

PLANS: Fly (yikes!), check in (about 11:30am), head straight to AK, head over to Everest to see the line. Stay at AK until closing (Meg thinks we’ll be done there by 2:30 – ). 2 busses, DTD. Hair wraps for the girls. Be at GF at 9pm for Wishes Fireworks Cruise @ 9:30!!!

BREAKFAST: At Midway Airport
LUNCH: Pizzafari (CS1&2)
DINNER: Raglan Road @ 6:15p (TS1)

REALITY: Flying for me requires a trip to the doctor’s office (so does riding a roller coaster, but he doesn’t know that!). Valium in hand, I can conquer ANYTHING! (We learned that on the last trip! Yea, Expedition Everest!!!)

I had a few left from the last trip, but thanks to the new airline regulations, any prescription drugs need to have the label on them that matches your ID. Three phone calls to the doctor’s office later to explain my situation, and I am the proud holder of 10 tiny little Valium pills in a bottle that bears my name! (Why do they try to make you come in for a visit for something like this??? It’s the 3rd time he’s given me these pills to fly – about 6 months apart each time – why do they try to make me pay for a doctor’s visit, too?)

BTW, I also got a new Albuterol inhaler so my name would be on THAT too. Luckily, I never needed to use it – my asthma attacks come rarely, last one was in a pine forest in April. But I learned then to always have one on me, just in case! That was a scary night – it was midnight and I was going cabin to cabin trying to find an inhaler before I needed an ambulance. Leave it to me to tromp through a pine forest for 2 hours, forgetting I’m allergic to pine!

And, naturally, after all that, back at the airport, security never paid the slightest attention to my drugs.

All liquid items double-baggied in my suitcases and I was asleep by 10pm. Then my dumb neighbors decided to get into a fight at midnight - come to think of it, I can hear them as I type this, too! Jeez!

Meg and Ashley are asleep pretty early as well. Didn’t expect that! Meg wants me to wake her up early so she can finish packing. THAT I expected. No point in getting something done NOW, that you could be doing as Mom stands at the door and yells! Meg’s theme for this trip will be “Mom rushed me, so I forgot __________.” Mom’s been up, showered, dressed, and gone for coffee already… WHERE exactly was the RUSHING you???

We are supposed to leave the apartment at 4:45am. Our flight out of Chicago Midway is at 6:55am. My sister, Mia, who lives 6 houses down is taking us. I’m very surprised when both she and Rhonda, my Disney-lovin’ sister, pull up in Rhonda’s minivan. Surprised, but relieved! Meg has one very large suitcase, I went with 2 smaller ones, and Ashley has 2 rolling duffel bags and a backpack filled with homework. Mia’s Ford Focus would have NEVER worked! Meg finally drags her suitcase out about 5:00.

Another difference in the 2 children I’m taking to Disney – Ashley checked her backpack – it was 30# (I’m not making that up!) of schoolbooks and notebooks. And Meg, oh Meg… I think she brought a pen. She had math homework, but wrote the assignment the teacher gave her in her homework notebook, which the teacher then collected. Did she get it back… well, what do you think??? She had a paper to write and had done a bunch of research for it online at Ashley’s that afternoon. It’s still at Ashley’s. And her photography teacher told her to take a lot of pictures. THAT she managed to do!

Have I mentioned I hate flying? I don’t even like driving PAST the airport! Meg flew out to Seattle to see her Dad in August, so she leads us to the Southwest check in. She also knows how to use their machine. After Meg checked us in (She can be the adult all she wants, I’m going to Disney!), we found the gate and I sat neat the “A” racing gate… that’s what they reminded me of – the little gates they put the horses in at the races. I gave Meg the money I had set aside for breakfast at the airport and the 2 of them went off for food. It took forever for them to get back. Then it was my turn – and after prying the change away from Meghan so I could eat, I ended up just getting a soda and some Pop Tarts – jeez, coulda brought that from home! But it was about an hour before the flight and I had to take my pills!

Wow! They took effect pretty quickly – I’m a little dizzy as we board. Ashley got the window, then Meg, then me.

Mama’s Little Helpers do their thing – I’m only mildly freaked. Ashley’s doing homework, I’m reading a book (part of the Dragon Lance series), and Meg’s asleep on my shoulder.

Really boring flight. Not that I minded.

 

[tiggerbell]

Meg had led the way at Midway Airport, having just flown out of there a few weeks before, but now we’re in Mama’s turf! Orlando. I steer the girls over to the monorail – lining us up for the few seats at the back – and it’s just a hop, skip, and a jump to the main terminal. Down 2 flights of escalator (I’ve got the whole trip to walk – don’t judge me yet!)

I had read on the Disboards that the Magical Express counter was not a kiosk-type thing like I had imagined, but an actual dedicated area – like the rental car areas, so finding it was super easy. And the grown people with the big, white mouse hands kinda helped, too!

I had to wait for 2 people in front of me, then we were checked in and ushered across the aisle to get in the line for Pop Century. We walked through the ropes and they pointed right to the bus we were getting on. In about 5 minutes, we were headed out.

I knew we were the first stop, again thanks to the Internet. The bus driver told us they normally show a Disney promotional-type movie on the bus, but when he got to the terminal, all the tapes were gone, so he grabbed The Little Rascals movie. Meg got a huge kick out of this and proceeded to recite lines and cracking herself up. Ashley and I were seated across the aisle from her and pretended she was with some other family.

In about 20 minutes or so, we are going through the gates to the WDW property. I’ll admit it, I teared up a little. I was HOME.


We hop off the bus at Pop Century not 5 minutes later and get in line to check in. There were about 10 people in front of us, but it went fairly quickly. It’s just after noon and I’m dying to get to Animal Kingdom – get me checked in! But first, we get the first surprise of the trip:


Wait for it….


Wait for it….


Our room is ready. Yup! I could have packed completely differently! So, we stop at the room to drop off whatever extras we had on us… We are in the Roger Rabbit 80s building. I take the girls through the resort to get there (I’ve stayed there before, so I know the shortcuts, but wanted them to see everything at the resort). We were in room 7341, which is on the backside of the building. Guess what our view was of…


Wait for it….


Wait for it….

Yup. The end of the World. We were staying a parking lot away from the end of the World.

(This was taken one morning on my way for coffee... yes, I was getting up some days and still seeing the STARS! The sun was coming up between 6 and 7.)

But if you know to cut through the Walkman building to the parking lot, it’s pretty quick to the food court and the bus stops.

 

[tiggerbell]

At this point, the heat still feels so good. That opinion won’t last past today. We cut through the Walkman building and find the line for Animal Kingdom. This is one of the things that makes Pop Century such a great hotel. Their bus queues are permanent fixtures – there’s no free-for-all when a bus pulls up. PLUS, it has it’s own bus line – so what that you have to walk to the next county to get to Pop’s bus stop at every park??? At least you don’t have to make a bunch of other stops!

We arrive at Animal Kingdom and before we even enter, I grab (well, not literally!) a PhotoPass guy.

This was one of our priorities this trip – I wanted to buy the CD, so we needed as many PhotoPass pictures as possible (I’ll save you the suspense – 146!)

We enter the AK and Meg immediately heads towards a cast member with a plastic box. HA! Joke’s on her – it’s a huge millipede! She tries another lady with a box -–big spider. Meg stops looking at boxes.

I have a few rules for my life (besides not being dropped on rides, and marry and divorce every guy in my high school class with the birth date of 10/07/68! Sad, but true! Luckily for me, there were only 2 of them.) - #1: I never look in those boxes, and #2: I never touch things at the zoo that they want you to feel. I think these rules work nicely for me! We live only a couple miles from Brookfield Zoo and have been regular visitors the whole time my kids have grown up. I have always encouraged my children to look and touch and ask tons of questions. But Mama never touches things!

AK is a little more crowded today that I would like it to be, so we decide to eat now, do the 2:00 Festival of the Lion King show, and see where we are from that point regarding Everest.

It’s almost 1pm and we haven’t eaten since Chicago at 6am. Lunch is going to be at Pizzafari. Save your groans – it’s just fine. Besides – HELLO!! Free dining! Who cares where we eat our counter service???

Of course, first we have to walk past where Stitch is usually standing - Meg's favorite character!

I decided early that the 3 of us should be splitting 2 CS meals whenever possible, seeing as Ashley weighs… ummm. 6#? We got 2 cheese pizzas, an apple pie, a chocolate cake, and 2 bottles of water. ($22.75 – NOT!!!!!!!!)

As we pick up the food, the CM at the counter spots Meg’s birthday pin we picked up on the way into AK, and offers her a “Happy Birthday” and a free dessert! She gave Meg a frozen lemonade cup! Too cool! A FREE free dessert!!! We were a little stunned. And Meg doesn’t like lemonade.

Oh, yeah. Not only is Ash a picky eater, she drinks only water and lemonade. I suppose that’s a good thing with the weather this week. OK, it’s a good thing in life…

I only have a picture of the aftermath – apparently we were really hungry!

 

[VanniGirl]

Looking forward to hearing more!!!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

Ooh, you *were* right on the very edge of the world! (They should add "There be monsters here!" to the edge of the Disney map.)

Can't wait for the rest!

 

[tiggerbell]

Oh! I forgot – on the way into AK, we stopped at Guest Services to pick up a Birthday Button for Meghan. I bought her birthday present early in July – I got the top of her ear pierced. I was going to make her wait until her birthday, but then bargained that she would ride Dinosaur with me and she could have it pierced right away. Meg rides every other ride in Disney, but she was scared of Dinosaur. She agreed.

We walk over towards the Lion King show with plenty of time before the 2:00 show. I take the girls over to Camp Minnie-Mickey to get some more pictures. We get in Donald’s line. Donald immediately takes a break. I tell them to wait there, I was going to run to the bathroom. When I come out of the bathroom, the last Lion King show had just let out. Donald was back, but there was no sign of the girls. I kept scanning the crowd, but Meg was the bright one and stood on a bench. I spotted her immediately! Turned out, the Photo Pass guy didn’t come back with Donald, and I had our camera with me, so they just got out of line.

Festival of the Lion King is excellent as always! Ashley was blown away! There seemed to be tiny little differences since May though, but I really can’t put my finger on what they were… I know I don’t remember them pumping in fog before…

It’s now after 2:30 and we’re running out of time. The park is more crowded than I was thinking it would be. I tell the girls we’re heading over to Dinoland. We warm up with a quick whirl on Primeval Whirl, then it’s over to my favorite ride – Dinosaur.

Oh, great – turns out Ashley’s biggest fear is dinosaurs… for Pete’s Sake! So I promise to seat them in the middle 2 seats – you know, so the “dinosaurs” don’t “get” them… I was on the left, then Ashley, then Meg. They liked it!

And between you and me, I would have gotten her ear pierced that day anyway!

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

Great trip report so far. Oh by the way this is me Thomas from Ears to Ears here. I can't wait till you get to the wishes cruise.

 

[tiggerbell]

We have a 6:30 ADR at Raglan Road tonight, so I really wanted to be sure to be out of Animal Kingdom BEFORE the 4pm parade started. They were setting up the ropes as we left. We didn’t accomplish much, but we’ll be back later in the week, so no biggie.

We head back to Pop, praying our luggage has “magically” arrived – yippie! It’s there. We need to cool off and change for dinner. And 2 off us unpacked… wanna guess who planned to live out of her suitcase all week but STILL claimed 2 drawers??? I blame my mother – she hoped I’d have a kid who drove me as crazy as I drove her!

I decorated our window with scrapbook pages I brought with
and hung out sign on the door to get signatures – but remember where our room is??? Yea, I got 4 the whole 9 days! Last trip I put up a sign, we filled 2 whole sheets in 6 days! Oh, well… it was still fun.

We bussed over to Downtown Disney with plenty of time to spare

and went through the Christmas store, where Ashley bought an ornament for her mother and then informed Meg and I to keep a look out, she was buying us both presents for inviting her on the trip.

I told her she didn’t have to, but she insisted, and I’m not going to argue with someone who wants to be nice to me. We then stopped at Guest Relations to pick up a birthday button for Meg. The CM was so nice, he gave her a birthday button and a congratulations button because she was turning 16!

A quick stop in World of Disney for Meg’s MouseEars (we had bought a birthday crown at Claire’s, but she forgot it – ALONG WITH HER I-POD!!! Oh, Mama was in hysterics!!! A 16 year old without her I-Pod for a week!!!!! HA!!!!!!! )

I was influenced to try Raglan Road on this trip by Nathan Rose. He is the co-host of the MouseTunes.com PodCast. He and Lou Mongello do a great show, give or take every week. And Nathan has raved about Raglan Road so much, I decided we’d try it. I even got a MouseTunes t-shirt to wear that night. I meant to get a picture of me wearing the shirt in the restaurant to send them (Lou’s idea), but totally forgot!

Really - it's a MouseTunes shirt!

The total of the bill for the 3 of us was $80.25. The menu was different than what I had found online. We asked for a children’s menu for our picky eater.

Ashley ordered chicken fingers, which she said were very good. They came in a big bowl, dumped in with her fries. Meg got the fish and chips,

I tasted the fish and it was very good. Meg’s appetizer was some kind of potato soup.

She really liked it and shared some with Ash. I started with a crab and shrimp appetizer

(I really had wanted the Crab Me Silly, but it wasn’t on the menu anymore). For my main course, I went with the Serious Sirloin Steak - topped with Irish whiskey marinade, served with mashed potatoes and topped with crispy fried onion strings.

And I’m sorry to have to say, I found both the steak and the potatoes to be very dry.

Nothing like a little left-over FotLK Hand Jivin'!

Dessert redeemed them though -

Bates Bangher Banoffi Beauty - caramel base, add banana with special secret sauce, top it off with fresh cream was the clear winner! Meg got a chocolate lump

and I got a Bailey’s crème brule.

All 3 were fantastic!

From Downtown Disney, we have to take a bus, but not to Pop Century – we’re going to the Grand Floridian…

On the bus is the 3 of us in the back, another couple sitting up front, and the driver. Ashley doesn't want to sit down.

I know that tune will change in a day or two!

The driver comes over the mic, joking around about Ashley standing up. Everyone is laughing becuase Ashley is now Bus Surfing. Meg gets up to join her and I get up to take a picture of them "surfing".

We get to the Grand Floridian and that's where we meet Thomas (Hi, Thomas!)... and Pam & Al, and Colleen & Phil, and Berry & Jennifer!

And that part of the day will have to wait until tomorrow - I'm still on Florida time (yup, 5 days later!) and I'm going to bed!

 

[burly]

Trippie is great so far....subscribing.

 

[dizprincess27]

I've never subsribed to a trip report before but this is hilarious I'm especially interested because dd 13 wants to bring a gf with her on our next trip but I have some reservations. Her friend has alot of fears and hangups although she is alot of fun to be around for the most part (when we are home anyway) and more importantly I can't afford to foot the bill for her to come along so she would have to pay her own air, dining, tix and just a tiny bit of the room to help me out. Is that fair to do or should I just bag the idea? As of right now it's only dd and I going and I love bonding with her without her friends constantly around but you guys look like you are having so much fun and I am always the mom taking the kids here and there at home so it reminded me of myself a bit.

 

[tiggerbell]

I've never subsribed to a trip report before but this is hilarious I'm especially interested because dd 13 wants to bring a gf with her on our next trip but I have some reservations. Her friend has alot of fears and hangups although she is alot of fun to be around for the most part (when we are home anyway) and more importantly I can't afford to foot the bill for her to come along so she would have to pay her own air, dining, tix and just a tiny bit of the room to help me out. Is that fair to do or should I just bag the idea? As of right now it's only dd and I going and I love bonding with her without her friends constantly around but you guys look like you are having so much fun and I am always the mom taking the kids here and there at home so it reminded me of myself a bit.

I had Ashley pay her 1/3 of the hotel... and considering she took up 2/3 of the bathroom area, she got away cheap!

The REAL reason I agreed to bring Ahsley along was so that Meg would have someone to go on Tower of Terror and Rock 'n Roller Coaster with! How did that turn out??? You're going to have to wait and see!

 

[dizprincess27]

Oh Jaime - you sound more like me every second!!! I hate big rides and neither myself or dd have done those rides to date although I think dd is getting braver and braver. I am so bad I put my sunglasses on AND closed my eyes when I was riding Splash Mtn. as soon as I knew we were at the big drop

Pathetic I know Anyhoo, I already started thinking I can do EE but I may need to visit the doc myself

Can't wait to read the rest!!

 

[tammyandtommy]

loving youre report!

 

[tiggerbell]

Where was I? Oh, yeah! We get off the surfboard, I mean, BUS, at the Grand Floridian. (It’s a little after 8pm right now, for those of you keeping track)

The sky is looking pretty cloudy, but I’m an optimistic kinda gal and refuse to admit it might rain a little. There’s nothing like the power of positive thinking. And I’m a Princess, remember? I get my way… A LOT! It’ll all clear up in an hour and everything will be just fine!

BACKSTORY: Given a choice between Wishes and Illuminations, I’ll go Illuminations – but just barely, and mostly because of the music (I listen to that track over and over in the car!) Meg is still at that (stupid) age where Illuminations is boring to her (must be her father’s genes!)

So I decide to book a Wishes Cruise as a surprise for Meg. 75 days before our trip. I had my choice of any night we were there! Whoa!!! I picked our first night.

The boat choices are: #1) the 8 person boat with no music piped in ($200 / 8 people = $25 a person), or #2) the 10 person boat with the soundtrack ($250 / 10 people = $25 a person). I put out notes on the DisBoards and Tour Guide Mike that I had 7 spots remaining, at $25 a person. I also posted on 2 of the Yahoo groups I belong to - Ears to Ears and The Mouse for Less.

And I went home and immediately told Meg about the Cruise. So much for surprises…

Right away, Pam and her husband, Al, from Tour Guide Mike's site, snagged 2 of the spots. We had both done the Illuminations Cruise with other people and wanted to try the Wishes one as well.

 

[tiggerbell]

Colleen PM’d me on the Disboards. She wanted to surprise her boyfriend, Phil, as it was his birthday during the trip. She had already booked her own boat without sound, but decided to switch over to ours with sound. They were having dinner at O’Hana’s that night.

She and I went ½-sies on decorations and cakes for Meg & Phil. I managed to keep THAT part secret from Meg!

On the Ears to Ears Yahoo Group, Thomas from Canada asked for a spot. I was very amused that the people I found were from 3 different sites!

And 1 day before the cruise, I got a DisBoards PM from Jennifer asking if the last 2 spots were still available for her and her boyfriend, Berry. Great! The boat was full!

2 weeks before the trip, I posted my pre-trip report and sent links to everyone I had so far – so they’d recognize us at the marina. (yeah, because me looking like a drowned rat after Kali River Rapids is the image I want to project to people I’m about to meet for the first time!)

3 days before I left, I looked up a map of the Grand Floridian, because I realized I wasn’t sure where the marina was located – it’s NOT by the boat dock! Colleen & Phil and Thomas had already left on their trips, but I was able to send the link to Pam & Al and Jennifer & Berry.

Meg, Ash, & I arrive at the marina at 8:30 (we were supposed to be there at 9, but I tend to like to be early and check things out!). The girls spotted the arcade and headed over. I couldn’t find a dry bench (I guess it rained while we were in Raglan Road!), so I headed towards the arcade and hit the bathroom! (Wow! Found one in Disney I hadn’t used yet!)

We went back to the marina and were watching a CM wipe down the seats on one of the pontoons and then he brought out a bunch of balloons. He saw us watching, so I just said, “Don’t mind us. We’re really early.”

And he replied, “Oh, are you here for the birthday cruise?”

To which Meg perked up and chirped, “BIRTHDAY??!!!??”

And the CM, Rex, looked at me and went, “Oops. Sorry!” I just laughed and looked at Meg and said, “Surprise!”

But the biggest surprise was yet to come!

 

[tammyandtommy]

gosh, I just gotta know whats next! LOL Keep it coming I love youre report!