January 15 - 18, 2003

[Luv2Roam]

January 15, you pretty much know about if you read my most magical day post. I'm still shaking the pixie dust out of my head! One of the perks we got were free mouse ears with our names stitched on the back. sigh... whattaday...
Again the park was dead and we rode whatever we wanted as many times as we wanted. It was a great day indeed! I wish I could have bought lottery tickets that day. I probably would have won!
Ate a good dinner at House of Blues.
Back to WS for another Illuminations viewing!

Jan 16 ((Thursday) we headed to MGM and started the day at Starring Rolls for breakfast. The park was dead and we rode whatever we wanted as many times as we wanted. (See the theme here? GREAT time to go!) The weather was BEE-You-Ti-Ful.
We ate a quick lunch at Pizza Planet, went to Millionaire, had pictures taken with characters (Mike, Sulley, Minnie, Stitch....)
More ToT, more RnRC (NO LINES folks)!
Rode the boat to Showcase. Had dinner at Akershus.
Rode the boat back to MGM and watched Fantasmic.
Then finally we went to the ASSp for a pin meet. We got to have a nice long chat with a fellow pin trader and his DW that I have only e-mailed previously. (Met them briefly at MK the day before.)
You can't meet any better people on earth than Disney pin traders. 99.9% of them are caring, wonderful, friendly people.
Then to bed. (yawn)

Jan 17, FRIDAY! Time is going by too fast!
We hit the Fountainview Bakery in Epcot. mmmmmm... Better than Starring Rolls even! Walked around. shopped and rode the rides in WS; rode Test Track a few times (or so ). (AGAIN -- NO CROWDS, NO WAITS!!)
Lunch at the Norway bakery. mmmmmm...
Monorial to MK -- rode Space Mountain and Buzz again and again and again...
Back to World Showcase for an expensive (but good) dinner at the Bistro .
We planned to watch Illuminations, but it was too cold!! It was FREEZING that night... bbbbrrrrr
Good night to sort and pack up for the final day.


Saturday -- the 18th:
Get up, finish packing, drag our luggage to the front of ASMu and have them hold it for us.
Went to the bakery at Epcot (again).
Rode the boat over to MGM (again).
Rode ToT and RnRc over and over and over.......
Ate lunch at Back Lot Express.
Rode ToT and RnRC (again).
Final shopping at MGM.
And we go to ASMu and wait for the YourRide driver to pick us up.
End of January '03 WDW trip.
But what a great time we had!

 

[pumba]

we leave in 60 days or so......I am anxious cause you do what we like to do too.....just hubby and I to relax and enjoy the sun shine hopefully........thanks so much for your report......sounds like you had it all.......

 

[wilderness01]

Were you pleased with Your ride? Who was your driver? What kind of car? Thanks for the great trip reports.

 

[Luv2Roam]

We have used YourRide three times for our last three trips (May, October & last week.)
We have always been lucky enough to have Jim. He's very reliable and knows my quirk -- My half hour free stop is always at a Disney outlet store, not a grocery store.
In May, we flew United and due to unscheduled plane trouble, our flight was 2 hours late!
As soon as I found out we were going to be late (we were at O'Hare) I called Rabbitz at YourRide.
He had the drivers juggle their passengers, but they came through. Rabbitz tracked our flight and everything worked out great.
I have no complaints about YourRide at all. It's just the two of us, but Jim will tell you, we can pile in the luggage! (Eight days in cold weather can eat up a lot of luggage space!)
Jim has been a gem for us! He's always been waiting at the bottom of the esculator for us. He will be either right on time or early. If he wasn't, I would know something happened beyond his control.
The YourRide web page also has a $5 off coupon. Check the transportation board too.
We have used Mears (RT and one way), a rental car (EA) and YourRide. YourRide is the easiest and less stressful of the three for us.
We just have a regular towncar. It's white. Don't ask me any specifics because I don't know one car from another! lol

 

[bjakmom]

Thanks for the report ! - this is the week I'm planning for next year (Mickey is the choice for me for my 50th!) - so glad to hear that it was uncrowded - I'll have my non-WDW-loving DH, my 3 WDW-loving kids and a brand new soon-to-be-WDW-loving grandchild in tow - so cool temps and short lines are what we're hoping for also!! So glad you had such a magical trip!

 

[jennymouse]

Great reports, Barbara! I read them all, and you really did have a magical trip. My DGD8 got into pin trading on our October trip and now she's hooked....she loves collecting stuff...rocks, erasers, shells..now pins. Congrats on getting to be grand marshalls in the parade too! Now that's extra special! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Annie&Hallie'sMom]

Thanks for sharing your wonderful reports with us.

 

[Credit Man]

What a great report!! Thanks for posting.

 

[JudithM]

And just like that the trip is over . I've enjoyed reading your trip reports - TOT, RNRC, TOT, RNRC, .... do I see a pattern here !?

 

[nativetxn]

I need to visit WDW during this time period, it sounds <b>wonderful</b> especially the part about small crowds.

I read every installment of your trip report and enjoyed each one. Thanks for taking the time to post them, I know that trip reports are a lot of work.

I'm going to post links to your reports on the adults and solo travelers board, I hope you don't mind.

Katholyn

 

[Luv2Roam]

I think next January, as long as MK is guest-less during the marathon, I am staying there. DH can take a bus back to the room by himself!
That was so perfect -- MK to myself.... sigh.....

I'm going to post links to your reports on the adults and solo travelers board, I hope you don't mind.

I feel honored! THANKS!

 

[vald1977]

Thanks for sharing your trip report! What a magical trip -- congratulations to your dh for finishing the marathon and to both of you for being the grand marshalls.

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Thanks for the great report....sounds like a picture perfect trip!