TLinden16
Scotty and Ray at Jelly Rolls are the best!
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2002
- Messages
- 16,243
Day 6--Monday, December 16, 2002
This was Carolyn's birthday, and I planned a special day for her birthday. After eating breakfast in the room, Carolyn and Joe went for a swim, and I went for a walk. I walked over to the Port Orleans Riverside, and browsed around the gift shop for a bit.
We then headed over to Epcot and rode on Test Track, as there was only about a 20 minutes wait. Joe absolutely loved Test Track, and begged to go on it again, but we did have time, as the line had grown longer, and we had lunch reservations in an hour.
We went on the boat rides in Mexico and Norway. Joe really liked the boat ride in Norway, but he said it was much too short, which I agree with. When we got off the boat, we just missed getting into the theatre for the Norway movie (or more likely the quick exit out of the ride). So, we were trapped in the faux Norwegian village for several minutes, and Joe got a bit antsy (and so did I). I love that ride, but I hate that there is no way to exit while a movie is in progress.
We then went to the movie in China. I thought it was a bit on the long side for a movie that you have to stand up for. Joe was extremely bored by the movie, and sat on the floor pouting. I thought the movie was a bit on the boring side (but I didn't pout). Carolyn enjoyed it though.
We then made our way to Alfredo's in Italy for Carolyn's birthday lunch. I had purchased lunch vouchers through Connections for $29.50, and we sure did get our money's worth. I started our with an awesome Caesar Salad for my appetizer, followed by a sampler with fetticine Alfredo, lasagna, and gnocchi for my entree, and chocolate mousse for desert. Carolyn had the fried calamari for her appetizer, lamb for her entree, and a sampler plate for dessert. We ordered a four cheese pizza as Joe's appetizer, and it was quite tasty. When the waiter brought dessert, several waiters came over to the table and sang happy birthday to Carolyn in Italian. We really loved the food at Alfredo's, and thought it was our best meal of our trip.
After lunch, we took another spin on Test Track, and went on Body Wars. While Carolyn and Joe went over to the Universe of Energy, I went to Innoventions to check out the Mission:Space exhibit, and took another spin on Test Track (the door to the singles line was stuck, so they sent me through the Fast Pass line). When I met up with Joe and Carolyn, we headed over to Canada so that we could browse around a couple of countries as we made our way to the International Gateway.
We also began pin trading for the first time of our trip, and quickly came addicted to it. We met a cast member in the United Kingdom who had a couple of mystery pins on her lanyard. I decided to trade one of my pins for a mystery pin, and wound up with a lanyard series pin of the Siamese cats. Carolyn traded for the other mystery pin, and she got a lanyard series pin of Minnie Mouse doing the hula.
We then went inside one of the gift shops in the United Kingdom, and he let Carolyn and Joe each choose a lanyard pin for their birthdays. Joe chose one of John Smith, and Carolyn took one of Peter Pan.
We then made our way to the International Gateway, and took the boat to the Yacht and Beach Club for our Illuminations Cruise. We had some time before our cruise, so we checked out the holiday decorations at the Yacht and Beach Club. The edible carousel at the Beach Club was awesome.
I ran into a couple of Imagineers at the bar at the Yacht Club, and I chatted with them for a while about some of the things they had worked on. I told them how much I liked the new special effects in the Tower of Terror, and they promised to relay my comments to the people in charge of that.
It was then time for our cruise, so we made our way down to the dock to catch our boat. It was the coldest night of our trip, and we were freezing on our cruise. I was wearing a t-shirt, sweatshirt, and jacket, and had a blanket wrapped around me, and I was still freezing. But we had an amazing view of Illuminations, so it was worth the cold. There were seven boats out for Illuminations (the most they've ever sent out--one more than usual), so they parked the boats in front of the bridge instead of under the bridge for the show. It was fun watching the show away from the crowds, where it always seems that there are people who are trying to wiggle their way in front of you to bet a better view. A couple two boats down from us got engaged during Illuminations that night.
After Illuminations, we took a cab back to the hotel. Joe had fallen asleep on the boat ride, and we were all so cold that I decided it was worth the money to take a cab back rather than deal with taking two buses back to the hotel. None of us could wait to change into warm pajamas, and hop into bed that night.
This was Carolyn's birthday, and I planned a special day for her birthday. After eating breakfast in the room, Carolyn and Joe went for a swim, and I went for a walk. I walked over to the Port Orleans Riverside, and browsed around the gift shop for a bit.
We then headed over to Epcot and rode on Test Track, as there was only about a 20 minutes wait. Joe absolutely loved Test Track, and begged to go on it again, but we did have time, as the line had grown longer, and we had lunch reservations in an hour.
We went on the boat rides in Mexico and Norway. Joe really liked the boat ride in Norway, but he said it was much too short, which I agree with. When we got off the boat, we just missed getting into the theatre for the Norway movie (or more likely the quick exit out of the ride). So, we were trapped in the faux Norwegian village for several minutes, and Joe got a bit antsy (and so did I). I love that ride, but I hate that there is no way to exit while a movie is in progress.
We then went to the movie in China. I thought it was a bit on the long side for a movie that you have to stand up for. Joe was extremely bored by the movie, and sat on the floor pouting. I thought the movie was a bit on the boring side (but I didn't pout). Carolyn enjoyed it though.
We then made our way to Alfredo's in Italy for Carolyn's birthday lunch. I had purchased lunch vouchers through Connections for $29.50, and we sure did get our money's worth. I started our with an awesome Caesar Salad for my appetizer, followed by a sampler with fetticine Alfredo, lasagna, and gnocchi for my entree, and chocolate mousse for desert. Carolyn had the fried calamari for her appetizer, lamb for her entree, and a sampler plate for dessert. We ordered a four cheese pizza as Joe's appetizer, and it was quite tasty. When the waiter brought dessert, several waiters came over to the table and sang happy birthday to Carolyn in Italian. We really loved the food at Alfredo's, and thought it was our best meal of our trip.
After lunch, we took another spin on Test Track, and went on Body Wars. While Carolyn and Joe went over to the Universe of Energy, I went to Innoventions to check out the Mission:Space exhibit, and took another spin on Test Track (the door to the singles line was stuck, so they sent me through the Fast Pass line). When I met up with Joe and Carolyn, we headed over to Canada so that we could browse around a couple of countries as we made our way to the International Gateway.
We also began pin trading for the first time of our trip, and quickly came addicted to it. We met a cast member in the United Kingdom who had a couple of mystery pins on her lanyard. I decided to trade one of my pins for a mystery pin, and wound up with a lanyard series pin of the Siamese cats. Carolyn traded for the other mystery pin, and she got a lanyard series pin of Minnie Mouse doing the hula.
We then went inside one of the gift shops in the United Kingdom, and he let Carolyn and Joe each choose a lanyard pin for their birthdays. Joe chose one of John Smith, and Carolyn took one of Peter Pan.
We then made our way to the International Gateway, and took the boat to the Yacht and Beach Club for our Illuminations Cruise. We had some time before our cruise, so we checked out the holiday decorations at the Yacht and Beach Club. The edible carousel at the Beach Club was awesome.
I ran into a couple of Imagineers at the bar at the Yacht Club, and I chatted with them for a while about some of the things they had worked on. I told them how much I liked the new special effects in the Tower of Terror, and they promised to relay my comments to the people in charge of that.
It was then time for our cruise, so we made our way down to the dock to catch our boat. It was the coldest night of our trip, and we were freezing on our cruise. I was wearing a t-shirt, sweatshirt, and jacket, and had a blanket wrapped around me, and I was still freezing. But we had an amazing view of Illuminations, so it was worth the cold. There were seven boats out for Illuminations (the most they've ever sent out--one more than usual), so they parked the boats in front of the bridge instead of under the bridge for the show. It was fun watching the show away from the crowds, where it always seems that there are people who are trying to wiggle their way in front of you to bet a better view. A couple two boats down from us got engaged during Illuminations that night.
After Illuminations, we took a cab back to the hotel. Joe had fallen asleep on the boat ride, and we were all so cold that I decided it was worth the money to take a cab back rather than deal with taking two buses back to the hotel. None of us could wait to change into warm pajamas, and hop into bed that night.
