Everything you’re about to read is true.
Save for the occasional lapse into wanton misuse of hyperbole.
And the occasional tall-tale.
And a tiny bit of truth-stretching.
Oh, and that one time I alluded to Gramma perhaps liking Disney.
Heh.
Otherwise, every fact reported in my tales is accurate, verifiable and above-board.
In a Fuzzy sort of way. 
As I launch into this next update, I need to get a little something out in the open. I've been able to hide it thus far, but I can’t rightly continue the story without revealing a major void in the trip, and, consequently, the trip report.
Remember those Seasonal Passes we hold? The ones with the block-out dates? Yeah, they’re no good over July 4th weekend. I suppose I could have ponyed-up for one or two-day Magic Your Way tickets, but that seemed like a huge waste of money that I’d rather put toward the hotel. Plus, even if crowds were down some, it was bound to be busy in the parks. So, if you’ve been reading along, waiting to see just how insane the parks were over July 4th…
… you’re out of luck, because we didn’t go in any of them.
Anyone still here?
Nope, no tales from the trenches in this report, I’m afraid. We elected not to even bother with the four theme parks and save ourselves some sanity.
But that made celebrating Independence Day a tad challenging.
And that was a problem, because I LOVE July 4th! Really, it’s my favorite holiday, tied with Christmas Eve. (That’s right, I’m partial to the EVE; the Day doesn’t do a lot for me. Feel free to psychoanalyze that one.)
And, being my favorite holiday, I’ve long held a fantasy Independence Day in my mind, filled with boating, swimming, fireworks and accompanying music by some of the best musicians in the world. In short: nothing less than a day on a yacht, followed by front row-center seats for the Boston Pops July 4th concert will fulfill my fantasy.
I’ve never even come close. Till 2008. But we’ll get to that in a bit.
Without a park, I was worried about how we’d celebrate our nation’s birthday. I had a few ideas in mind, but any one of them could have failed me. They were:
~ Boat to the TTC and watch whatever MK fireworks we could see from there.
~ Boat to the TTC and hop on the monorail – ride till we could see fireworks.
~ Skip the fireworks and watch the Electrical Water Pageant form the WL beach.
~ Skip dinner at Artist Point, eat a counter service meal at the Poly and watch fireworks from the beach there.
In the end, none of these happened.
After rectifying our room issues, Leo and I changed into swimwear and headed down to the pool for a quick swim. Gramma elected to stay in the room, thereby avoiding the need to shower and, hopefully, keeping us all on schedule. Because we’d decided to stay at the WL and eat at Artist Point.
Nothing says “America” like Pacific Northwest cuisine!
We only had 45 minutes, so Leo and I ran-walked down to the pool, found an empty chair for our things and got right in.
July 4th Crowd Assessment #1
I expected the pool to be JAMMED on this holiday afternoon. It wasn’t. It wasn’t empty, either, but we did find a chair, along with a few other empty ones scattered around, and there was plenty of room to swim and play. The lifeguard and recreation crew was busy entertaining the gang of antsy kids whose mean parents took them away from the theme parks for the day. With classic rock music blaring (really – they had some good stuff going!), they held games poolside like Twister, hula-hooping, musical chairs and Simon Says. Kudos to the WL staff for making even a day at the pool a bit more exciting for the holiday.
Nothing says “America” like poolside games and Lynyrd Skynyrd!
Leo was busy doing whatever it is he does in the pool and I just enjoyed some people-watching as he swam around. As usual, I had to keep reminding him to kick and use his arms, trying to get him to a point where it’s just automatic when he’s in water. I asked if he wanted to try the slide, and we even swam down toward its exit to check it out… but Leo declined. He wasn’t feeling quite confident enough in his swimming abilities yet.
Remember that.
So we enjoyed the pool for a bit, then headed back to our room for showers and dinner clothes. I was pleased to see, upon our arrival, that Gramma was already dressed for dinner! She said she would only need “5 minutes” to fix her hair before we left.
As I got ready, we talked about sleeping arrangements. Leo had already claimed the top bunk. He got a new bed at home a few months ago – a loft bed, with desk and storage underneath. He really likes sleeping way up there and was psyched to do the same at WDW.
You’ll all be so proud of me – I offered Gramma the queen bed.
She declined.
I offered agin.
She declined.
I said I didn’t think the bunk would be very comfortable – was she sure she didn’t want the queen?
She declined.
That’s it. Three strikes and you’re out. I wasn’t going to play the game anymore, and set myself up in the queen bed. This, as I’m certain you’re already aware, would come back to haunt me.
Nothing says “America” like… passive-aggressiveness?
Bed assignments finalized, we gathered our belongings, took small children by the hand and made our way down to Artist Point for an all-American dinner.
I was really looking forward to this dinner. I’d enjoyed several wonderful meals at AP in the past, but it had been at least 10 years since then. Too long.
I was also excited because my DIS friend Janet’s mom works there and I’d get to meet her almost two months before getting to meet Janet! Read: I was out to get some dirt. Heh heh.
We checked in at the podium, took our buzzer-thingy and waited off to the side to be seated. A couple minutes later, I saw a woman CM walk by and KNEW immediately it was Janet’s Mom! Now, I’d never seen a picture of Janet’s Mom, but I’d seen some pictures of Janet, and of her DS. The family resemblance is uncanny across three generations.
So, when Janet’s Mom came over to seat the next group (us) I said “Hi Janet’s Mom!” and introduced myself, along with Gramma and Leo.
We chatted a bit as Janet’s Mom led us to our table, and she is an absolute sweetheart! No dirt coming from her – she clearly loves her daughter to death and positively
adores her grandson. It was just lovely talking with her and I’m so glad I’ll get ot see her again in a couple weeks for FockerFest.
No, I didn’t take any pictures. I just didn’t think of it – we were having such a nice chat, all of my attention was on that, not capturing the moment on film. Sorry guys.
Janet’s Mom also told us she’d seated us in a special section with a very special server who was going to treat us right. And let me say, while I’ve since completely spaced on his name, he did, indeed, treat us right. It was the type of fine-ish dining I’d once enjoyed often at WDW, before Leo. To have my boy old enough to conduct himself properly in such a setting made me one proud mama and it was a real delight to treat ourselves to such a wonderful experience.
Don’t worry – I’ll share the details of that experience, but I wanted to get that part out first.
First detail: the menu.
We had the usual assortment of menu, drink menu and wine list to peruse. Also, a story to read. About salmon. THE Salmon. Being served that night at Artist Point.
The Salmon was special. It came from the Copper River, somewhere way up in Alaska. And it had a mighty interesting and dramatic story involving the strength it takes for The Salmon to live in this long, cold river filled with rapids. The Salmon is available in only limited quantities and for one short period each year. The time of year when The Salmon makes the long, difficult journey up-stream to spawn and make new Salmon.
The Salmon was OFF the menu for us. After reading The Salmon story. No joke – Gramma was near tears. You should have seen her when they served The Salmon to the table next to us.
As for me, one look at The Price of The Salmon was nausea-inducing in and of itself.
Fifty.
Six.
Dollars!!!!!
For Salmon with a story.
Nohting says “America” like expensive Salmon with a Story.
I went with beef. No stories there.
Next detail: the food.
The Beef Tenderloin is what I had, specifically, and it was very, very good. Not quite so good as the Le Cellier Mushroom Filet I’d had in Dec. 2007, but very good. The Artist Point Tenderloin came with some kind of funky French fries and little mushrooms – ****ake perhaps?
Gramma had the Scallops and they were delish! They were different from what’s detailed in the AP menu on allearsnet.com, so I’m not really sure what was done to them.
Leo surprised the heck out of me. After hearing all the choices on the kids’ menu, he selected Grilled Chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans. I explained that the chicken would be like I make at home, not nuggets or strips… he still wanted chicken. When it arrived, he was disappointed. I don’t know what the heck he thought it would be, but he got over it quickly and proclaimed it “good.” It was also, FYI, HUGE! Two boneless, skinless chicken breasts, a massive pile of potatoes, and a good size bunch of beans. Leo ate approximately ¼ of it.
For dessert, Leo got ice cream, Gramma got a heavenly chocolate torte, and I got… a cheese plate!
Nothing says “America” like cheese.
Yep, I really looove ending dinner with cheese and ordered the Artisan Cheese Plate from the appetizer menu. Along with a second glass of an un-wooded Chardonnay that was da bomb. As with dinner, our desserts were wonderful, too. I only ate about ½ of my cheese and took the rest back to the room for a snack the next day.
Overall, it was a terrific meal and the perfect end to our first day.
Only, it wasn’t the end. Not by a long-shot.
The weather was holding – no rain in sight – so we decided to try watching some fireworks from the Poly beach. We had a bit over an hour to get there. Plenty of time.
If it’s not July 4th.
We walked out to the boat dock and waited for a boat to either the MK or Contemporary (CR). Whichever came first was what we’d take. The sun was beginning to set, I'd had some wine and I felt photographic…
So did Leo:
Note that I was wearing long sleeves… in July… in Florida.
Guess what? I was
comfortable! I was amazed at how different Orlando felt than my home on the Gulf of Mexico. At home, sunset and the couple hours preceding it is the hottest, most humid, oppressive time of the day. Not so in Orlando. There was a good breeze and, while hot, not uncomfortably so. I took notice.
Eventually, we hopped on a boat to the CR, which first stopped at Ft. Wilderness.
And the clock kept ticking.
We got to the CR and made our way to the crowded monorail platform.
And the clock kept ticking.
Got on the monorail, only to sit in the station whilst routine safety checks were undertaken.
And the clock kept ticking.
Finally, we got through the TTC and disembarked at the Poly.
Quick restroom stop, then over to the Tambu Lounge for a little sump’n with which to watch the big show.
And the clock kept ticking.
A little sump’n in hand, we got to the beach
just as the fireworks began.
Phew!!!
Nothing says “America” like a Lapu Lapu!
Let me tell you – we sure weren’t the only ones with this fireworks-from-the-beach plan… this is but one small section of the beach that night:
Yep, there were a lot of folks out there. But it wasn’t overly-crowded and it felt good to have so many people cheering, clapping and singing patriotic tunes.
Oh yeah – there were tunes. From the Electrical Water Pageant! It was smack-dab in front of the Poly, doing its tribute to the United States while the special July 4th fireworks went off over the MK.
Nothing says “America” like things that go BOOM!
No, it wasn’t the Boston Pops, but it was pretty darned terrific.
It was also pretty darned SHORT.
What it was, was only the special July 4th show. I’d been expecting the full Wishes, followed by the special July 4th show. And so, apparently, was every other person on that beach. Because we all sat there waiting… waiting…waiting… till most of us gave up and left. A few die-hards stayed on, hoping against hope for more.
Either that or they’d had 21 Lapu Lapus.
Hi T!
It took a while to get back to the WL. This may or may not have had something to do with my idea to walk to the TTC, take the monorail form there to the MK and take a boat to the WL.
Along with half the sold-out MK crowd.
We did get back, though and crashed quickly and completely into bed.
It had been a fantastic start, and an amazing Independence Day. We had Blizzard Beach heading up the next day’s schedule and I was sure it would be just as fun as the day before.
Nothing says “America” like worn out, full-bellied, liquored up vacationers.
Next: Leo sinks.
about your WL rooms. The second room has a great view though and at least housekeeping fixed the problem 
. We have been trying to change our ressie from BC to WL but now I'm not sure 
Hi V! It took me two nights but I have caught up and read the entire trippie!!! Yaaaaa, I loves me some V trippies and I found three
all of the Leo pics and funny little stories! Char looks fabulous as do you my dear! I love the hair! Gramma is a secret Disney lover...I just know somewhere deep doen she actually loves it! Glad Leo can swim....my two younger DD's float like lead still. I had intensions of trying to teach them this summer but I haven't gotten much pool time in. We keep ending up at the beach 
You know I'd have posted it, but in a moment of purging I deleted it before we got home. 
Oh and you look nice, too V. 
