We were rather worn out and slept in till 8 am. DH and I showered and packed. We woke up DD and DSIL at 9 am. I called the bell services and arranged a luggage pickup at 10:10 am. On the dot the bell man was there, took our luggage and gave us a ride to the front. We decided to try Pepper Market for breakfast. Never again! DH and DD are huge salt fiends and even the bacon was too salty. It must have been canned. The biscuits even tasted too salty.
We took the bus to Epcot and after our photopass stop entered spaceship earth. This was our first time since the changes. We really enjoyed the differences and improvements. DD emailed their picture to themselves. About this time my DH realised that he was going to need some help. A year ago he was on way home from work on his motorcycle when he got caught up in an accident started by a drunk driver. We are lucky he can walk much less is back to work. It was wheelchair time. He can walk but after a bit his ankle swells and he has no endurance.
Mission Space was next on the agenda. On our way their we checked Test Track and found it was down. While waiting in the orange side room before the briefing tape DD started talking about how this reminded her of a really awful movie she saw recently about a mission to mars....uhhh was Gary Siniese in it? " Yes, I love Gary Siniese but this was an awful movie" then the video started.... it is still a spectacular ride.
Club cool was fun and of course we tricked her into Beverly....then DH calls over a young man from China and gets him to try Beverly....the young man liked it. We then got into a conversation with him about the different sodas. The watermelon flavored one was much missed by our new friend. He is a cast member out celebrating Chinese new year with friends. We tired the various sodas together and then wished each other happy new year. The sugar had it's effect though. I cannot handle sugar in a liquid form and DH was strongly affected too. We sent the kids to Nemo and the seas and waited in the shade. I bought some water, fruit and chips and it helped us feel better. The land was visited just for the "living with the land". We have been on Soarin over California enough and were about ready to go to SSR for checkin. The long day previously had caught up with us. DD wanted nothing to do with HISTA, she can still recite the whole pre-show and show in her sleep.
Our plan was to stop for some fish n chips then use the international gateway boats for a ride to Hollywood studios to catch a bus to SSR. Well that was until we sat on the patio and DD saw the beautiful view of all the countries exhibitions. It's funny what fish and Boddington's can do for you.
DD had really wanted to eat in Germany so I call for an ADR.
I finally got DH to see Impressions of France. He loved it. I had to try the eclairs and see if they were as good as those we had in Paris. They were delicious and the best we have had in the US since we were in France but still not the same.
However DD and I LOVED the Orange Grand Marinier slush drink. I had never noticed them until the Disboards and Samantha Brown. Thank you!
We mosied down to Germany, visiting our favorite ornament shop. DH and I have collected blown glass ornaments for over 30 years and there are always some nice additions to our collection from this shop. Boy I was tired. DD went to see if we could get into Octoberfest earlier , saw the price and decided she was not $30 worth of hungry. We had brats ,kraut,pretzels and strudel from the counter service instead. Delicious and she was satisfied. The kids were sent on their way to explore while DH and I looked for some sort of warm clothing in Germany as we were not planning to stay this late. Many had mentioned on the boards about the great views from Germany for illuminations. DH and I placed ourselves on a bench in front of the water to wait. It was about 7:30 and I was cold. DD and DSIL brought me a sarape type blanket from the outpost. It helped alot. By 9 pm it became obvious the parks were not very crowded. There were maybe 10 people including children around us for the viewing. Maybe 20 joined DD and DSIL on the little jetty in front of Germany. It is still such a beautiful and impressive show.
We decided to continue with our original plan and headed for the international gateway. I was surprised to see maybe 7 in line for the boats by the time we were there.
The boat ride was lovely and relaxing. It was not a far walk for DH from the dock to the SSR bus waiting area at Hollywood studios and we did not have to wait terribly long for a bus.
No amount of prepartion, map perusal or google earth on SSr could prepare me fo how large this resort is. Wow. We got off at the Springs and walked up to the carriage house. I cannot say enough about the helpfulness and friendliness of the staff. Our water shipment had arrived from Costco (thank you Disboard members) and our luggage had arrived from CSR. Our bellman transported us , luggage and water to our unit in Congress Park(as I requested). I was very grateful and tipped him a 20. This is our first visit here and I can say the unit is wonderful and very clean. DD is very impressed. I had them check the pullout because of stories I had read. Everything is clean and the groceries were in place. There were some items missing, after a phone call the missing items were brought over this morning.
The King mattress is very nice.. DH and I are shopping to replace our mattress hence our focus on the topic.
I set up my laptop on the desk next to the bed. It is a perfect situation for me. I have a nice view of DTD and water from both windows.
All in all while I plan to try and see all the
DVC resorts while I am here I really loved the atmosphere here at SSR. I am glad we are owners.
. So we looked! They were Sealy's. I don't remember the exact name, though I wrote it down somewhere. Anyway, once we got home, we went into Sleepys with the name of the mattress. The salesman said it was the prior year's "model", showed us the current year's model. We went one step above and bought the top of the line Sealy's! Boy am I happy! I just had to mention that because we set out on a quest to find a new mattress after sleeping on the mattresses in AKV and BWV too, and wound up with a wonderful mattress! It's like sleeping on a cloud
DD was excited when it arrived. She ate at Giordano's every day on a college trip to Chicago. The crust was perfect, the sauce had a nice tang to it and the cheese went on forever! THANK YOU to all who recommended this.
