trypnotic
Mouskatool
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2005
- Messages
- 577
Hopefully I don't offend anyone - I'm still fairly green to DIS.
Saturday, May 7 - we arrived on time in Orlando around 1pm local time. We got our rental car from Budget very quickly and easily - they even upgraded us for free from a mid-sized to a full-sized. We wound up with a rather new (sub-10k miles) Chevy Impala. We stormed toward our Hotwire hotel (La Quinta Lakeside) to check in and immediately went to Epcot to try out Soarin' and otherwise just take it easy - we we're rather exhausted from the day as it was.
Sunday, May 8 - Started the day at MGM for rope drop. DW and I each bought a souviner cast member badge at Celebrity 5 & 10. For lunch, we ate at Sci-Fi Dine-In. After lunch, we headed over to Target to buy some groceries as we would have a fridge at the Old Key West resort that we were staying at for most of the week. OKW was gorgous - I think we're going to need to buy our own points! That evening, we ate at the San Angel Inn at the Mexico pavillion in Epcot. I thought it was quite tasty. I had the Combinacion Cozumel and my DW had the Pollo a las Rajas. Yum Yum
Monday, May 9 - I dragged my DW over to the Cocoa area and spent the majority of the day at KSC. We took the NASA Up-close tour and were able to view the shuttle carrying Discovery on the launch pad. I believe the guide said we were about one mile away from it - nothing my 10x optical zoom couldn't handle. We also visited the Saturn V center that held an unused Apollo mission modules and such. My DW could probably tell you more about the specifics than I could despite her lack of interest in the subject. I was taking video and shooting still photos like a madman. After leaving Merritt Island, we headed to Cocoa Beach down A1A and ate at Fischer's Seafood Bar & Grill. It was... OK. Every other restaurant in the area seemed rather tacky and we certainly didn't fly 1,300 miles to eat at McDonald's or Perkins.
Tuesday, May 10 - After deciding to postpone Typhoon Lagoon until Thursday, we hung out largely at Magic Kingdom. Our lunch was at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe in Tomorrowland. Love that alien! Watching an alien sing and tell jokes is a lovely way to spend lunch. We took in the revamped, "it's a small world ride", I rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad countless times, not to mention the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Carribean, and Splash Mountain. We spent the late afternoon swimming and enjoying the amenities at OKW. We also took a boat ride from the resort to Downtown Disney to enjoy some Ghirardelli. We also spent... just a few dollars at the Disney Store. Arg.
Wednesday, May 11 - Bummed around OKW and did some laundry. Went for some lunch at the Boardwalk resort - Big River Grille Brewery. I'm a beer snob and always find Big River a welcome relief. We headed over to AK afterwards and caught the Kilimanjaro Safari, Dinosaur, and It's Tough to Be a Bug. We were rather heat exhausted this day so we headed back to OKW to recoup. That evening was Extra Magic Hours at MK so we HAD to hit that. Unfortunately some storms brewed during the day and started raining around 5pm'ish. This wasn't your typical 5 minute downpour which I had become accustomed to during our last visit in 2003. It finally stopped around 8:30 just in time for Wishes to begin. The park is certainly more crowded now that they've done away with the $10/person fee for Extra Magic Hours.
Thursday, May 12 - Typhoon Lagoon day! Headed over to the water park around 10am when it opened. Slathered on the sunscreen and jumped in the wave pool. Immediately got out as I got sunscreen in my eyes and sent me running around looking for a shower to wash the stinging substance out. I think I was legally blind for about a hour. I learned that I need to hold onto my sunglasses as well as my shorts when the wave hits your back - you can only imagine the outcome if you don't. Around 11:30, I made my way over to Shark Reef via the Lazy River tube ride. Waited in line for about a half hour and jumped in with my park issued snorkle - that was one chilly salt water tank. My goggles had fogged over so visibility was limited. I brought along a waterproof camera and just started taking shot after shot. I figured if I wasn't going to see it now, I could at least see it later. During the last park of the swim, I started becoming surrounded by a number of large, beautiful fish of some sorts. They were likely lured by the winding of the film in my camera. I saw either three sharks or the same shark on three seperate occassions or other varients of combinations. He hung out mostly toward the bottom of the tank as the cast members informed us he would. There were also a couple stingrays - but they hung out mostly at the beginning and ends of the tank where we were all briefed on the swim. We left Typhoon Lagoon with one heck of a sunburn. I spent most of the evening in the room with the wife applying aloe gel to my back repeatedly. We finished off the evening with some pizza and wings from Pizza Hut/Wingstreet of which we picked up from the Crossroads area.
Friday, May 13 - With my sunburn largely under control, we headed over to Epcot for lunch at Le Cellier restaurant. This is a must-do whenever we make it back to Disney World as they have the world's best-ever cheddar cheese beer soup as far as my wife or I are concerned! Afterwards, we did Soarin' once again and I hit Mission to Space. Very fun couple of rides. For the evening, we went to MGM for dinner. We ate a magnificent buffet at Hollywood & Vine which was part of our Fantasmic dinner package. I found it strange that we were on the far right of the stadium but after the show started, I don't think it really effected the view at all. I had taken my wallet out in anticipation of one of the consession people coming by but they never came. The show started and I had left my wallet on my lap. After the show ended, I got up and started walking out of the aisle. It wasn't until 30 seconds or 50' later I had realized my wallet wasn't on me. I walked back and by the time I got there, it was already gone. I asked a CM what to do and they said to ask the Lost and Found station at the entrance of the park. We waited there until about 10:30 when I doubt anyone was still left in the park and it had still not shown up. During the time I waited, I called Wells Fargo and cancelled my credit and check card with them. We were staying at All-Star Music that night. We got there around 11:30 and I called the Orange County sheriff to file a report. We obviously were leaving the next day and I no longer had any ID and would likely help my chances of getting through airport security if I had a police report. Anyway, the dispatch said they would send someone over as available.
Saturday, May 14 - 2:30am rolled around - still nothing. I called again and once more, they said they'd send someone out as available. 6:30am rolled around and I called again. I was quite frustrated. He told me that I was calling the wrong county and I should be talking to Osceola county as that is where All-Star Music is at. So they transfer me over and explain what happened and they said, "Oh, you lost the wallet at MGM studios? That's Orange county!" GRR! So I'm transferred back again. I finally ask to speak with a supervisor as this seems just a little more than ridiculous. He calms me down and gets a deputy out to me immediately. Around 9:30a, I finally have a police report. We spend most of the morning just driving around because we have nothing else to do - my MYW ticket with one remaining day on it was in my wallet. I had the MYW serial numbers and could probably recover that one remaining day on my ticket but decided it wasn't worth the hassle by this point. We got to the airport around 11am and returned the car to Budget. The Northwest check-in lady was very understanding and just marked me down to be searched. I got through security in a matter of minutes and now we had to kill four hours at the airport - I was just glad to be through security and on my way home. We connected in Memphis and left within the hour - they informed us that it was 50 degrees with light rain in Minneapolis *sigh* welcome back. It had been in the mid-80's all week and sunny with the exception of Wednesday evening.
All in all, the wallet thing was a bad way to end a vacation but at least it didn't happen at the beginning of the trip. We still had a great time and we're looking forward to going again
Saturday, May 7 - we arrived on time in Orlando around 1pm local time. We got our rental car from Budget very quickly and easily - they even upgraded us for free from a mid-sized to a full-sized. We wound up with a rather new (sub-10k miles) Chevy Impala. We stormed toward our Hotwire hotel (La Quinta Lakeside) to check in and immediately went to Epcot to try out Soarin' and otherwise just take it easy - we we're rather exhausted from the day as it was.
Sunday, May 8 - Started the day at MGM for rope drop. DW and I each bought a souviner cast member badge at Celebrity 5 & 10. For lunch, we ate at Sci-Fi Dine-In. After lunch, we headed over to Target to buy some groceries as we would have a fridge at the Old Key West resort that we were staying at for most of the week. OKW was gorgous - I think we're going to need to buy our own points! That evening, we ate at the San Angel Inn at the Mexico pavillion in Epcot. I thought it was quite tasty. I had the Combinacion Cozumel and my DW had the Pollo a las Rajas. Yum Yum
Monday, May 9 - I dragged my DW over to the Cocoa area and spent the majority of the day at KSC. We took the NASA Up-close tour and were able to view the shuttle carrying Discovery on the launch pad. I believe the guide said we were about one mile away from it - nothing my 10x optical zoom couldn't handle. We also visited the Saturn V center that held an unused Apollo mission modules and such. My DW could probably tell you more about the specifics than I could despite her lack of interest in the subject. I was taking video and shooting still photos like a madman. After leaving Merritt Island, we headed to Cocoa Beach down A1A and ate at Fischer's Seafood Bar & Grill. It was... OK. Every other restaurant in the area seemed rather tacky and we certainly didn't fly 1,300 miles to eat at McDonald's or Perkins.
Tuesday, May 10 - After deciding to postpone Typhoon Lagoon until Thursday, we hung out largely at Magic Kingdom. Our lunch was at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe in Tomorrowland. Love that alien! Watching an alien sing and tell jokes is a lovely way to spend lunch. We took in the revamped, "it's a small world ride", I rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad countless times, not to mention the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Carribean, and Splash Mountain. We spent the late afternoon swimming and enjoying the amenities at OKW. We also took a boat ride from the resort to Downtown Disney to enjoy some Ghirardelli. We also spent... just a few dollars at the Disney Store. Arg.
Wednesday, May 11 - Bummed around OKW and did some laundry. Went for some lunch at the Boardwalk resort - Big River Grille Brewery. I'm a beer snob and always find Big River a welcome relief. We headed over to AK afterwards and caught the Kilimanjaro Safari, Dinosaur, and It's Tough to Be a Bug. We were rather heat exhausted this day so we headed back to OKW to recoup. That evening was Extra Magic Hours at MK so we HAD to hit that. Unfortunately some storms brewed during the day and started raining around 5pm'ish. This wasn't your typical 5 minute downpour which I had become accustomed to during our last visit in 2003. It finally stopped around 8:30 just in time for Wishes to begin. The park is certainly more crowded now that they've done away with the $10/person fee for Extra Magic Hours.
Thursday, May 12 - Typhoon Lagoon day! Headed over to the water park around 10am when it opened. Slathered on the sunscreen and jumped in the wave pool. Immediately got out as I got sunscreen in my eyes and sent me running around looking for a shower to wash the stinging substance out. I think I was legally blind for about a hour. I learned that I need to hold onto my sunglasses as well as my shorts when the wave hits your back - you can only imagine the outcome if you don't. Around 11:30, I made my way over to Shark Reef via the Lazy River tube ride. Waited in line for about a half hour and jumped in with my park issued snorkle - that was one chilly salt water tank. My goggles had fogged over so visibility was limited. I brought along a waterproof camera and just started taking shot after shot. I figured if I wasn't going to see it now, I could at least see it later. During the last park of the swim, I started becoming surrounded by a number of large, beautiful fish of some sorts. They were likely lured by the winding of the film in my camera. I saw either three sharks or the same shark on three seperate occassions or other varients of combinations. He hung out mostly toward the bottom of the tank as the cast members informed us he would. There were also a couple stingrays - but they hung out mostly at the beginning and ends of the tank where we were all briefed on the swim. We left Typhoon Lagoon with one heck of a sunburn. I spent most of the evening in the room with the wife applying aloe gel to my back repeatedly. We finished off the evening with some pizza and wings from Pizza Hut/Wingstreet of which we picked up from the Crossroads area.
Friday, May 13 - With my sunburn largely under control, we headed over to Epcot for lunch at Le Cellier restaurant. This is a must-do whenever we make it back to Disney World as they have the world's best-ever cheddar cheese beer soup as far as my wife or I are concerned! Afterwards, we did Soarin' once again and I hit Mission to Space. Very fun couple of rides. For the evening, we went to MGM for dinner. We ate a magnificent buffet at Hollywood & Vine which was part of our Fantasmic dinner package. I found it strange that we were on the far right of the stadium but after the show started, I don't think it really effected the view at all. I had taken my wallet out in anticipation of one of the consession people coming by but they never came. The show started and I had left my wallet on my lap. After the show ended, I got up and started walking out of the aisle. It wasn't until 30 seconds or 50' later I had realized my wallet wasn't on me. I walked back and by the time I got there, it was already gone. I asked a CM what to do and they said to ask the Lost and Found station at the entrance of the park. We waited there until about 10:30 when I doubt anyone was still left in the park and it had still not shown up. During the time I waited, I called Wells Fargo and cancelled my credit and check card with them. We were staying at All-Star Music that night. We got there around 11:30 and I called the Orange County sheriff to file a report. We obviously were leaving the next day and I no longer had any ID and would likely help my chances of getting through airport security if I had a police report. Anyway, the dispatch said they would send someone over as available.
Saturday, May 14 - 2:30am rolled around - still nothing. I called again and once more, they said they'd send someone out as available. 6:30am rolled around and I called again. I was quite frustrated. He told me that I was calling the wrong county and I should be talking to Osceola county as that is where All-Star Music is at. So they transfer me over and explain what happened and they said, "Oh, you lost the wallet at MGM studios? That's Orange county!" GRR! So I'm transferred back again. I finally ask to speak with a supervisor as this seems just a little more than ridiculous. He calms me down and gets a deputy out to me immediately. Around 9:30a, I finally have a police report. We spend most of the morning just driving around because we have nothing else to do - my MYW ticket with one remaining day on it was in my wallet. I had the MYW serial numbers and could probably recover that one remaining day on my ticket but decided it wasn't worth the hassle by this point. We got to the airport around 11am and returned the car to Budget. The Northwest check-in lady was very understanding and just marked me down to be searched. I got through security in a matter of minutes and now we had to kill four hours at the airport - I was just glad to be through security and on my way home. We connected in Memphis and left within the hour - they informed us that it was 50 degrees with light rain in Minneapolis *sigh* welcome back. It had been in the mid-80's all week and sunny with the exception of Wednesday evening.
All in all, the wallet thing was a bad way to end a vacation but at least it didn't happen at the beginning of the trip. We still had a great time and we're looking forward to going again
But I'm really happy to see that Disney came through for me and returned it! I now have the remainder of my vacation funds to go blow on something wild to celebrate -- $18. Good thing it was the last day of vacation 
