May 20-May 28 Trip

[faecrafter]

Destination: Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida
Start date: 5/20/05 Friday
Traveling companions: Mom
Goal of trip: FUN!!!

Day 1 - Fri 5/20
Well, we got off to a grand start by locking our keys inside the house. I had to climb on top of the neighbor’s trash can to crawl through Mom’s bedroom window about 8 ft from the ground. Very tricky, it was. I did it though and soon we were on our way to the airport. After arriving in Orlando we took the Disney’s Magical Express to Port Orleans Riverside resort.
Thankfully, the resort had a wheelchair available to rent for the week. It was such a blessing. Luckily, our room was ready and we didn’t have to wait till after 3 to check in. As usual, I made the bad decision to be superwoman and push Mom in the wheelchair and transport all the luggage. It was a long walk but we made it. The room was great. Disney truly has fantastic accommodations. After a much needed nap we headed to piano bar for dinner to see Bob Jackson perform. He’s great! So funny and talented.

Day 2- Sat. 5/21

We headed out early to catch the bus to the Magic Kingdom. We arrived just in time to see the characters atop the train station opening the park for the day. We had 9:20 Breakfast reservations at the Crystal Palace for a character breakfast with Pooh and his friends from the Hundred Acre Wood. Mom met Eeyore and got her pic with him. It’s absolutely adorable! I got my photo with Tigger and Pooh! Tigger was especially cuddly. The buffet was great and watching the characters interact with kids was a lot of fun. After breakfast we headed towards the castle and arrived just in time for the Cinderellabration. I hadn’t been particularly interested in seeing this but I was so glad we did. The music and costumes were beautiful. We got tons of pics of the castle decorations and the five different mirrors representing the Disney castles from around the world. It’s absolutely beautiful. On to Liberty Square and the Haunted Mansion. I was leery as I’m quite chicken when it comes to haunted anything. I decided to brave it anyway. I had to ride twice since I missed most of it the first time due to keeping my eyes closed most of the way through. All in all it was a great ride. I highly recommend it! Next stop was Fantasyland. Mom and I rode It’s a Small World. What a visually stunning ride. So pretty and CUTE! We headed into Tinkerbell’s nook to see if we could catch her flight across the store. Sure enough, there she went! “She” is a sparkling light and tinkling sound effect that is so quick that if you’re not paying attention you’ll miss her. Next was lunch at Pinocchio’s Village Haus. One of my favorite things about Disney is all of the magical details in everything. Each room of the restaurant has a different theme from Pinocchio. There’s a Blue Fairy room, Gepetto’s workshop, and so on. After lunch we found the Sword In The Stone. The pavement around the sword is in shaped like swords. Very cool! From Fantasyland we went to Mickey’s Toontown Fair. We took another tour through Minnie’s Country House…too cute not to. From there we went to see Mickey in his Judge’s Tent but really didn’t care to wait in that line. It was time for the parade so we headed towards Main Street to stake out a spot. The parade was fantastic and we took lots of pics. By this time we were both pooped. It was hot and we were still recuperating from the trip there. Ha! So, back to the room we went. We ordered in Pizza and called it a night.

 Day 3
Sunday 5/22
Epcot was our destination on this day. We were pleased to be there during the annual Flower and Garden Festival. The character topiaries were beautiful. Minnie’s Butterfly Garden was cute but no match for the Butterfly House at home. I must admit that seeing Space Ship Earth for the first time was incredible. Epcot in itself is an amazing place. First stop was Journey Into The Imagination With Figment. Very cute ride. Figment is an adorable purple dragon who is quite mischievous. Basically, you are seeing the senses that go into imagination….sight, smell, sound. It was a cute ride. We went to the Living Seas…not recommended. If you want to see sea life…go to Sea World. Just all the hoopla to get inside is more than enough. Maybe it was just my mood or something but I wasn’t impressed. You have to gather in a circular room (much like the Haunted Mansion) which opens into a corridor leading to “Hydrolators”. Hydrolator is a creative term for an elevator modified to look like an underwater transporter. This takes you to the Sea Basin which contains a gift shop, a Finding Nemo exhibit (I must admit I enjoyed that part) and the underwater viewing of the dolphins and tropical fish. It was beautiful visually but didn’t compare in the least to what can be seen at Sea World. We did miss Turtle Talk with Crush (from Finding Nemo) exhibit. That looked like it would be fun but the line was insane. We toured the various gardens and took in some sights. The weather was a scorcher (92) so we headed back to the resort. We were both exhausted and sunburned.
One handy thing they do is that if you are staying on Disney property and buy anything at the parks or shops…you can have it sent to your room so you don’t have to carry it. Very cool!


Day 4

Monday 5/23/05
Sunburned, tired, and in desperate need of rest, we decided to take a break from the parks today. So, we had breakfast at the restaurant and did a little shopping in the gift shop. Afterwards we headed back to the room and I organized the photos I’d already taken with the digital camera. Day 4 and I already have more than 200 pics.


Day 5
Tues 5/24/05
Back to Epcot today.Next stop: The World Showcase. We had 1:30 reservations at the Rose and Crown Pub in the UK. We stopped in Norway first and toured the Stave Church. The church was fascinating...the architecture, the history, the artwork. After realizing we were headed in the opposite direction of the UK we headed back towards the entrance of the World Showcase in time to see the character double-decker bus pulling up. I’m 32 years old and still get excited when I see them. Now, when I was a child I was terrified of costumed characters. I guess I’m making up for what I missed then. Ha! We arrived in the UK with time to spare so we toured some shops. There’s an adorable Twinnings tea shop and an arms and armor shop (forget the name) that was much fun. We checked in a the Rose and Crown a bit early and we had a wonderful waiter named Daniel. He was absolutely adorable! I learned that the cast members in the various “countries” are actually from the country they are working in. They are either interns, students or immigrants. It was so cool hearing him talk about home, and some other Brits came in to eat, and it was cool hearing them talk about their experience here so far. We both had Fish and Chips. It was the best Fish and Chips I’ve ever eaten. Lunch was over and I had to leave adorable Daniel

I had noted the time the characters would be making another photo appearance and it was just about time so we headed back to their spot. I got a pic with Pluto, Mickey, and Minnie! My most important personal mission was accomplished. It took me 25 years but I finally have a photo of myself with Mickey Mouse!!! Yaaaay me! HA!

By this time it was about time for Off Kilter’s first show. I had been told by many online that they were not to miss. Wow! Off Kilter is a celtic/rock group that is incredible! Sooooo entertaining! The pipes, electric guitars, keyboards..wow! I bought a cd and will be adding more to my collection soon!

Day 6
Wed 5/25/05
Our destination today was Animal Kingdom. I had been especially looking forward to this. I had seen all of the Nahtazu (not-a-zoo) advertisements and thought they were really clever. It’s definitely not a zoo. It’s a beautiful park. With the foliage, flora, and décor it’s gorgeous. The Tree of Life was almost overwhelming. The life “carved” into it is amazing. The detail and expression is breathtaking. After the Tree of Life my main objective was to see Lucky the Dinosaur. Five-year-old, 2,000-pound Lucky is a dinosaur: an Audio-Animatronics dinosaur and the first Disney character of its type to walk freely and personally interact with children and families. I was in awe! I couldn’t help but wonder what my Dad would think of him. My Dad and I shared a fascination with puppets, and animation. My Mom and I discussed that after Lucky’s walk. I remembered seeing The Muppet Movie with my Dad and how he was amazed at Kermit the Frog riding a bicycle. It was strange because not long after we left Lucky we went into a pin shop. There’s a case next to the register of upcoming pins. One of the pins coming soon is a Kermit pin. He’s sitting on a log playing a banjo with a rainbow behind him. This is from the Muppet Movie when he’s singing Rainbow Connection (one of my favorite songs). I couldn’t help but take notice at the coincidence of seeing this at this time. It was a happy moment. Almost like a “sign” of some sort.
We took a trip through Camp Minnie Mickey and I had my pic with Goofy and Minnie once again
We had seen all we really wanted to see and we were both eager to get back to see the footage I shot with my digital camera of Lucky. We had dinner at the food court at the resort then we headed back to the room. I eagerly booted up the laptop and started the video….nothing but pavement. I had gotten mixed up and when I thought I was filming it was actually stopped. Soooo, I was rather disappointed and feeling pretty stupid. We decided we’d make a stop to see him again before the Magic Kingdom the next day. God bless my Mother for putting up with my neurosis. HA!


Day 7
Thurs 5/26/05
We headed to Animal Kindom first to catch Lucky again. After filming him correctly today I got lots of footage. A whole memory card full. (rolls eyes)
Next stop: Magic Kingdom.
The bus from AK to MK doesn’t go directly to MK. It stops at the Transportation Authority and you take the Monorail of the ferry to MK. We opted for the ferry thinking we’d take a ride on the Monorail later in the day. The view across the water of the MK was fantastic. Once we arrived we headed towards Adventureland. First stop: Pirates of the Caribbean. Mom “people watched” in the plaza while I rode. There wasn’t much of a line which was great. There was a family with me in the boat with a teeny little boy who was terrified. He was silent but his eyes said it all. His grip on his dad’s shoulder was intense. He was facing his dad hiding his face in his dad’s neck. He’d occasionally peek to see what was going on. I could see the lights flicker in his eyes and they were like saucers. So big and frightened. Eventually he relaxed a bit and watched as things passed behind us. I pointed out the dog outside the jail cell and he grinned. The ride is fun…if not for nostalgia alone. After scoping out the pirate-y goods in the shop at the end of the ride I sought out Captain Hook. He had a crowd so I just snapped some pics from the walk. I was nearly trampled by Peter and Wendy but I quickly stepped out of their way…she was obviously on a mission.
From Adventureland we headed towards Frontierland to find Woody for Mom. I was determined for her to see him. We found him but she wouldn’t go up to him for a pic so I snapped a few of him for her. He and Jessie were just too cute.
We stopped in Liberty Square for water and to rest a bit. She stayed there while I took another tour of the Haunted Mansion. The cast members who work that ride add so much to the ambience. They’re incredible. This time I really looked around and found a couple of hidden Mickey’s and truly enjoyed the ride.
We had ditched our Monorail plan and decided to take the train from Toontown to Main Street to make our dinner reservation at Tony’s. The train was a dud. Unless you like to see shrubs that is. We had a wonderful Italian dinner at Tony’s. Tony’s has a Lady and the Tramp theme. You can’t go wrong with a dog theme! The décor was adorable. I had a daiquiri of some sort…it escapes me at the moment…and got a souvenir glass with Lady and Tramp on the side. It’s the little things that thrill me. We hadn’t planned on seeing Spectromagic but dinner had taken so long we didn’t have a choice. We couldn’t’ have gotten back to the castle (wanted to stake out a spot for fireworks) no matter what. It turns out it was a good thing. Spectromagic is a light parade that is just unbelievable. The music and sights were incredible. What a production! (I was so thrilled with it I even bought the soundtrack) I was overwhelmed at the detail. As the parade moved around the square and down Main Street towards Cinderella Castle…the lights would come back on in synch with the music as it passed. Just more of the magic I so love.
By this time we started battling the crowd to get back towards the castle. Yes, we could’ve stayed where we were and seen just fine. But, you see, I had a plan. Ha! I had been told that Tinkerbell takes a nightly flight towards the beginning of the Wishes fireworks finale. So, of course, I had to try to get her on film. Knowing full well that without my tripod the likelihood of a decent shot was slim to none. Well, I set up, and got so caught up in Jiminy Cricket and the Blue Fairy’s narration I almost missed her. I got her though! She’s a little bright blob with wings but it’s Tinkerbell!!!!
Wishes was spectacular. We stuck around while the crowd dispersed…didn’t have much choice as the hordes of people weren’t about to let a wheelchair turn around. We were stuck where we were but didn’t care. We had planned to see the Kiss Goodnight so we were fine there. At about 10:30 as the park was emptying and crews were cleaning up (it’s unreal the trash that people leave after Wishes…disgusting) the lights dimmed around the Partners statue and we heard the announcer closing the park and thanking the visitors and repeating Walt Disney’s wish for the Disney parks…and then it started. The light show on the castle was even more beautiful than before and then we hear Mickey saying …goodbye..see ya real soon…and the light on the castle slowly moved down the façade in varying shades of blue as if it was being put to sleep with a twinkling sound…almost like soft chimes sounded. Then it was quiet. I turned to look at my mom and notice a crowd of people and everyone was just staring at the castle in awe. It was such a sweet moment. From then we headed out and to our bus. Before we exited I looked back and got a shot of the castle and the park so still now and all the twinkling lights were beautiful.


Day 8
Fri 5/27/05
We took the riverboat from Port Orleans to Downtown Disney. We spent the better part of the day exploring the shops and wandering around taking in the sights. It’s a fun place and great for kids. My favorite shop is Disney Tales…a pet shop with clothing, accessories, toys and treats. Rivaling that is the Ghirardelli Chocolate shop. After dinner at the food court we headed back to our room to get ready for our return home the next day.

Day 9
Sat 5/28/05
The Disney Magical Express took us back to the airport and we were on our way home.
First stop: Kennelwood!!! I missed my babies soooo much!

It was a fantastic trip and truly magical. As corny as that sounds…we made some incredible memories and the sights and sounds we experienced were truly magical.

 

[Cinerama]

Great report, thanks for posting!

 

[roberrl187]

Great report. Thanks.

 

[faecrafter]

Thanks! I had written it for family who hadn't been before and then decided to post here.

Here's a link to pics if anyone's interested:
lbregant.photosite.com