Well, we are back home, sadly, and settled in, and the painters just left, so it's time to sit and tell you about our trip.
Of course, while we are only 15 minutes to the airport from our house, it wasn't until we got to the gate that we found out our flight down there was delayed two hours. Considering that our son raced up from college, and literally went straight from his car into ours to head to the airport, a bit of advance notice would have been nice. Oh well.
Of course, that put us in Orlando after 1100pm, and it was close to midnight when we drove onto the property at WDW. So close that we actually saw the fireworks from Grad nite as we passed though the 'main gate.' We had check in pretty much to ourself at the Contemporary,and found out we had been upgraded to the main building. That was cool. Considering we've never stayed there, it was a treat. I thought the room was neat, looking pretty much what I imagine a cruise ship would look like.
As you can imagine we were tired, and the noise from Chef Mickey's down in the lobby didn't bother us all that much. After getting everyone up, we took the elevator down for breakfast with the characters. Breakfast was okay, with lots of meet and greats. Anyhow, the kids then headed off to MK, while dw and I decided to stroll the grounds. We wound up on a boat to Wilderness Lodge, and then decided to rent bikes and ride to Ft. Wilderness. That, and the boat ride back, pretty much took up most of our free time, so we headed over to the MK to Tonys for lunch. Lunch was just okay, with a waiter who would have been good at Bennigans but didn't fit in there. After that we did a few rides, then headed back to the Contemp for a swim and a rest. Back at 7 to the park, emmy and I in the cab of the monorail, for E-ride nite. The first hour, after 9, it seemed there were a lot of people there with out the wrist bands being let on the rides, but by about 930-1000 they weren't letting them on. By 11 the place was pretty much deserted, and we really seemed to have the park to ourselfs. DW, and I decided to take Emmy and leave about 1130. I swear we were the only people on Main street from about one end to the other. We got back to the Contmp about 15 mins before the boys. They said they were tired of going on rides. Did BT, SM, SM, and HM about 5 times each.
Next morning we headed over to Oliva's for breakfast, and check in at OKW, then jumped on the bus over to Epcot. Kids went their way, and DW and I toured the Flower and Garden show in a leisurely manner. We tied up with them about 330 then went over to OKW to get our room, then drove over to MGM.
Had dinner at Mama Melrose, then did the Muppets. The three of us sort of headed in the direction of the Backstage tour while the boys went ahead. As we got there we saw the two of them doing the movie scene in the tank where they get soaked with water. And boy, did they get soaked. Luckily we got to see the whole show.
After that we sort of roamed around while the kids did the big rides. We did the final showing of the Walt Disney story, and were the only 3 people in the entire show. I asked the announcer if we could forgo the discussion grioup, but he didn't get it.
Monday, after breakfast at Kona Cafe, we headed over to Celebration to look again at the house we want to build. After that, back to the room then over to Typhoon Lagoon. That went swimingly (walk on to all the slides) until it was time to leave and realized I didn't have the car keys. Bad as that was, the boys had to leave in an hour to catch a plane. However, St Jude and/or St Anthony was with us, and when I checked at lost and found, they were the only keys there.
So after taking the boys to the ap, we started over to Boma for dinner but turned around at went to the Market Place at Coronado instead. Cheaper and much less hastle. Then over to downtown Disney/marketplace to roam around. that was more crowded than any other place we saw the whole trip.
On Tuesday, I grabbed some rolls at the member's meeting for DVC at OKW, then we headed out to Vero Beach for the day. That was fun, and we had the ocean to ourself. Well, I'm sure there were probably other people along the coast somewhere, but we didn't see many of them.
Back in the evening to OKW and dinner at Olivias. We really like this place, and can't say anything bad about it.
Wednesday we were up, then over to Dixie Landing for breakfast, then Emmy and I pool-hopped over to Boardwalk resort where we had the pool and slide pretty much to ourself for the first hour.
After that, it was back to the hotel, then on to airport for the trip home. Plane home was much more comfortable and relaxing than the trip down.
So, we are home again for awhile, probably not off to anywhere for a few months. It was nice to do WDW twice in a bit more than 4 months, nice to have an upgrade, nice to have the place to ourself, nice to have really good weather, and real nice to find the car keys.
Joe
Of course, while we are only 15 minutes to the airport from our house, it wasn't until we got to the gate that we found out our flight down there was delayed two hours. Considering that our son raced up from college, and literally went straight from his car into ours to head to the airport, a bit of advance notice would have been nice. Oh well.
Of course, that put us in Orlando after 1100pm, and it was close to midnight when we drove onto the property at WDW. So close that we actually saw the fireworks from Grad nite as we passed though the 'main gate.' We had check in pretty much to ourself at the Contemporary,and found out we had been upgraded to the main building. That was cool. Considering we've never stayed there, it was a treat. I thought the room was neat, looking pretty much what I imagine a cruise ship would look like.
As you can imagine we were tired, and the noise from Chef Mickey's down in the lobby didn't bother us all that much. After getting everyone up, we took the elevator down for breakfast with the characters. Breakfast was okay, with lots of meet and greats. Anyhow, the kids then headed off to MK, while dw and I decided to stroll the grounds. We wound up on a boat to Wilderness Lodge, and then decided to rent bikes and ride to Ft. Wilderness. That, and the boat ride back, pretty much took up most of our free time, so we headed over to the MK to Tonys for lunch. Lunch was just okay, with a waiter who would have been good at Bennigans but didn't fit in there. After that we did a few rides, then headed back to the Contemp for a swim and a rest. Back at 7 to the park, emmy and I in the cab of the monorail, for E-ride nite. The first hour, after 9, it seemed there were a lot of people there with out the wrist bands being let on the rides, but by about 930-1000 they weren't letting them on. By 11 the place was pretty much deserted, and we really seemed to have the park to ourselfs. DW, and I decided to take Emmy and leave about 1130. I swear we were the only people on Main street from about one end to the other. We got back to the Contmp about 15 mins before the boys. They said they were tired of going on rides. Did BT, SM, SM, and HM about 5 times each.
Next morning we headed over to Oliva's for breakfast, and check in at OKW, then jumped on the bus over to Epcot. Kids went their way, and DW and I toured the Flower and Garden show in a leisurely manner. We tied up with them about 330 then went over to OKW to get our room, then drove over to MGM.
Had dinner at Mama Melrose, then did the Muppets. The three of us sort of headed in the direction of the Backstage tour while the boys went ahead. As we got there we saw the two of them doing the movie scene in the tank where they get soaked with water. And boy, did they get soaked. Luckily we got to see the whole show.
After that we sort of roamed around while the kids did the big rides. We did the final showing of the Walt Disney story, and were the only 3 people in the entire show. I asked the announcer if we could forgo the discussion grioup, but he didn't get it.
Monday, after breakfast at Kona Cafe, we headed over to Celebration to look again at the house we want to build. After that, back to the room then over to Typhoon Lagoon. That went swimingly (walk on to all the slides) until it was time to leave and realized I didn't have the car keys. Bad as that was, the boys had to leave in an hour to catch a plane. However, St Jude and/or St Anthony was with us, and when I checked at lost and found, they were the only keys there.
So after taking the boys to the ap, we started over to Boma for dinner but turned around at went to the Market Place at Coronado instead. Cheaper and much less hastle. Then over to downtown Disney/marketplace to roam around. that was more crowded than any other place we saw the whole trip.
On Tuesday, I grabbed some rolls at the member's meeting for DVC at OKW, then we headed out to Vero Beach for the day. That was fun, and we had the ocean to ourself. Well, I'm sure there were probably other people along the coast somewhere, but we didn't see many of them.
Back in the evening to OKW and dinner at Olivias. We really like this place, and can't say anything bad about it.
Wednesday we were up, then over to Dixie Landing for breakfast, then Emmy and I pool-hopped over to Boardwalk resort where we had the pool and slide pretty much to ourself for the first hour.
After that, it was back to the hotel, then on to airport for the trip home. Plane home was much more comfortable and relaxing than the trip down.
So, we are home again for awhile, probably not off to anywhere for a few months. It was nice to do WDW twice in a bit more than 4 months, nice to have an upgrade, nice to have the place to ourself, nice to have really good weather, and real nice to find the car keys.
Joe
