mr.mike
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2003
- Messages
- 545
Friday, October 24th 2003
Sorry I didnt post this live on Friday night. As youll see we had very little time left at the end of the day and I couldnt pull it off. Its 4:15 Saturday afternoon and we are in North Carolina as I begin this at exit 139 on I-95, Rocky Mount.
cast:;
Mr.mike
Mrs.mike
DD almost 6
DS almost 3
Grandma
AND GUEST STARRING
The SorcererOfFantasia
Piglet
and a cast of thousands!
Oh no, our last day has arrived!!
We asked the kids what theyd like to do for the last morning and Buzz Lightyear was the answer.
For the first time we took the boat over from the poly. We were the first to arrive and the captain took off immediately, stranding the honeymooners (they were wearing their Mickey bride and groom hats) who were coming down the path after us.
We never took the boat because you assume the monorail is faster. But the boat got us to MK in a few minutes. I was able to take some good pictures of the GF and he Poly with no boats or people on he beaches. We arrived just in time to see all the characters on the railroad station officially open the park. When we got in they were all around the flag pole signing autographs and taking pictures. One of the best things Disney has done is have characters everywhere. You could not help but bump into someone no matter where you where.
We rode Buzz a few last times and finally agreed that one of the pictures taken was worthy. I bought the poster size, which took about 15 minutes, and comes laminated. It looks really nice.
Kept asking what rides they wanted to go on and the Tomorrowland raceway was next. Thought we would have wasted a lot of time but the wait was 5 minutes. After that came that masculine Tea Party ride again and then the carousel and Mickeys Philharmagic.
After viewing Philharmagic I must say you should view at least 3 times. I watched from the front rows, the back rows and somewhere in the middle rows. I definately noticed different elements of the show from all 3 positions.
Before leaving MK we rode Pooh using a fastpass, which no one else was using. Even heard one man on line telling his family as we passed him, Oh they have that Fast Pass. He made it sound as if it was something exclusive.
We head out Main Street and stopped quickly at our room to get towels and bathing suits. I knew we were heading to Typhoon Lagoon at a bad time. We arrived around 12:30. I had to park in a lot that I didnt know existed. And walked a good disatnce to the front. Like I said I knew it was going to be busy but we wanted to get a trip before we go. Of course we couldnt find any chairs so we parked the stroller on the sand and headed for the wave pool. This was my moms first trip here and we had told her how strong the waves can be. We had even showed her the pictures we took last time of a wave smashing into Mrs.Mikes mother in July as she sat on the ledge near the front of the lagoon. Well I guess we didnt stress enough. As a wave was produced mom sat down on the ledge and watched as everyone was soaked by it and then a second later the water level hit her right in the head and she was soaked. I have to admit it was pretty funny. Sorry mom.
We headed for the kids section and both kids did the child size raft ride too many times to count and I stood in the middle of the ship section where the water canons were. The kids on the ships were glad to have a target and I was glad to be getting wet. It was actually very warm today. It was a perfect day to go to TL.
We remebered to bring extra towels fo rthe ride back to keep the car seats dry and got into our room around 3:45. Mrs.mike hit the beach for some tanning time (she said the pool was packed again as was the beach and she had to walk down towards the tahiti building to find somewhere to sit) and the rest of us relaxed in the room, We had a 5pm PS at the Contemporarys steakhouse.
Arriving at 5 on the dot for a change we see no one in the restaurant. I noticed the dinner hours listed as beginnin gat 5:30. Uh oh. Did I mess up again, like I did at the Camp May Clam Bake?
Uh I guess so.. They told me my Ps was for 5:30. Ok, no problem we did 30 minutes of shopping in the shops and then was seated pretty much right away.
We had a great dinner here last time and again it was very good. You dont hear too much noise from Chef Mickeys but thats because the 4th floor isnt that quiet to begin with.
We started with a salad and I promptly dripped salad dressing onto the front of my shorts and it made a stain. Looked like I had an accident. Ok, will change after dinner.
My son had a grilled cheese which was made on rainbow bread and for dessert they each had a cookie that they could paint. It was served on a palette with 3 colors to paint with. I took some pictures of it as it was really cute. We saw many people dressed up for tonights Halloween Party. Some costume I am sure were going to scare some little kids.
Okay it was time to leave. We had to get to the Boardwalk marina by 8pm.
We were invited to go on an Illuminations! Cruise by Cher, TheSorcererofFantasia on Intercot.
This was a surprise for her husband for their wedding anniversary so I couldnt mention her name before.
I gave us enough time to get there by 7:30. We dropped off the stroller and headed out the room to the parking lot. Half way there I look down and see the stain on my shorts from the salad. Oh man, okay I tell everyone to head to the car and Ill meet them. I run back to the room and find a pair of jeans (thank God it is not to hot) I run through Niue as a shortcut to the parking lot and when I get there I see everyone standing around. Why didnt you get in I ask. Mrs.Mike says because I have the keys. The keys... oh..um.. I dont have them. Mr.mike tries turning this around and putting the blame on Mrs.Mike by saying, If I was sending you to the car you should have made sure you took the keys. It didnt work as nither her or mother bought that one.
So I ran back to the room, using Niue as my shortcut both ways and we were off. Now we have just enough time to park and get to the boardwalk. Park where though? We cant find any parking spots. Of course, it is a Friday night at the boardwalk. We finally decide to use the valet and get to the boardwalk at 7:58. There we meet for the first time Cher and her family, ( my kids havent let go of the tigger and minnie) Jeanne (piglet822) and also Ron and Ed. Im sorry but I just drove 18 hours (we are home now as I write) and I cant remember everyones name.
I do remember the ships captain, Jeff who was very friendly (as everyone else was) and entertained us with stories and jokes (the Disney Chanel, LOL) and then parked us underneath the bridge between ...um england and canada I think. You could easily see the many people ( my referance to the cast of thousands) already lined up for the fireworks as we smoothly sailed to our Prime viewing location.
Let me say... I have seen Illuminations at least twice before. I have now seen a completly different show. I believe for a fact that this show was made to be seen level with the water. It was absolutely amazing. I have never seen anything better. I could easily rave for pages about it. I have to give my most sincere thanks to Cher for inviting us, to her cruise. She is very generous and had food and drinks aboard the boat for us.
I wish Cher was part of guest relations because her generosity is what made a perfect finish to a not so perfect vacation. Unfortunately by the time you really feel comfortable talking with strangers it is time to go home. We must have talked for 30 minutes or so after getting off the boat but we then had to leave. We still had to pack for tomorrows departure.
It was nice to see the Boardwalk again and actually end our vacation where we started it 8 days ago. Why oh why didnt we just stay there instead of moving to the Polynesian.
We filled the car with gas on the way back to the room and started packing. By 2am !!! we finished and the wake up was set for 5am. We decide today to leave early so we could drive straight through. Our other option was to spend half a day at the Poly then stay over somewhere near Virginia Saturday night. But we basically had enough and the lack of communication from anyone left a bad taste about the Polynesian so we left early.
By 6:30 we were on the road
Hit Georgia at 9:30
South Carolina at 11:30
North Carolina at 2:30
Virginia at 5pm
Washington DC at 8:15
and I forget after that.
Got to listen to the Yankees lose and hit some traffic at the George Washington Bridge
Got home at 1am and then turned turn the clock back.
Not counting the half hour of traffic at the bridge it took 18 hours to drive which does include some stops for gad and food..
Well thats about it...Ill have one more post with final thoughts and I took close to one thousand pics with my digital camera. Thats right I said a thousand. Im going to post the best and include with my final thoughts. Thanks for reading And for all your support. And if you want to see Illuminations the right way get on Chers good side.
Mike
Sorry I didnt post this live on Friday night. As youll see we had very little time left at the end of the day and I couldnt pull it off. Its 4:15 Saturday afternoon and we are in North Carolina as I begin this at exit 139 on I-95, Rocky Mount.
cast:;
Mr.mike
Mrs.mike
DD almost 6
DS almost 3
Grandma
AND GUEST STARRING
The SorcererOfFantasia
Piglet
and a cast of thousands!
Oh no, our last day has arrived!!
We asked the kids what theyd like to do for the last morning and Buzz Lightyear was the answer.
For the first time we took the boat over from the poly. We were the first to arrive and the captain took off immediately, stranding the honeymooners (they were wearing their Mickey bride and groom hats) who were coming down the path after us.
We never took the boat because you assume the monorail is faster. But the boat got us to MK in a few minutes. I was able to take some good pictures of the GF and he Poly with no boats or people on he beaches. We arrived just in time to see all the characters on the railroad station officially open the park. When we got in they were all around the flag pole signing autographs and taking pictures. One of the best things Disney has done is have characters everywhere. You could not help but bump into someone no matter where you where.
We rode Buzz a few last times and finally agreed that one of the pictures taken was worthy. I bought the poster size, which took about 15 minutes, and comes laminated. It looks really nice.
Kept asking what rides they wanted to go on and the Tomorrowland raceway was next. Thought we would have wasted a lot of time but the wait was 5 minutes. After that came that masculine Tea Party ride again and then the carousel and Mickeys Philharmagic.
After viewing Philharmagic I must say you should view at least 3 times. I watched from the front rows, the back rows and somewhere in the middle rows. I definately noticed different elements of the show from all 3 positions.
Before leaving MK we rode Pooh using a fastpass, which no one else was using. Even heard one man on line telling his family as we passed him, Oh they have that Fast Pass. He made it sound as if it was something exclusive.
We head out Main Street and stopped quickly at our room to get towels and bathing suits. I knew we were heading to Typhoon Lagoon at a bad time. We arrived around 12:30. I had to park in a lot that I didnt know existed. And walked a good disatnce to the front. Like I said I knew it was going to be busy but we wanted to get a trip before we go. Of course we couldnt find any chairs so we parked the stroller on the sand and headed for the wave pool. This was my moms first trip here and we had told her how strong the waves can be. We had even showed her the pictures we took last time of a wave smashing into Mrs.Mikes mother in July as she sat on the ledge near the front of the lagoon. Well I guess we didnt stress enough. As a wave was produced mom sat down on the ledge and watched as everyone was soaked by it and then a second later the water level hit her right in the head and she was soaked. I have to admit it was pretty funny. Sorry mom.
We headed for the kids section and both kids did the child size raft ride too many times to count and I stood in the middle of the ship section where the water canons were. The kids on the ships were glad to have a target and I was glad to be getting wet. It was actually very warm today. It was a perfect day to go to TL.
We remebered to bring extra towels fo rthe ride back to keep the car seats dry and got into our room around 3:45. Mrs.mike hit the beach for some tanning time (she said the pool was packed again as was the beach and she had to walk down towards the tahiti building to find somewhere to sit) and the rest of us relaxed in the room, We had a 5pm PS at the Contemporarys steakhouse.
Arriving at 5 on the dot for a change we see no one in the restaurant. I noticed the dinner hours listed as beginnin gat 5:30. Uh oh. Did I mess up again, like I did at the Camp May Clam Bake?
Uh I guess so.. They told me my Ps was for 5:30. Ok, no problem we did 30 minutes of shopping in the shops and then was seated pretty much right away.
We had a great dinner here last time and again it was very good. You dont hear too much noise from Chef Mickeys but thats because the 4th floor isnt that quiet to begin with.
We started with a salad and I promptly dripped salad dressing onto the front of my shorts and it made a stain. Looked like I had an accident. Ok, will change after dinner.
My son had a grilled cheese which was made on rainbow bread and for dessert they each had a cookie that they could paint. It was served on a palette with 3 colors to paint with. I took some pictures of it as it was really cute. We saw many people dressed up for tonights Halloween Party. Some costume I am sure were going to scare some little kids.
Okay it was time to leave. We had to get to the Boardwalk marina by 8pm.
We were invited to go on an Illuminations! Cruise by Cher, TheSorcererofFantasia on Intercot.
This was a surprise for her husband for their wedding anniversary so I couldnt mention her name before.
I gave us enough time to get there by 7:30. We dropped off the stroller and headed out the room to the parking lot. Half way there I look down and see the stain on my shorts from the salad. Oh man, okay I tell everyone to head to the car and Ill meet them. I run back to the room and find a pair of jeans (thank God it is not to hot) I run through Niue as a shortcut to the parking lot and when I get there I see everyone standing around. Why didnt you get in I ask. Mrs.Mike says because I have the keys. The keys... oh..um.. I dont have them. Mr.mike tries turning this around and putting the blame on Mrs.Mike by saying, If I was sending you to the car you should have made sure you took the keys. It didnt work as nither her or mother bought that one.
So I ran back to the room, using Niue as my shortcut both ways and we were off. Now we have just enough time to park and get to the boardwalk. Park where though? We cant find any parking spots. Of course, it is a Friday night at the boardwalk. We finally decide to use the valet and get to the boardwalk at 7:58. There we meet for the first time Cher and her family, ( my kids havent let go of the tigger and minnie) Jeanne (piglet822) and also Ron and Ed. Im sorry but I just drove 18 hours (we are home now as I write) and I cant remember everyones name.
I do remember the ships captain, Jeff who was very friendly (as everyone else was) and entertained us with stories and jokes (the Disney Chanel, LOL) and then parked us underneath the bridge between ...um england and canada I think. You could easily see the many people ( my referance to the cast of thousands) already lined up for the fireworks as we smoothly sailed to our Prime viewing location.
Let me say... I have seen Illuminations at least twice before. I have now seen a completly different show. I believe for a fact that this show was made to be seen level with the water. It was absolutely amazing. I have never seen anything better. I could easily rave for pages about it. I have to give my most sincere thanks to Cher for inviting us, to her cruise. She is very generous and had food and drinks aboard the boat for us.
I wish Cher was part of guest relations because her generosity is what made a perfect finish to a not so perfect vacation. Unfortunately by the time you really feel comfortable talking with strangers it is time to go home. We must have talked for 30 minutes or so after getting off the boat but we then had to leave. We still had to pack for tomorrows departure.
It was nice to see the Boardwalk again and actually end our vacation where we started it 8 days ago. Why oh why didnt we just stay there instead of moving to the Polynesian.
We filled the car with gas on the way back to the room and started packing. By 2am !!! we finished and the wake up was set for 5am. We decide today to leave early so we could drive straight through. Our other option was to spend half a day at the Poly then stay over somewhere near Virginia Saturday night. But we basically had enough and the lack of communication from anyone left a bad taste about the Polynesian so we left early.
By 6:30 we were on the road
Hit Georgia at 9:30
South Carolina at 11:30
North Carolina at 2:30
Virginia at 5pm
Washington DC at 8:15
and I forget after that.
Got to listen to the Yankees lose and hit some traffic at the George Washington Bridge
Got home at 1am and then turned turn the clock back.
Not counting the half hour of traffic at the bridge it took 18 hours to drive which does include some stops for gad and food..
Well thats about it...Ill have one more post with final thoughts and I took close to one thousand pics with my digital camera. Thats right I said a thousand. Im going to post the best and include with my final thoughts. Thanks for reading And for all your support. And if you want to see Illuminations the right way get on Chers good side.
Mike
How will you decide which to post?
