My August 2007--A fun trip with family

[TLinden16]

Cast of Characters

Me--Disney nut, planning pro, Jellyrolls addicted.

Patti--My older sister who likes Disney, and is sweet and patient with everyone (especially her children)

Tim--My brother-in-law, really nice guy who is a bit OCD when it comes to his car

Kerrianne--My 15 year old niece. Sweet kid, especially when she gets her way, except to her brother, who can be yelled at for breathing the wrong way, walking the wrong way, or looking the wrong way even when he is no where near his sister.

Matthew--My 12 year old nephew. Really sweet, funny, and inquisitive kid. Like most preteen boys, his ears seemed to be stuffed with cotton resulting in him asking the same question over and over again even though you answered it five minutes ago. He enjoys arguing with his sister over the silliest things, and these two seldom agree on anything.

Day 1--Friday, August 24, 2007 Part 1

My sister Patti and her family came to pick me up shortly after 6:00 a.m. to drive over to Logan Airport for our 8:20 a.m. flight to Orlando. After months of planning, our trip was finally here! This trip was going to be a bit different for me because I would be traveling with kids for the first time in four years--my 12 year old nephew Matthew and my 15 year old niece Kerrianne. My late nights at Jellyrolls would be obsolete this trip, but I was looking forward to sharing the magic with my niece and nephew.

Once my luggage was loaded in the car, we were on our way to the Preflight lot, where we would leave the car. We pulled into the lot, and my brother-in-law Tim began to scour the lot for an end space so his car wouldn’t get nicked by doors of other cars. As we got out of the car, and started unloading our luggage, the shuttle bus pulled up. Imagine my surprise to see that the driver was none other than Cruella DeVille! Was our Disney vacation really starting before we even left Boston? No wait, it wasn’t the real Cruella, just a nasty woman who acted like that. She was snapping at us for parking in the wrong area of the parking lot, and that we had to move over to the other side and park in a specific row. So back into the car went five people, and our luggage, and off we drove to the other side of the parking lot, my brother-in-law complaining about Cruella. We were supposed to park in one row, but Matthew spotted an end space in the next row, so we dragged our luggage from there to go meet Cruella for the ride to the airport.

When we arrived at the airport, we checked our bags at curbside checking, and made our way through security. There were no lines, and we made it through security pretty quickly. Our shoes back on (I was wearing my Crocs, so I just slid my feet right in--but I had to wait to for my family to tie up their New Balance sneakers), we began the journey to the far side of terminal A at Logan airport. Delta renovated one of the terminals at Logan a few years back. The terminal is set into two sides, and the walk to the far side of the terminal takes you about half way to Disney World (or so it seems--it’s probably close to a half a mile though, and features a big escalator down underground, and two long moving walkways). It takes close to ten minutes to get from the security gate to the gates on the other side. So if you are ever flying Delta from Boston, don’t cut it close.

When we were back above ground, I realized why there were no lines at security--everyone was in line for Dunkin Donuts! Tim decided to practice his line waiting skills by jumping in the long Dunkin Donuts line to get his morning cup of coffee. Patti took the kids to get juice and muffins at another stand, and I walked around trying to decide what to get for breakfast, finally passing an order over to my brother-in-law who was still waiting to get his coffee.

After breakfast and a pit stop, we were soon on the plane and ready to fly to Orlando! The flight taxied from the gate a few minutes early, but we had a wait before taking off as there was a long line of planes in front of us. We were soon up in the air and on our way! I was sitting with Matthew, and we spent some time chatting about what we would be doing on our first day at Disney World! He was so excited! He passed the time reading his summer reading book Star Girl, and I read the last Harry Potter book.

Our flight arrived a few minutes early, and we made pit stops on our way to baggage claim. Patti and Tim went to wait in line for the rental car while the kids and I waited for the luggage. Patti came up and helped us bring the luggage downstairs as the line for the rental was crawling.

We finally got our car, a Nissan Sentra, and we had to do some creative packing to fit everything in. We had to put one of the suitcases in the back seat, and my niece sat Indian style as there was no room for her feet. We were finally all belted in and driving towards Disney World!

 

[TLinden16]

Day 1--Friday, August 24, 2007 Part 2

After what seem liked a very long ride, we were soon approaching the big gateway into Walt Disney World! The kids and I each reached a hand to the front seat to see who would reach there first. Matthew reached his hand out the farthest, and screeched elatedly as we drove under the gateway!

We were soon pulling into the roundabout in front of the Swan, and parked the car so we could go inside to check in. Kerrianne (our shopaholic) was drawn immediately to the gift shop, and Matthew followed her. Patti, Tim, and I went to check-in. Our rooms were ready, and they put us in adjoining rooms on the third floor. We got the kids, and got the bellman to help us with the luggage. Patti and Tim went to park the car in the lot while the kids and I headed up to find our rooms.

I was in room 321 and they were in the room right next door. Our rooms overlooked the walkway between the Swan and Dolphin, and featured a beautiful view of the beach and pool areas. I would have preferred something that had a view of the parks and a higher floor, but since we both got excellent rates, and they wound up upgrading my sister’s room, I wasn’t going to complain.

While Matthew made a pit stop, I gave Kerrianne the option of choosing if she wanted to stay with me for the three nights we were at the Swan or the four nights we’d be staying at the Boardwalk, as I agreed to let one of the kids stay with me. Kerrianne couldn’t decide, and told me to decide. Since Matt had been being a bit on the annoying side when I was making the decision, I decided that I would have him stay with me at the Swan so he’d only be with me for three nights. Matthew pouted, saying it wasn’t fair that Kerrianne would get to stay with me for four nights, and he’d only get to stay with me for three. He said he would only stay with me at the Swan if he could stay one night with me at the Boardwalk too. After a minute or two of the kids fussing about it, we decided we would hold off on the decision until later on (remember this point for later).

Hunger had set in, so we decided we would head over to the Magic Kingdom to go get some lunch and hit a few rides. We walked to the bus, and one arrived within a few minutes. We took the bus to the Magic Kingdom, and headed into the park.

Ah, the sight of the castle. Nothing says, “I’m at Disney World” like the moment I walk out of the tunnel under the train station and lay eyes on the castle for the first time each trip! But we had no time to really enjoy it as our stomachs were growling, “Feed me. Feed me.”

We made our way up Main Street and cut to the left to head over to the Columbia Harbor House. Tim and I got the Galley Salad, Patti got fish and chips, and the kids got chicken strips. I really enjoyed my salad--it’s one meal that I always look forward to when I go to Disney World. The pineapple, pecans, feta cheese, and zinfandel dressing really add some zip to the salad. It’s always a nice change of pace from the burgers, chicken strips, fries, and pizza you find at most of the counter service places.

After lunch, we decided to hit some of the attractions in Fantasyland. Our first stop was “it’s a small world.” No trip to Disney World is complete without a ride on “it’s a small world.” it’s annoying. it’s enough to drive anyone crazy. it’s fantastic! I, of course, sang along, which had my niece slide down low in her seat so no one would see her with me.

After it’s a small world, we went over Mickey’s Philharmagic, which my family had never seen before. I knew that it would be a favorite for my sister Patti, and everyone wound up loving it. Tim couldn’t talk about how great the 3D effects were. Patti was saying that they did all of her favorite songs, and the kids thought it was a lot of fun. We all agreed we’d be doing this one again.

We then went over to Snow White’s Scary Adventures. Both kids were saying that they wanted to ride in a row by themselves, and were having a little argument about it (my niece and nephew will argue over the stupidest little things--I once witnessed them arguing over who had the best wet naps). I said, “Matthew, I’ll make a deal. How about if we let you have the front seat all to yourself, and you agree that Kerrianne can stay with me at the Boardwalk?” He excitedly said yes. I leaned over to Kerrianne and said, “Did you see what I just did? I got him to agree to something for something very minor.” Kerrianne marveled at my quick thinking.

We then headed over to Winnie the Pooh. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Bring back Mr. Toad! By the time we got off the lame-o ride that replaced Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, the skies had opened up into a major thunderstorm. We decided to wait it out.

While we were waiting, Kerrianne had to use the restroom, and said that she couldn’t wait. It was raining pretty hard, so I borrowed my sister’s visor to keep the rain off my glasses, and Kerrianne and I took off towards the bathrooms behind Pinocchio’s Village Haus, ducking under the tented outdoor seating area near Dumbo. Since it was raining even harder when Kerrianne was done in the rest room, we decided to wait out the storm at Pinocchio’s rather than run back to the rest of the family. I called and let Patti know. We sat there for about an hour, and when the rain slowed a bit, we went back to the rest of the family.

We decided that we would try to make our way over to Tomorrowland while the rain was slow. As we approached the tea cups, the rain started pouring buckets again, so we stopped in Cosmic Rays to use the rest rooms. Even though it was still raining pretty hard, we cut through the gift shops, and made our way to the Tomorrowland Transit Authority and took a ride. We also went on Space Mountain (which Matthew had never been on before and loved), and Buzz Lightyear. Since it was still raining, we decided to leave the Magic Kingdom and head back to the hotel.

We went to our rooms and got unpacked and cleaned up. We had been thinking about going grocery shopping, but since the rain was still pouring down, we opted to head over to the Dolphin for dinner at Pikabu instead. I was pleasantly surprised by how many choices there were here, and the food was excellent. I got the meatloaf with mashed potatoes and cheesy fussili. Matthew and Tim got beef lasagna, and Kerrianne and Patti got baked potatoes. We all agreed that the food was excellent, and a nice option for a quick meal since most things are already made. And as a DVC member, I got 20% off our order, which saved us about $8 that night.

After dinner, Patti, Tim, and the kids went back to their room, and I headed over to Jellyrolls for a couple of hours. Christian and Daniel were onstage when I arrived. This was my first time seeing Daniel, who started just a couple months ago. He had a nice voice, but he didn’t have that spark that the rest of the guys have. I’m sure he will get better as he gets more experience. I was thrilled to see Christian there. I had been told he had semi-quit playing at Jellyrolls, so I didn’t expect to see him. When I saw him wandering around the bar later, I told asked him about it, and he told me he was officially back, so I was thrilled to hear that!

At 9:00, my beloved Scotty and Ray stepped on the stage! Scotty smiled as soon as he spotted me in my regular bar stool on the upper level of the bar. I put in my requests for the evening--“500 Miles” by the Proclaimers from Ray and “Saw Her Standing There” from Scotty. My songs were played pretty quickly, and they did a fantastic job on them.

When Scotty and Ray’s set ended, I had one of the servers go get Scotty for me, as I had to leave soon to get back to the room to get Matthew in bed. I wanted to get the schedule for the week, as I was planning on bringing Patti and Tim to the bar one night, and I wanted to make sure that I brought them on a good night. I chatted with Scotty for a bit, promised him I would be back later in the week, and said goodbye.

I walked back to the Swan, picked Matthew up at the other room, and got ready for bed. We had a long day, and I couldn’t wait to hit that Heavenly Bed.

 

[TLinden16]

Day 2--Saturday August 25, 2007

Before I continue on this trip report, I really should explain a very important thing about travelling with my sister and her family. They always travel with a magic rock. This magic rock is a rather annoying thing. You see, whoever is holding the magic rock is the grumpy person. Usually one of the kids have it, and Tim gets it once in a while. Patti usually doesn't get it at all. And even I borrowed it for about an hour. Only one person in the family can be grumpy at a time, so holding this rock is a very important thing.

We woke up bright and early on Saturday morning to get ready for our first full day at Disney World. When everyone was ready, we walked over to the Boardwalk Bakery for breakfast. Patti got a bagel, Tim, Kerrianne and I got cinnamin buns, and Matt got a croissant. Patti, Tim, and I picked up refillable mugs since we would be staying at th Boardwalk later in the week. Everyone thought our breakfast pastries were awesome.

After breakfast, I ran the mugs up to the Swan, and we all walked over to Epcot. As we were walking to Soarin', we were chatting about Kerrianne's slingback backpack. I joked that Kerrianne is so tiny that she could pack for a week in her slingback. For some reason, Patti took this as hysterical, and I said it as she was taking the final sip of her tea, which she wound up spitting out down her shirt.

We went directly to Soarin' and grabbed fast passes, and then got in the standby line. We were on the ride within 10 minutes, and everyone really enjoyed it. We had some time to kill before our fastpass time, so we decided to go on Living with the Land. The kids were bored by this. Matthew actually had the magic rock and complained about it quite a bit. Kerrianne thought it was a good place for a nap until the greenhouse part.

We then took another ride on Soarin' and headed over to Test Track and grabbed some fast passes. We headed over to Mission: Space. Kerrianne and I opted for the intense version, and everyone else went on the whimpy version. We made it on the ride pretty quickly, and met up in the gift shop where I saw a shirt that would be perfect for Kerrianne: Center of the Universe.

We then headed over to see "Honey I Shrunk the Audience." Kerrianne fell asleep in the show, and when the mice were let loose, one hit her leg and woke her up. She said really loudly, "I was sleeping." We also took a ride on Imagination, which was as lame as ever.

We then headed over to Le Cellier for lunch. We all ordered the filet mignon. Tim, Patti, and I also got the cheddar cheese soup. Matthew got the beef barley soup. Cheddar cheese soup is one of my favorite things at Disney World--it's so smooth, and tasty, and bad for you. The filets were excellent--everyone except me had their's butterflied. The steaks were very tender and juicy. For dessert, we ordered a couple of chocolate moose and a couple of smores. Everything was excellent.

After lunch, we headed over to Test Track to use our fast passes. This was one of Matthew's favorite rides. We then decided to go over to MGM. Patti wanted to take the boat, and I warned them it would take a while, but the thought it would be fun.

It wound up being a big mistake. Not only was it a long ride, it was all so hot as you know where on the very unairconditioned boat. I don't think I've ever been so hot in my life! I was going to suggest getting off at the Boardwalk it was so hot, but the kids looked beat.

We finally arrived at MGM, and I'm thinking we all lost a few pounds in the sauna boat. We headed down to the Rock 'N Roller Coaster to grab fast passes, and Tim, Kerrianne, and I got in line for the Tower of Terror. Kerrianne loved the Tower of Terror. She had been on it once before when she was eight, and it terrified her. What a difference 7 years makes!

We met up with Patti and Matt and went on the Great Movie Ride. Everyone really enjoyed this ride. We were joking that the alien on this ride is Matt's girlfriend.

We had some time to kill before we could use our Rock 'N Roller Coaster fast passes, so we decided to go to the Little Mermaid. Matthew took a firm hold on the magic rock and complained about it being hot and the Little Mermaid being stupid. But we managed to get him in there. He perked up quite a bit when started to rain and it cooled him off. Afterwards he said he would have happily gone into the theatre if he knew it was going to rain.

And speaking of rain, some very threatening rain clouds were filling the sky. Patti, Tim, and I decided that it would be best to leave the park rather than use the fast passes. This decision didn't go over well with Kerrianne. She grabbed that magic rock and held onto it tight for about three hours. She was ranting and raving about how ridiculous that we were leaving. She knew her mom and Matt weren't planning on riding, and she was mad because she would be able to go on twice. She said she would stay by herself and go on five times. But we made her leave.

The entire time we walked to the Swan, Kerrianne went on and on about how it wasn't fair we were leaving. It didn't look like it was going to rain. We were seeing lots of lightning around us as she said this. We made it to the Swan before the rain came, and lightning clashed all around.

After hanging out around the room for a while, we decided to head to the grocery store. Kerrianne was still holding that magic rock tight. Patti and Tim gave her the option of staying in the room, but she said, "I didn't come on vacation to stay in the room" so she wound up coming with us.

While we were riding over to Winn Dixie, we were listening to some station that had all of the annoying songs that the kids like, and it was heavy on the rap. I could barely understand any of the songs. One of them (I think Matt said was called "Superman") and I thought it sounded like they were singing "Soup is good." So Tim started rapping about Soup being good and the kids and I joined in. It seemed to perk Kerrianne up quite a bit.

After getting some water, soda, snacks, and breakfast items, we drove back to the Swan. Kerrianne and I walked over to Picabu to get some dinner to bring back to the room. Patti, Tim, and I shared a Hawiian pizza, Kerrianne got a fruit dish, and Matthew got the cheesy fussili. The pizza was fantastic. Very tasty, light, and crispy.

After dinner, we made our plans for the following day and hit the hay.

 

[TLinden16]

Day 3--Sunday August 26, 2007

Sunday morning, we woke up bright and early once again so that we could be at the Animal Kingdom bright and early in the morning. The kids were anxious to ride on Expedition Everest, so the plan was to get there early and grab some fast passes.

We had a breakfast of muffins and juice in the room, and were almost on our way, but not quite. See, Matthew seems to have an aversion to putting on his sneakers. I don’t know what it is. Maybe he thinks they are going to bite his toes off or something, but every morning, everyone would be ready to go, and somehow every morning we’d be sitting around waiting for Matt to put on his sneakers. We’d all be telling him to put on his shoes and complain about always having to wait for him while he put on his sneakers, which seemed to take a really long time. Kerrianne was very impatient with him, yelling at him each time to get them on.

Shoes finally tied, we made our way down to the bus stop and waited for the bus to the Animal Kingdom. Once through the gates, we went immediately to Expedition Everest. It said there was a 20 minute wait, but I estimated it to be a bit longer than that. We actually had to wait in line close to ten minutes just to get fast passes for Expedition Everest! It was nuts!

We headed over to ride Dinosaur, which everyone enjoyed, and then I took the kids on Primeval Whirl while Patti and Tim went to see “It’s Tough to Be A Bug.” When we got off Primeval Whirl, there were a couple of dinosaurs roaming around, so I made the kids pose with them, which temporarily put the magic rock in Kerrianne’s pocket.

The kids and I then headed over to Expedition Everest to meet Patti and Tim and use our fast passes. We grabbed more fast passes for the Expedition Everest before jumping in the fast pass line. Everyone really enjoyed this ride, especially Kerrianne. Matthew was a bit nervous though, and didn’t think that he would be able to ride it again this day.

We then headed over to the Safari. There was a 30 minute wait, and we decided that we would just hop in the standby line since we couldn’t get fast passes for it because of our Expedition Everest fast passes. Kerrianne again found the magic rock while we were in line. The line was actually only about 15 minutes rather than 30. But it really seemed to be about two hours as we listened to Kerrianne complain about how long the line was and how ridiculous it was that we were waiting in it, and how it was longer than 30 minutes.

Kerrianne did perk up by the time we made it onto the ride. I was actually surprised to see how many animals were out that day considering it was close to noon time, 90 degrees, and extremely humid. We thought the baby elephant was adorable, and Matt loved looking at all of the animals.

After the Safari, Patti and Tim took Matt over to Rafiki’s Planet Watch while Kerrianne and I made a beeline for Exepedition Everest. We were able to ride twice since we had five fast passes. I gave Kerrianne the option of riding a third time by herself but she chose not to.

We met the rest of the family over at the Flame Tree Barbecue for lunch. Patti, Tim, and I all ordered pulled pork sandwiches, Matt got the chicken, and Kerrianne got a salad and fries. We all really enjoyed our meals. I tried a bite of Kerrianne’s salad and thought the dressing was very tasty.

After lunch, we decided to head back to the Swan for a swim. The Swan pool is beautiful, and huge! I would hate to be there with kids younger than Matt and Kerrianne because it would be easy to lose sight of them (we actually lost sight of Matt a couple of times). Tim, Matt, and Kerrianne enjoyed standing under the water fall, and the kids went down the slide a couple of times. Being in the pool really cooled us off, and was a nice break from the parks.

After our swim, we went back to the room to get ready to head back out into the parks again. While we were freshening up I got news from home that would put a bit of a damper on the trip.

 

[TLinden16]

Day 3--Sunday August 26, 2007-Part 2

I was over in Patti and Tim’s room making plans for the afternoon when my sister’s cell phone ring. I was chatting with Tim while Patti was on the phone, and I heard her say, “You have to tell her.” Patti told me my sister Linda was on the phone, and handed me her cell phone.

Linda told me there was a problem at my condo. The clean water valve connected to the toilet cracked, and disconnected from the toilet, flooding my entire condo. Every single room was covered with an inch of water. The condo that I bought just a few days short of a year ago. The condo that had brand new carpets and kitchen cabinets in it. The condo that had thousands of dollars of brand spanking new furniture in it. My heart sunk.

Friday night, my upstairs neighbor heard running water as he was going to bed. When he still heard it in the morning, he called the building manager. The building manager called another tenant and asked her to snoop around. She checked the laundry room, and then noticed a puddle of water outside my bathroom window, and saw water gushing against the window. She tried to call me, leaving a couple of voice mails on my land line, but of course, didn’t reach me.

They were nervous that something may have happened to me, so they called 911. The fire department came and broke into my condo through a window. Everyone was relieved not to find me unconscious on the floor. The fire department left a voice mail on my work line. The building manager asked my neighbor to call a disaster clean up company, and within hours, they were drying out my place. They had to remove three rooms worth of wall to wall carpet, and fans were blowing in my place for six days to dry it out.

Now, you may be wondering how I knew all this. Well, one of my other neighbors had his some come over his house, and they went on the internet to try to locate a relative of mine. He knew the town I grew up in and my last name, and they started calling people, hoping that they would find someone who knew me. The wound up reaching one of my cousins, who called my aunt, who then called my sister.

I really give my neighbors a lot of credit for taking care of so much, and being aware of what was going on. If my upstairs neighbor hadn’t called the building manager, I can only imagine how much more damage there would have been. If my other neighbor didn’t notice the water against my window, it may have been overlooked completely. If my other neighbor didn’t track down my relatives, I might not have found out until I walked in the front door after a fun vacation at Disney World.

Getting back to the phone call, I asked my sister if I should come home. She told me to hold off at that point. She was planning to go over to my place with her husband and my other sister to reassess the damage, and they would call me back.

When I got off the phone, I was pretty shocked. I went back to my room, and called and spoke to two of my neighbors about what happened, thanking them for all they did to take care of the problem and track me down. I finished getting ready, and went back to my sister’s room.

Patti and Tim had sent the kids over to Epcot while they waited for me. They wanted to make sure I was alright. We decided to head over to Epcot and meet the kids. The winds were changing, and the skies were getting dark. We could tell we were just minutes away from a major thunder storm. We tried to reach the kids but they weren’t answering their phones.

They finally called us back as we walked into Future World, and the rain began to lightly fall. They had noticed the storm coming and were trying to figure out the best way to get back to the hotel. They had planned on taking a bus to MGM, and then switching to the non-existent bus to the Swan. Luckily, we spoke with them before they got on the bus to MGM--darn kids trying to do things on their own when they don’t know what they are doing.

We told them to meet us at the entrance to Epcot. The rain was picking up, and we were having trouble locating them. I exited the park to look for them while Patti and Tim walked around the legacy tiles trying to find them. We finally found them. Tim had spotted them and told them to get out of the line to get back in the park, and we all met outside the turnstiles.

I came up with the idea of taking the monorail over to the Ticket & Transportation Center, and switching to the resort monorail to do some resort hopping. I figured it would be a good way to stay indoors in what was now a torrential downpour, and we could eventually get a bus from the Magic Kingdom to the Swan.

So, hop on the monorail we did. The worst part of it was going down the ramp and switching monorails. It was pouring pretty hard, and we all got a bit wet by the time we made it to the second monorail.

We stopped at the Grand Floridian first. We browsed around in the gift shops, and listened to the band playing on the second floor for a while. I always enjoy a visit to the Grand Floridian, and hope to be able to stay there someday, as it is one of only two Disney resorts I have yet to stay in (Old Key West being the other). Although technically, I’ve only stayed at one of the All Stars, but I say if you’ve stayed at one of them, you’ve stayed at all of them.

We then headed over to the Contemporary, where we planned on having dinner at the Food and Fun Center. While we were deciding what to get, my sister Linda called from back home and told me more about what was going on in my condo. She said the damage was pretty bad, and that there was now about 20-30 big blowers in my condo trying to dry the place out. I asked again if I should come home, and she said that she would take care of things for me, and that I should just stay there, as I wouldn’t have been able to live there right now anyways.

I also spoke to my sister Marie, who agreed that I should just stay and have a good time. She told me a bit more about the damage. The rugs were pulled up. The baseboards had been removed, and holes drilled into the walls to get air into them and dry everything out. They didn’t notice any damage to my furniture (although when I got home, I noticed that my bedroom furniture that I’ve had four months is damaged).

Talking to my sisters set reality in a bit, and I stood in the food court area at the Food and Fun Center, a cupcake (I was sad and I really need one) on my tray, and cried. I just couldn’t help it. It was very overwhelming and upsetting to think about what was going on at home, and not knowing if I would even be able to live there when I got home.

I composed myself a bit, and ordered some potato soup and a small tossed salad. I paid for it, and went to find my family. I had no appetite. I ate a few bites of the soup and salad, but just couldn’t stomach it. The soup was really good, but I just couldn’t eat it. I did manage to eat the cupcake, which was very tasty.

 

[TLinden16]

Day 3--Sunday August 26, 2007--Part 3

After dinner, we took the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom. It was still raining at a steady clip as we made our way into the park. We decided to go in the shops on Main Street to wait out the storm.

Earlier in the week I had bought a Goofy Jibbitz for my Crocs, and I had commented that I wanted to get another Jibbitz for my other shoe. Matthew spotted some in a store, and asked me who my second favorite character. I told him Mickey, and he said, "Come with me." He took me over to the Jibbitz and said, "I want to buy one for you." Matthew has always been one of those kids who really senses when the adults in his life are upset or sad, and does a good job of making them smile. I told him he didn't have to buy one, but I would pick one out and by it myself. He insisted that I let him buy it (my sister said to let him do it and that she would give him money if he needed it later in the week). So Matt and I put a bunch of Jibbitz against my Crocs and picked out a Mickey one. I got teary eyed as Matthew brought it over to the cashier. I gave him a big hug to thank him for it.

Tim bought a couple of umbrellas for them (I had one with me), and we made our way towards Adventureland. We went on the Pirates of the Carribean. They hadn't seen the ride since the renovated it. They loved the affect of the talking face at the beginning. They thought that they were going to get soaked going through it.

We then went to the Country Bear Jamboree. Kerrianne had a brief encounter with the magic rock, saying it was stupid, but she wound up taking a cat nap during it.

After the show, we made our way towards the hub to find a spot for the fireworks, which would be starting in about 15 minutes. The rain really drove the crowds away, and we were able to get a spot to the left of the partners spot with hardly any people around us. We would never have gotten such a great spot if it had been a nicer night. It was nice to watch the fireworks from in front of the castle. It seems like I usually watch from the rose garden or further down Main Street.

After the fireworks, we headed over to Tomorrowland. We hadn't planned on staying for extra magic hours, but since we were there, we decided we would. Until we saw a long line to get wrist bands. It was easily a 20 minute line just to get the wrist bands, so we decided to skip it. Everyone else got ice creams, and I got a spicy cheese pretzel, which once again, I could barely eat do to lack of appetite from the news about my condo.

We made our way back to the Swan, a little wet, but happy from another fun day at the World.

 

[TLinden16]

Day 4--Monday, August 27, 2007

We were moving to the Boardwalk this day, so we decided to let the kids sleep in a bit while we finished packing. We had a breakfast of muffins and juice in the room again this morning. Patti and I walked a over to the Boardwalk with a few our bags to check in while Tim and the kids finished getting ready and moved the rest of our stuff to the car.

Once we were checked in and had our keys to the world (our rooms weren't ready yet), we walked over to MGM. It was close to 11:00 by the time we arrived, and the park was packed (it seems like MGM was always packed when we were there). We walked down and grabbed Fast Passes for the Rock 'N Roller Coaster, and then decided to go to the Backlot Tour.

Well, I didn't realize that the most direct route to the Backlot Tour (the walkway in front of the old "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire" attraction) was blocked off, so we had to take a backtrack and go around to get there. Let's just say this little detour put that magic rock firmly in Kerrianne's pocket for a while. She complained the entire way about how stupid the backlot tour was, and how ridiculous it was that we had to go on it, and how ridiculous it was that it wasn't air conditioned. She pouted and gave those eye rolls that so many teenage girls are so good at throughout the Pearl Harbor special effects show. Oh yes, the magic rock was truly in full swing now.

When we made it onto the tram, the magic rock had a new feature that we had never seen before. Not only could that magic rock make you grumpy, but it could also make you sick! Kerrianne complained on and on about how stupid it was, and how she felt so sick because we had to walk around and around in circles for like 40 Kerrianne minutes (which translates to about 10 minutes for most people) to get on this stupid ride. And now she had a bad stomach ache. And she sad and sulked on the ride, using every ounce of strenghth in her sick body to give us some eye rolls. I expressed my concern to Kerrianne about her sudden illness and how it might mean she can't go on the Rock 'N Roller coaster and wound up getting a particulary rolly eye roll for it.

After the ride, we went out in search of some lunch. Nothing can cure Kerrianne's stomach ache like a box of fries and a Sprite. We decided to eat at the Commissery. Patti and Tim got the fish and chips, I got the Cuban sandwich, Kerrianne got the kids stir fry noodles and some fries, and Matt got the chicken nuggets. I really like the Cuban sandwich. It's very tasty, and a nice change of pace from the usual fast food fare.

After lunch and a miraculous recovery by Kerrianne, we made our way over to the Lights, Motors, Action show. Tim is a car fanatic, so I knew he would love it, and he did. But somehow that magic rock with it's new powers made it's way into Matthew's pocket. He was now sick. He now had a headache, and he threw up in his mouth a little. It was a rather convienent illness, as it happened as we were about to take a ride on the Rock 'N Roller Coaster. As we walked to the coaster, that little headache turned into a full grown migraine! He told us there was no way he would be able to go on the Rock 'N Roller Coaster at this point.

Patti decided that she would head back to the hotel with Matt while Kerrianne, Tim and I road on the Rock 'N Roller Coaster. Kerrianne really loved this ride. She had never been on it before, as she was afraid of going upside down on roller coasters, but she decided that she really loved this ride now! Since we had two more fast passes, I told Kerrianne and Tim to use them to ride again, and I hopped in the single rides line, which was actually very short. We were in the same preshow, and I got on the coaster one vehicle behind them.

When we got off the Rock 'N Roller Coaster, Patti called Tim to tell him that they were still in the park. She had the park tickets for Tim and Kerrianne, and didn't want to leave there without getting the tickets to them.

And Matthew had a miraculous recovery from his throw up in your mouth a little headache. Just so you know a frozen raspberry lemonade can cure this ailment. Patti tried to use here key to the world card to pay for this, but it wouldn't work even though she had set it up for charging. They wound up giving her two frozen drinks for free.

We then headed out of the park and walked back to the Boardwalk. Our rooms were now ready. I was in room 1005, a Boardwalk view studio right next to the model unit, and Patti and Tim had room 2015, a Boardwalk view studio with an enclosed balcony right above the Big River Grill. I had always wanted to stay in one of the first floor rooms on the Boardwalk, and that is now out of my system. I wasn't overly impressed by it. I didn't like all of the bushes in front of the patio, and the view wasn't as nice as it is from the upper floor. I didn't like the location of their room either. You had to stand up to see off the balcony, which kind of defeats the purpose of being able to sit out and enjoy the view with your morning cup of coffee.

We took some time to get settled into the rooms, and then headed off site to go have dinner at the Olive Garden. Once again, we were listening to the station the kids like on the radio, and there was some rap song on. I couldn't understand the lyrics, and it sounded like they were saying "Shake & Bake." So we rewrote the song as "Shake & Bake." We also wrote a song that said, "You Make me Better" as "You Make Me Bratwurst."

When we got to the Olive Garden, we were seated right away. Matt got the endless past bowl and minestrone soup. I got the Tour of Italy (fettucine alfredo, chicen parm, and lasagna) and Zuppa Toscana (sausage and potato soup). Tim got the Tour of Italy and Salad. Patti got chicken parm and salad. Kerrianne got the kids pasta with sauce. The soup was tasty, but mostly broth. The Tour of Italy was very good.

After dinner, we went back to Winn Dixie to get more muffins, soda, and snacks. We then headed back to the Boardwalk.

As we were pulling into the parking lot, we saw two of the Jellyrolls pianomen, Jason and Tommy, walking from the cast parking lot. I got Tim to stop the car, and jumped out so I could go say hello to them. I walked over to them and said, "Excuse me. Do you know where I can go around here to get a drink and some good entertainment?" Jason said, "ESPN Club." Tommy said, "The lobby bar over at the Swan." We chatted for a bit as we walked up to the Boardwalk lobby together. I told them that I wasn't going to be in the bar that night, as my niece and nephew wanted to go to Epcot. I also told them that they couldn't be too noisy at the bar, as I was just three doors down. Tommy told me that he was going to tell everyone that they have a friend staying on the Boardwalk, and everyone needed to scream to wake me up. I said goodbye to them in the lobby and told them I'd see them later in the week.

I met up with the rest of the family in the lobby, and we walked to Patti and Tim's room. We wound up deciding to skip going to the parks that night, and Patti, Tim, and I were going to go to Jellyrolls. We gave the kids some money for ice cream, and set them loose on the Boardwalk.

As we made our way to the bar, I said to Patti and Tim, "I told Tommy and Jason we weren't coming tonight. Watch. As soon as we walk in the bar, they will greet me and tell me that we lied to them." Sure enough, when we walked into the bar, Tommy and Jason were chatting with the audience between songs, and when the saw me, Tommy said, "You're here after you told us you weren't going to be. You lied to us." Jason said, "Yeah. You lied to us." Do I know my piano players or what?

I quickly requested that Tommy sing "Walking In Memphis," which he sang. I also requested "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" from Jason and "Big Yellow Taxi" from Tommy. They both did a fantastic job on their songs.

At 9:00, Scotty and Ray took to the stage. I was very excited to be there watching my favorite piano players with my sister. I put up requests for "Drift Away" which I hoped all four guys would come out and sing at the top of the hour. I also requested "Life Goes On" from Scotty and "Jenny (867-5309)" from Ray. Scotty played "Life Goes On" almost immediately, and did a fantastic job. Ray did "Jenny" at the end of the hour after asking the crowd if they wanted to hear a country song or Tommy Tutone.

At the top of the hour, Ray got Jason and Tommy back onstage, and announced, "Boston has been waiting for "Drift Away." Ray and Scotty do an amazing jobs singing this one, and the four guys harmonize beautifully on this. I highly recommend requesting this song if Scotty and Ray are playing.

Mid-way through Tommy and Jason's second set, I saw Scotty standing off to the side so I went over to tell him that we would be leaving in a few minutes. He told me that he was going onstage to sing one song and would walk us out after that so he could meet my sister and brother-in-law (I think he was excited to finally meet some of my family after hearing me talk about them, and also since I know his siblings now). Scotty sang "I Love L.A." and then walked us out of the bar. Scotty being the sweet and considerate guy that he is, told Patti and Tim that he isn't going to shake their hands because he has a touch of the cold. We chatted for a bit and said good night.

We went back up to the room, and I got Kerrianne. We went back to our room and Kerrianne got ready for bed. I sat out on the patio for a little while and listened to the music coming from Jellyrolls before heading to bed.

 

[TLinden16]

Day 5--Tuesday, August 28, 2007

After a quick breakfast in the room, it's heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to the Magic Kingdom we go. We still needed to hit the other mountains, and wanted to get their bright and early to do it. We walked back and got in line for Thunder Mountain, which wound up being a walk on. When we got back to the loading zone, the cast member let us stay on for a second ride since no one was in line with us.

We then headed over to Splash Mountain. We were in the last three rows of the ride. We got absolutely drenched when we got slammed with water from the water cannons near the big drop. I learned something about the Magic Rock this day. When an adult gets it, they can share it with a child. Yes, Tim had gotten so wet on the ride that he wound up with the Magic Rock in a major way! He was complaining, and he even said some not so magical words in the Magic Kingdom. Kerrianne shared the magic rock with Tim, and complained on and on about how wet she was, and how stupid it was that she got that wet.

We then headed over to Adventureland to take a ride on the Jungle Cruise. We had a very dry skipper who spoke in a monotone. She invited Matthew up to steer the boat for the ride, so he stood there turning the wheel for the boat for the entire ride. After complaining about how stupid the ride is, Kerrianne dozed off.

We then headed over to the Tiki Room. Kerrianne was now complaining about how stupid it was. Matt and I singing and dancing in our seats during the show, and had a good time.

We then headed over to Fantasyland and watched Mickey's Philharmagic again. I could see this show every time I'm at the Magic Kingdom it's so good!

We then went over to Starlight Ray's for lunch. Most of us wound up getting the chicken strips for lunch. I always enjoy Disney chicken strips and fries. I also got some chicken noodle soup, which was very tasty and brothy.

After lunch, we went into Tomorrowland and grabbed fast passes for Space Mountain. While we waited for our fast pass time, we went on Stitch, which was as lame as ever, and the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. I absolutely loved the Laugh Floor! It was so funny! The monsters did an awesome job interacting with the crowd.

We then road on Space Mountain and the Astro Oribiters before heading out of the park and heading back to the resort for a brief rest.

We then drove the car over to Downtown Disney to do some shopping and grab some dinner. I bought a mug and a calendar for my sister who was taking care of things at my house at the World of Disney store.

We went to Wolfgang Puck's Express for dinner that night, and it was one of the best meals of our trip. Patti and Tim shared a pepperoni and mushroom pizza, and ceasar salads. Kerrianne got the kids past. Matt got the four cheese ravioli. I got the barbecue chicken salad. We also got some fries. Everything was excellent. I really love the food here, and the fries were probably the best fries we had all week long.

After dinner and a bit more shopping, we headed back to the Boardwalk. We decided to go to head over to Epcot and walk around the countries. We road the boat rides in Mexico and Norway. I wasn't overly impressed by what they did to the boat ride in Mexico--I don't think they made the ride better--but I was glad that the annoying lady who tries to sell stuff is gone. Norway was as fun as ever, but (please note the sarcasm here) sadly, the movie wasn't playing, so we didn't get stuck in the little village, and we didn't have to rush through the theatre to get out before the next movie started.

We walked our way around the countries through France, stopping to browse in the shops and catch a show here and there along the way.

We decided to find a spot to watch Illuminations from, and found a nice spot where they usually have the dessert parties. Since there wasn't a party that night, anyone could go there, so it was nice to get a prime viewing spot.

We then walked back to the Boardwalk. Matt, Patti and I went for a swim in the pool to cool off and refresh. It sure felt good. We then went back to our rooms and hit the hay.

 

[TLinden16]

Day 6--Wednesday, August 29, 2007

We woke up and had breakfast in our rooms again. Just for the record, Winn Dixie has really good muffins. We got chocolate chip and blueberry muffins, and they were very tasty and moist. They were a good size, too. Big enough to full our tummies, but not so big that they sat there like a rock for six hours.

We took the bus over to the Animal Kingdom, arriving about a 9:15. I sent my family over to the Festival of the Lion King while I hot footed it over to Expedition Everest to grab some fast passes. I made it to the Festival of the Lion King about a minute before the show started, and was escorted to a seat near the exit directly across from my family.

I really love the Festival of the Lion King. The Lion King is one of my favorite Disney movies--the music is so good. They really did a wonderful job on this show. The size of the theatre really makes you feel like you are a part of the show--not like going to see Nemo or Beauty in the Beast in those humongous theatres. The tumble monkeys are a lot of fun to watch, as is the fire dancer.

After the show, we were lingering around in Camp Minnie Mickey while some were on a pit stop. There was a roaming entertainer with a guitar who started asking a woman near us questions about herself, and he proceeded to sing a song about her, which was a lot of fun to watch her reaction.

Patti and Tim went off to see the bird show while I took the kids over to Expedition Everest. Since we had five fast passes, all three of us went on the first time, and the second time, Matthew and Kerrianne went on alone. We browsed around in the gift shop and watched some storytellers until Patti and Tim got back from the bird show.

We then got in the very long line to see Nemo about a half hour before the show started. We were fortunate enough to get seats in the second last row of the theatre all the way to the right. that had an unobstructed view of the stage. We almost sat in the bleachers in the back, but were glad we didn’t because people were complaining about not being able to see well from back there.

Patti and Tim then took Matt over to ride Kali River Rapids, which he road on by himself, as no one else wanted to get that wet. Kerrianne and I walked over to try to go on Dinosaur, but the line was too long, and we weren’t staying at the park long enough to reach the fast pass time. We went to meet up with the rest of the family, and we got to watch Matt as he was going by on his raft.

We then decided that we would head over to Epcot for the afternoon. There was a huge line for the Epcot bus when we arrived, and we would have had to stand on the bus. A Ticket & Transportation Center bus happened to show up, and the line was virtually empty, so we decided to take that bus, and then the monorail to Epcot even though it would take longer. It was a hot day, and none of us really felt like standing on a crowded smelly bus. Instead we road to the Ticket & Transportation Center in an unairconditioned bus, but at least we had seats.

We took the monorail over to the Epcot, and headed over to the Land to have some lunch. We were all disappointed in our food here. I got a combo stir fry meal with sweet and sour chicken and some kind of beef. Patti and Kerrianne both got the vegetarian platter at the stir fry station. Matt and Tim got subs. The portions were small, and the food wasn’t very flavorful. None of us really enjoyed it or were satisfied after the meal here. I definitely will be avoiding this place next time I go.

After lunch, we headed over to the Living Seas to go on the little Nemo Line. It said there was a 15 minute wait. It wasn’t really a 15 minute wait. More like a 15 minute walk since you have to go around and around to get to the clam shells. The cast members told us to split into groups of 3 and 2 for the ride. I sat with Matt, and Kerrianne went with Patti and Tim. The cast member should have never sent three of us in two shells. You might be able to fit one adult and two small kids in one, but two adults and a teenager just don’t fit. Kerrianne wound up sitting on the floor in the shell.

After Nemo, we went over to the Universe of Energy. A storm looked like it was on the horizon, so we figured it would be a good time to be in doors for a while. I’m not a big fan of this attraction. It’s long and boring, and I can’t stand Ellen DeGeneres. The last time I went on this attraction was probably the last time I traveled to Disney World with family in 2003.

We then headed out of the park for the day. When we got back to the Boardwalk, everyone else went up to their room for a break, and I went to visit with a friend of mine who was working at the DVC model that afternoon. Happily, I discovered that I could cut through the DVC model to get to my room and safe a lot of steps, a short cut I used a few more times during the week.

I then went to meet my family for dinner. Kerrianne insisted that we have pizza from the Boardwalk pizza window. I warned my family that the pizza there is disgusting, and we’d be better off going to Pikabu. Kerrianne said she didn’t like Pikabu, so Patti, Tim, and Kerrianne ordered a pizza from the pizza window. Matt decided to have a corndog from a stand. I was going to get a meatball sub from a stand, but after paying for it, the kid told me they ran out of meatballs so he gave me my money back. I decided that I would run over to Pikabu a bit later instead. Kerrianne barely ate a slice of pizza, agreeing it was pretty bad. Patti and Tim agreed that the pizza was disgusting (when will they learn to listen to me?). Matt enjoyed his corndog.

After dinner, I took my family to see the DVC model so they could see what a two bedroom unit was like. Matt loved the Jacuzzi tub and wished we had one in our studios.

My family decided to go over to the Yacht & Beach Club to get ice cream at Beaches and Cream. I walked part way with them, and said goodbye so that I could go get some dinner at Pikabu before heading over to Jellyrolls. I had enjoyed the meatloaf so much the other day that I decided to get it again. It was excellent again. I really love the cheese fussilli pasta here. It’s so tasty. I could make a meal out of a bowl of the pasta and a small salad.

I then headed back to my room to get ready for another visit to Jellyrolls. As I sat down at a table in front, someone across the room waved to me, but I couldn’t really see who it was because of the lighting, and I wasn’t 100% sure she was waving at me. But when she went to put in a request, I realized that she was waving to me--it was someone I know from the DIS.

Christian and Daniel were already playing when I arrived. I quickly put up a request to hear Christian sing “Last Kiss” and “This Love.” Since I was sitting by Daniel’s piano, I just threw the request up there, and he looked at me confused, not knowing the song. I told him that Chris knew it, so Daniel passed the request along. Chris did a fabulous job on it, and I recommend requesting it if you see him. Daniel did “This Love,” which he did an OK job on, but not nearly as good as Christian’s version would have been. I wasn’t overly impressed by Daniel. I think I need more time to get used to him. (I didn’t like Christian when he started playing there either--watching him grow and develop as a performer has been one of the most fun things about going to Jellyrolls these past four years).

At 9:00, my beloved Scotty and Ray took to the stage. I put up requests to hear Scotty sing “Beyond the Sea” and Ray sing “Jesse’s Girl.” Scotty did a fantastic job on “Beyond the Sea,” which is probably my favorite song he does. Ray was really funny when he was saying he was going to do “Jesse’s Girl” he said, “Rick Springfield is so dreamy.” Ray was in a particularly silly mood this night, as he was getting up and bowing really elaborate bows after every song.

At the top of the hour, all four guys jumped onstage to do one of my requests and favorites, “Callin’ Baton Rouge.” Scotty sings this one, and it’s just a really fun song to hear them sing.

At the end of the song, I went to say goodbye to Scotty, as I would be leaving to get back to the room so my niece could go to bed. We chatted for a bit, and I told him I would be back again in December. I stopped by the DVC model to say bye to my friend, and picked my niece up in my sisters room, and we went back to my room and went to bed.

 

[TLinden16]

Day 7--Thursday, August 30, 2007--Part 1

Once again, we woke up bright and early, and had breakfast in the room so that we could head out to the park. We were a few minutes later heading out then we planned because we had to wait for Matthew to put on his shoes yet again. But we were soon on our way to MGM. Let me just say that we had all become experts at which stairs we should take to get outside to head in certain directions from the Boardwalk. When you are staying at the end of a long hall in a Boardwalk view room, it’s vital to know the right stairwells to avoid long walks down to the lobby.

We arrived at MGM shortly after opening, and immediately went down to grab fast passes for the Rock ‘N Roller coaster, and since the line wasn’t bad, we got in line for the Rock ‘N Roller Coaster, hoping that Matt wouldn’t have another one of his sudden magic rock migraine/throw up a little in his mouth incidents. We did get him on the ride, and he really enjoyed it, although he said he didn’t want to do it again.

We then got in line for the Tower of Terror. Matthew downright refused to go on the ride, and didn’t even want to go to the pre-show, but we made him go through it with us. I could tell he was really nervous during the pre-show. He was holding my hand and fidgeting with his fingers throughout the pre-show. When we got to the elevator, we gave him one last chance to change his mind, and I wound up taking him out while the rest of the family went on the ride.

We then headed back to Star Tours, which Kerrianne, Patti, and I road on. The cast member who loaded us onto the ride was really funny. He made everyone put their hands out so we could help him open the doors. He said, “But don’t touch the doors. Use the force.” He also made a joke about enjoying the ride saying, “But I won’t be with you.”

After the ride we headed back down Sunset Blvd. and grabbed fast passes for the Tower of Terror, and then went to watch Beauty and the Beast, which my sister really wanted to see this trip. Matthew had a mild case of magic rock when he said it was boring and stupid. But he made it through the show. The show was fun to watch (although I wish they got rid of this one instead of the Hunchback show).

After the show, I heard someone call my name, and turned to see Luvthattink and her adorable son JJ. It was great to see them and chat with them for a bit. I first met JJ almost two years ago, and it was fun seeing how big he was getting, and that he wasn’t as shy as he was the previous times I’ve met him.

We then decided to split up for a while. I was taking Kerrianne to use our fast passes for the Rock ‘N Roller Coaster and the Tower of Terror while the rest of the family had lunch and headed back to the hotel. Since we had five fast passes for each ride, Kerrianne and I did the Rock ‘N Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror two times each. I gave Kerrianne the option of riding a third time alone, but she chose not too.

After the ride, we headed over to get some lunch at the Backlot Express. We both got the chicken strips and fries, which were as good as any other we had eaten this week in the parks.

After lunch, we walked back to the hotel to meet the rest of the family. Patti, Tim, Matthew, and I decided to go to the pool for a swim. Matthew and Tim both went down the slide. Matt really loved the Kiester Coaster, and road on it four times. He was in a line for the fifth time when the lifeguards announced that we had to evacuate the pool, so Matt had to walk down the steps. There must have been a floater in the pool, as the maintenance guys came and started cleaning out the pool. Nothing ruins a nice swim like baby poop.

We then headed back to the rooms to get changed so we could head out to Epcot. We arrived in the United Kingdom right before the street performers were about to start the story of King Arthur and the Holy Grail (grail, grail, grail, woo!). Patti, Tim, Matthew, and I really enjoyed the show, but Kerrianne sat on the curb with the grumpy rock, complaining that it was stupid, and how she couldn’t believe we had to sit outside in the heat to watch it. They cast members picked some great people to be in the show. The guy who they chose to be King Arthur looked like he didn’t want to be there, so one of the cast members would go over to him and say, “Move your lips” and say his lines. The woman who was the witch/Guinevere was really funny and animated. The guy who was Galahad was an absolute hoot. This is definitely worth checking out.

After the show, Patti, Tim, and I decided to hang out to watch the British Invasion, and the kids opted to go do the single riders line for Test Track. Kerrianne still had the magic rock, as we could tell she was yelling at Matthew as they walked away.

We only watched about half the British Invasion show. They were OK, but it was so hot that we didn’t want to stand around watching. They really need to put more benches out around there so that people don’t have to stand while they watch.

Patti, Tim, and I then walked over to meet the kids again, and we all decided to go through the single riders line for Test Track. Patti and Kerrianne were in the same car, as were Matt and Tim, and I was a few cars back.

On the way out, I spotted Jellyrolls pianoman Scotty's little brother Dave working at the DVC kiosk on the central pathway that leads to the World Showcase. He was giving someone directions to someplace off property so he didn't notice me right away, so Matthew and I sat there looking at the books pretending to be interested in DVC (the rest of the family went on to Canada to browse in the shop). When the lost person walked away, Dave looked at us, gave one of those surprised to see me looks, and smiled. We chatted for a bit, and Matthew actually asked David a few questions about DVC, which Dave happily answered. After hugs goodbye, Matt and I went to meet the rest of the family.

We then decided to leave the park and head to Beaches and Cream for dinner. Kerrianne, who is a very picky eater, didn’t see anything she wanted on the menu, so she wound up getting a brownie sundae. Patti and Tim got burgers. Matt got a chicken sandwich. I got a chicken Caesar salad. Patti and Tim enjoyed their burgers. Matt took one bite of his chicken sandwich and said, “It tastes like they put pickles all over it” and stopped eating. My salad was OK, but not as good as I remember their chicken Caesar salad the last time I had it (the chicken was hot the last time I had it, but this time it was cold, and it was not very filling).

After dinner, we went back to the Boardwalk to freshen up and then headed over to the Fantasia Gardens mini golf course. We opted to do the fairways course, and I had a brief encounter with the Magic Rock. I didn’t like this course at all. It was very difficult, and I wasn’t having fun. Everyone else thought the course was challenging as well, but they weren’t as annoyed by it as I was. It was also a very slow course. We had been playing an hour, and we were only on the 8th hole, so I decided to leave, as I had plans to go to Jellyrolls with the DISer I ran into the night before.

 

[TLinden16]

Day 7--Thursday, August 30, 2007--Part 2

So after hugging and kissing my niece and nephew, I walked over to Jellyrolls to meet up with my DIS friend that I had run into the night before. But more importantly, this would be the first time I would get to see my friend (and Scotty’s older brother) Mike playing at Jellyrolls. Mike had started playing at Jellyrolls just a few months ago, and I was really looking forward to seeing him play.

As soon as I took a seat in the front row next to Mike’s piano, he gave me a warm smile, and I smiled back and waved. He was playing with Jason. At the end of the song, they were trying to decide what to play next, and Mike looks at me and says, “What would you like to hear, Karen?” Well, I was hot and only cared about getting the bottle of water I ordered and couldn’t think straight. I said, “I don’t know what you know, Mike.” Mike said, “What was that, Karen? You want to hear ‘Come Monday’ by Jimmy Buffet?” Jason says, “Not nice, Mike, telling her what she wants to hear.” So I responded, “No, that’s what I said, Jason.” Mike finished the song, and I clapped really loudly and said, “That was exactly what I wanted to hear.” Mike smiled at me playing right along.

I was trying to remember songs I had heard Mike perform last December when I saw him and his brothers playing at the House of Blues, but the only song I could remember was “Charlie on the MTA” by the Kingston Trio. So I put up the request, and Mike says he can’t remember it, but he would relearn it during his break. I told him that it was OK--he didn’t have to do the song, but he insisted.

At 9:00, Christian and Daniel took to the stage. For the end of the set, they decided to do a tag team version of the song “American Pie” with Jason jumping in and taking over for Christian after the first verse, then Daniel singing a verse, then Christian taking over for Daniel. When Christian was sitting at the piano right in front of me, he said, “This song really brings out the energy in the crowd. I can feel the energy building, and the crowd trying to say something.” So I screamed, “Just finish the song.” Everyone started laughing and Christian laughed a bit and said, “The crowd is saying just finish the song.” So they finished the song.

When Mike took his seat at the piano in front of me, he immediately did the “Charlie on the MTA,” as I had requested in his last set. I was very impressed that he went back and relearned the song for me, and he did a great job on it.

After Mike and Jason’s second set, I decided to go back and check on my niece. She had said I could stay out late--she didn’t mind being in the room by herself. As I was walking out, Mike came running after me to say goodbye, but I told him that I was planning on coming back. So he gave me a big hug just in case I couldn’t come back, and we chatted for a few minutes.

I went back to my room, but my niece wasn’t there. It turned out that my niece was nervous about going to sleep in the room alone. We had a discussion about her staying up with her folks, but that seemed silly to me so I told them that I wouldn’t go back to the bar. It was no big deal. My niece insisted that I go back and at least say good bye to everyone, so I did. Mike was resting in the break room, so I left him a note with my friends to put on his piano, and I said by to the Jellyrolls staff that I know before heading to pick my niece up in the other room, and heading back to my own room to go to bed.

 

[TLinden16]

Day 7--Friday, August 31, 2007

We decided to let the kids sleep in a bit since it had been a later night this time around. We woke up at 9:00, and started getting ready to go, and finishing packing. While the kids were getting ready, Patti, Tim, and I walked to the lounge at the Boardwalk to get some pastries for breakfast and refill our mugs. We all met in Patti and Tim’s room to eat our cinnamon buns and danish.

After breakfast, I brought my brand new Owners Locker down to bell services to be stored until the folks that Owners locker came to pick it up. I also brought my suitcase down to check it in at the resort airline check-in desk. Once I had everything squared away, I went to my sister’s room, and helped them bring their luggage to the resort airline check-in desk. It’s nice to check bags in at the resort, and not have to worry about them. Since we had a rental car that barely fit our luggage in before, it was nice to not have to fool around with packing everything in this day.

We checked a couple of our carryon’s with bell services so that we wouldn’t have to leave a laptop computer or a portable DVD player in the hot car all day. We did drop some things off at the car and then took a bus to the Magic Kingdom.

Our plan today was to do the last few things that we all wanted to do at the Magic Kingdom. Our first ride was Peter Pan. We waited in line about 15 minutes to see this one. Matt and I road together, and we sang along the entire time.

Our next stop was the Hall of Presidents, which Patti had been hoping to see. The kids were trying to decide which person they would sleep against. I haven’t been to this show in years, and it was enjoyable, although a bit boring for a theme park attraction.

We then decided that we were hungry and went to Peco’s Bill’s, but no one was impressed by the menu, so we went to Pinnochio’s Village Haus instead. The lines were really long to get food, and it seemed poorly organized and slow. Tim got a pizza. Matt got a mac and cheese kids meal. Patti and I got chicken strips. Kerrianne got a salad and fries. Overall, we enjoyed our meals.

After lunch, we walked into Toontown so that Tim could get a ride on the train. Matt and I got off at Main Street so we could go to VMK Central and turn in some of the quests and get the trading cards with codes for virtual items. The rest of the family took the full cycle of the train.

We met up with the family in Tomorrowland, and decided to do the Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor again. We enjoyed it as much the second time around. People sitting in front and behind Matthew and I were picked to interact with the Monsters. During the show, they kept on putting the same guy on the screen and calling him “That Guy.”

After the show, we went to ride the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. Space Mountain was down, so we got to see it with it’s lights on and cast members walking along the tracks. They were waving to us. Since I had never seen Space Mountain with the lights on, Matthew and I decided to ride again while the rest of the family made a pit stop.

When we got off the ride, it was raining. We walked over to Buzz Lightyear and took a ride. Matthew was excited because he got a car to himself, and shot both lazar guns. When we got off the ride, we saw the guy who was “That Guy” in the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, so I pointed him out and said, “Hey look, it’s that guy.” We all said hello to that guy, and he smiled and said hello back.

We then made our way towards Main Street to do a bit of shopping before we had to leave the park. I made another stop at VMK Central to turn in more quests (I didn’t have the answers for all of them the first time around), and we spent some time browsing around the Emporium and picking up a few things.

We then left the park and walked towards the bus stop. We ran into “That Guy” from Monster’s Inc. near the boat launches, so we all said, “Hi that guy” again. By this point, That Guy was probably hoping we wouldn’t run into him again.

We took the bus back to the Boardwalk, got our bags at baggage claim, and drove to the airport. Kerrianne had the magic rock, as she wouldn’t move her leg to give her brother more room in the backseat of the car. She eventually dozed off in the car leaning against her brother.

Once at the airport, we dropped off the car, and headed towards security. Somehow we wound up on the wrong side of the terminal when we got out of baggage claim, but we eventually made our way through security and on the tram to the gate area.

Since we had some time to kill, we browsed around in the shops and grabbed some dinner. Tim and I got tequila lime chicken wraps at the Outback Outpost, and everyone else got hot dogs and fries at Nathan’s. The wraps were really good, and came with a bag of chips. They had a nice flavor to them, and a good mixture of salad fixtures.

We boarded the plane and were in the second last row. We were actually supposed to be on an earlier flight with seats near the front of the plane, but Delta had cancelled our flights, and I had to spend an hour on the phone to get these lousy seats. Sitting in the back of a big plane is not fun. We were right next to the engines, which were noisy, the lavatories, which were smelly, and the Galley, which was just busy.

When we arrived back in Boston, we had to wait a while for the shuttle bus to the Preflight parking lot, and once there, we loaded our bags in the car and got ready to check out.

We had a good bit of fate while we were there. We couldn’t find our parking ticket, so it took us an extra minute or two to check out of the lot. While we were finishing up, there was a three car accident on the street right in front of the lot--someone was traveling at a high rate of speed while taking a turn and hit two other cars. It didn’t look like anyone was hurt, thankfully. But we were glad it took us extra time to check out or we may have been in the car that got hit.

We made it to my sister’s house at about 10:30 that night (I had made the decision to stay at her house for the night rather than facing the mess at home that late at night), exhausted from a fun week at Disney World. I can’t wait to go back!

 

[TLinden16]

Afterthoughts

My condo--The damage to my condo was more extensive than I expected it to be, but not as bad as it could have been. It’s going to be a while before I can get everything back to normal. I have to replace three rooms of wall to wall carpeting, the kitchen floor, and 95% of the baseboards. I’ll have to repaint many of the walls, and even have some repairs down in some areas. Although my sisters didn’t notice damage to my furniture, I did find damage to three of five pieces of my bedroom set (a bedroom set that I have had for four months). Thankfully, I have insurance, so that should cover most of the damage. I’ve only lived in this condo for a year, and all of the furniture is less than a year old. The seller had put in new carpet, kitchen floor, and cabinets before selling it to me, so most of the things that were damaged are less than a 18 months old. I’ve picked out tiles for the kitchen and bathroom, which will be installed next week, and have a carpenter lined up to do the baseboards. I’ll deal with carpet in the near future. But I’m thinking it’s going to be a least a month until everything is complete. It’s not exactly pleasant in my condo, but it is livable.

Buses--I have to say that we came across many buses that had no air conditioned during a time frame when the weather was in the high 80’s and low 90’s and humid all week. It was so hot on some of those buses that they shouldn’t have even been on the road in the heat of the summer. For the most part, we never waited more than 15 minutes for a bus, but the days we got the unairconditioned buses was not fun.

Owner’s Locker--I really liked being able to leave some stuff down there so I don’t have to lug as much stuff down to Disney World on my next trip. I’ve been making a list of things I want to pack and leave in there when I go down to Mousefest. The service was fantastic. We saw the truck in front of the Boardwalk when we moved the rental car over there at about 10:00 the morning we checked in so I knew that my locker had arrived. The locker was roomy, and I only left it about half full, but I’m sure I will be filling it in December. I’ve really been trying to think of what I want to leave in there that will enhance my trip. Things that I normally wouldn’t pack, but wish I had when I go down there.

Year of A Million Dreams--I have to say that in some ways I’m disappointed by this promotion. This was my third trip to Disney World since they started it, and I haven’t been lucky enough to get a dream. It’s not so much that I care about getting something--though I wouldn’t turn a dream fast pass or ears down or anything. It’s easy to get dream envy when you see so many of the fast passes around, and you see families with both the ears and the fast passes. I’ve heard of many lucky families who have gotten multiple dreams in a trip. We just were never in the right place at the right time. All week my nephew was saying, “Maybe we’ll get a dream. Do you think we’ll get a dream?” He was disappointed that we didn’t get one. I guess I just feel bad for all the kids who go there, hoping that they’ll get some kind of dream, and don’t get anything. Luck definitely plays a part in it, and I guess I have none. hehe. I know not everyone can get a dream, and I told that to my nephew, but I hated seeing him disappointed that we didn’t get one.
__________________

 

[twotoohappy]

Day 7--Thursday, August 30, 2007--Part 2

I walked over to Jellyrolls to meet up with my DIS friend that I had run into the night before.

Great trip report! It was nice seeing you again

 

[melk]

Thanks for sharing. We were there the same days as you so it was kind of neat reading about what you were doing and remembering where we were that day (that storm the 24th really was something, wasn't it?). Jellyrolls is on my list of things to do when the kids are older, it sounds fun!

 

[travelin' tigger]

Owner’s Locker--I really liked being able to leave some stuff down there so I don’t have to lug as much stuff down to Disney World on my next trip. I’ve been making a list of things I want to pack and leave in there when I go down to Mousefest. The service was fantastic. We saw the truck in front of the Boardwalk when we moved the rental car over there at about 10:00 the morning we checked in so I knew that my locker had arrived. The locker was roomy, and I only left it about half full, but I’m sure I will be filling it in December. I’ve really been trying to think of what I want to leave in there that will enhance my trip. Things that I normally wouldn’t pack, but wish I had when I go down there.

I think this is one of the best ideas to come along - mine is now 3/4 full, but it allows me to travel most trips with just a carry-on.

Sounds like you had another great trip but was sorry to hear about your condo. Hopefully it'll be good as new soon!!

 

[Angelrose]

Thanks for your report. I always enjoy reading about your trips.

Sorry about the damage to your condo. Hope everything works out for you.

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Thanks for another great report Karen. Sorry to hear about your condo. Hope everything is getting put back together. We will also be down in the world in December from the 6-16.