First of all I would like to say my heart goes out to all the victims and families of last Tuesday's attack...I wanted to write this b/c I'm sure most of you are wondering how the disney parks were last week during the attacks and the tropical storm so here is my journal:
Saturday - 9/8/2001
Drove from Louisiana at 5 am straight to orlando. Arrived about 6pm and checked in. We stayed at the Wyndham Palms resort and had a beautiful home. For anyone who is considering staying here I highly recommend it. We had 5 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths. Full kitchen, screened in pool and spa, big living room. We actually stayed here cheaper than if we would have stayed on the grounds and it took us only 15 mins to get to disney. If anyone is interested in details on the wyndham palms, respond to this post and I'll answer any questions. Anyway, after checking in we were going to go to the market place but rain stopped us so we decided to go out to eat and get some rest for the busy week.
Sunday - 9/9/01
Went to Islands of adventure. Lines were not bad at all. I rode the hulk 3 times in a row in about 15mins time. That was a mistake
...Overall, we had a good day here until the rain came later in the afternoon.
Monday - 9/10/01
Went to Universal Studios. Not my favorite park but my mom has never been there so we went. Crowds weren't bad but it seemed like we had to still wait forever on everything. We asked one of the workers and he said it's b/c school is back in and half of the workers are gone. My wife complained to customer service and they agreed and gave us an extra day free.
That night in city walk, my wife one a contest for throwing the football and won us free food and beer to watch the monday night football game.
Tuesday - 9/11/01
I won't go into much detail about this horrible day in history. We woke up and saw the news and were devastated. It was all over the local news that disney was closed so we didn't even attempt to leave. It was pretty much a day of sadness for us as well as the whole world.
Wednesday - 9/12/01
We woke up and almost left to go home but decided by vote to stay and make the best of it. However, we now had a fear of going to the parks. Anyone could walk into the parks and cause terror b/c security at the gates is nothing. We decided to go to Islands of Adventure and use our free day since this is the best park in orlando. My wife, mom, mother in law and niece went to the outlet mall.
Upon arriving to park, there was security everywhere. They actually checked our bags which made us feel a lot better. As the day went by, we started to feel a little safer but you could tell the mood in the parks was not the same as it was on Monday.
Thursday - 9/13/01
Woke up to rain and wind. We decided to brave it and try MGM. It rained a lot, but most of the shows and rides are inside so we actually had a pretty decent time. Warning to anyone going sept 22nd, Rockin rollercoaster will be shut down for the week.
Friday - 9/14/01
As if our vacation wasn't messed up enough, we woke up to tropical storm gabrielle!!!!! We couldn't leave b/c I wasn't driving in the weather so we decided to make the most of it. Thank God we had a house b/c we couldn't have taken it in a hotel room.
Saturday - 9/15/01
The storm had moved out quickly so we decided to spend our last day in the magic kingdom. This turned out to be our best day. We did everything!!!!
Sunday - 9/16/01
The miserable drive home. I'm already planning my next trip, hopefully in the next 3 months!!!!!
If anyone else was there last week please let me know how your week was...
Saturday - 9/8/2001
Drove from Louisiana at 5 am straight to orlando. Arrived about 6pm and checked in. We stayed at the Wyndham Palms resort and had a beautiful home. For anyone who is considering staying here I highly recommend it. We had 5 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths. Full kitchen, screened in pool and spa, big living room. We actually stayed here cheaper than if we would have stayed on the grounds and it took us only 15 mins to get to disney. If anyone is interested in details on the wyndham palms, respond to this post and I'll answer any questions. Anyway, after checking in we were going to go to the market place but rain stopped us so we decided to go out to eat and get some rest for the busy week.
Sunday - 9/9/01
Went to Islands of adventure. Lines were not bad at all. I rode the hulk 3 times in a row in about 15mins time. That was a mistake
...Overall, we had a good day here until the rain came later in the afternoon.Monday - 9/10/01
Went to Universal Studios. Not my favorite park but my mom has never been there so we went. Crowds weren't bad but it seemed like we had to still wait forever on everything. We asked one of the workers and he said it's b/c school is back in and half of the workers are gone. My wife complained to customer service and they agreed and gave us an extra day free.
That night in city walk, my wife one a contest for throwing the football and won us free food and beer to watch the monday night football game.
Tuesday - 9/11/01
I won't go into much detail about this horrible day in history. We woke up and saw the news and were devastated. It was all over the local news that disney was closed so we didn't even attempt to leave. It was pretty much a day of sadness for us as well as the whole world.
Wednesday - 9/12/01
We woke up and almost left to go home but decided by vote to stay and make the best of it. However, we now had a fear of going to the parks. Anyone could walk into the parks and cause terror b/c security at the gates is nothing. We decided to go to Islands of Adventure and use our free day since this is the best park in orlando. My wife, mom, mother in law and niece went to the outlet mall.
Upon arriving to park, there was security everywhere. They actually checked our bags which made us feel a lot better. As the day went by, we started to feel a little safer but you could tell the mood in the parks was not the same as it was on Monday.
Thursday - 9/13/01
Woke up to rain and wind. We decided to brave it and try MGM. It rained a lot, but most of the shows and rides are inside so we actually had a pretty decent time. Warning to anyone going sept 22nd, Rockin rollercoaster will be shut down for the week.
Friday - 9/14/01
As if our vacation wasn't messed up enough, we woke up to tropical storm gabrielle!!!!! We couldn't leave b/c I wasn't driving in the weather so we decided to make the most of it. Thank God we had a house b/c we couldn't have taken it in a hotel room.
Saturday - 9/15/01
The storm had moved out quickly so we decided to spend our last day in the magic kingdom. This turned out to be our best day. We did everything!!!!
Sunday - 9/16/01
The miserable drive home. I'm already planning my next trip, hopefully in the next 3 months!!!!!
If anyone else was there last week please let me know how your week was...
