Jacquelyn11
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2000
- Messages
- 83
Continuation of our 13 day saga to the Worlds!
July 9 - We have a little later breakfast in the condo this morning. We have the DS's scheduled for the Pirates Cruise that departs from the GF. According to instructions we are to go to the Marina to depart for the cruise. We get to the GF about 20min early. I don't want the same confusion I had for Hoop DeeDoo! Walking thru the lobby we saw a bride getting ready for her wedding pictures. I could sit and watch this all day. We exit out the back of the lobby and walk toward the signs that say "Marina". We get there.....no one there?? Maybe we are just too early? I walk back toward the Narcoossee's restaurant...No one there. I step in inside and call on the house phone and asked to be connected to the marina where they have the pirates cruise. I get the CM and they tell me to go beyond the main building to my right. OK...... We do this and It puts us toward the pool and the beach! By now I'm getting very frustrated because the few people on the grounds keep directing me to the marina and it's getting almost 10am! I head back to the main building (My DS's are in tow during all this!!) when DH spies me and says "Where have you been? They are waiting for you down at the Dock!" "But I went to the Marina and there was no one there!! Show me where this is!!!" I follow him around to the RIGHT of the Sugar loaf Key building to the CAPTIAN'S SHIPYARD MARINA!!!!. This is where the boats and water mice are kept, closer to Gasparilla's. Hot and exasperated, we pay for DS's to board. The weather is cloudy but not threatening. I do bite my tongue till I calm down and then suggest to the CM at the cashiers that a sign directing to the pirates cruise location would have been helpful. We wave good bye while all the kids are in their red bandanas. OK, they are off. We can drive down to 192 and check out the place we have a ressie for in Dec. As we drive away a light rain starts. By the time we find the Hampton Inn West it is a full blown storm, complete with thunder and lighting!! We hurry back to the GF where the whole area is under about 3 to 5 inches of water...and the rain is still falling! I go down to the CAPTIAN"S SHIPYARD MARINA (don't forget this now!) and they inform me they are bussing the kids back from Ft. Wilderness. We were to wait at the entrance to the Mouse Club, near Gasparilla's. While waiting I met a couple of other DIS boarders (Forgive me, but your names excape me at the moment!) I was recongnized by my DIS pin and Passporter pin! It was close to 12noon when we were told to meet them out front! Back thru the GF lobby to see another bride ready for her wedding (Sigh!!). When I meet up with the kids they are wet, sloppy and happy with their bag of loot. My saving grace was I had them wear their water shoes today!!
Off to Epcot today. We took our poncho's with us (these became standard daily equipment!) and wore them off and on all day. We had a lunch PS at the Coral Reef restaurant. I sent DH to get FP's for Test Track. It turns out to be at 6:30pm that evening!! We got a nice table right next to the aquarium. The DS's were facinated at sharks, Turtles, colorful fish and stingrays swimming right next to you. We started off with the cream of lobster soup, very good as we were a bit wet and cool. I had the coastal combo and DH had the Mahi Mahi, both were good. The kids had chicken strips and a hot dog. I forgot to ask for an exchange of french fries for the corn, but they brought these without any charge. We finished with one chocolate wave, recommened on Deb's board. It WAS very good and rich with chocolate. The $70 ending bill was a little suprising, but we did enjoy the meal. We saw the divers in the aquarium to feed the fish as we were starting to leave.
We went to the Living Seas exibit, Univ of Energy, Body Wars (bothered DH's vertigo) CC and Making of me. Back to the West side to do "Honey...shrunk audience" but didn't explore the lab this time. Made it over to the Ice Station Cool by Coca-Cola. I found if you mix the Gingerale and Watermelon it made a teriffic combo! I had to find a house phone and call about the PS we had for Teppanyaki for 6:30 pm (of course! same time as FP for Test Track!) and they did allow me to push it ahead till 7:15pm. We enjoyed our test track experience but it did "stop" while we were doing the hairpin turns for about 3 min. Then the ride went zooming outside!! This ride always had a long wait and splitting our party up was not an option, so we only rode it one time. We missed the BLAST performance, but it may have been called due to the on and off again rain.
Along the way to Japan we saw Mary Poppins near the Brittish section and heard a lot of Beatles tunes being performed. We got to Teppanyaki right at 7:15 and had a short wait till we were called. The food is good (much better than the previous night!) but there is not much of a "show" due to the turnover time. We had an older gentleman behind the table and his emphasis was on cooking food, nothing else. We caught the end of one of the TON parades as we exited the restaurant. We had plans to try to catch the Fireworks and Spectromagic at MK so we skipped Illumination. We walked down one of the garden paths back to the front entrance and we happed go to down the one where all the rose bushes are. At about 8:30, close to dusk the fragrance from this area is more wonderful than words can describe. I could have stood there an hour and just "smelled". But DH reminded me of our "schedule" to keep... My DS's did get to ride in the "front" of monorail with a lady from France and her girl. This lady told me my DS1 "chatted" the entire time! We found a spot to watch the fireworks and did catch Tinkerbell "flying" away from the castle. We headed toward Tomorrowland while DH went back to the car to get the video camera so I could tape the spectromagic parade for the nursing home residents. We aggreed to meet at Tomorrowland near the FP booth for BL. We wrode TTA again! my DS1 called it "the blue Line" and that IS what they have on the side of it somehwere. We waited at the FP booth till 10 til 11 and went next to the street to catch the parade. DH did arrive with about 3 min to spare. The crowd was almost impossible, but I did find a space up on a bench to "stand" and tape the parade. After this we were really beat and headed back to the condo to enjoy a quick jacuzzi bath prior to bed!
More to come....
Jacquelyn
July 9 - We have a little later breakfast in the condo this morning. We have the DS's scheduled for the Pirates Cruise that departs from the GF. According to instructions we are to go to the Marina to depart for the cruise. We get to the GF about 20min early. I don't want the same confusion I had for Hoop DeeDoo! Walking thru the lobby we saw a bride getting ready for her wedding pictures. I could sit and watch this all day. We exit out the back of the lobby and walk toward the signs that say "Marina". We get there.....no one there?? Maybe we are just too early? I walk back toward the Narcoossee's restaurant...No one there. I step in inside and call on the house phone and asked to be connected to the marina where they have the pirates cruise. I get the CM and they tell me to go beyond the main building to my right. OK...... We do this and It puts us toward the pool and the beach! By now I'm getting very frustrated because the few people on the grounds keep directing me to the marina and it's getting almost 10am! I head back to the main building (My DS's are in tow during all this!!) when DH spies me and says "Where have you been? They are waiting for you down at the Dock!" "But I went to the Marina and there was no one there!! Show me where this is!!!" I follow him around to the RIGHT of the Sugar loaf Key building to the CAPTIAN'S SHIPYARD MARINA!!!!. This is where the boats and water mice are kept, closer to Gasparilla's. Hot and exasperated, we pay for DS's to board. The weather is cloudy but not threatening. I do bite my tongue till I calm down and then suggest to the CM at the cashiers that a sign directing to the pirates cruise location would have been helpful. We wave good bye while all the kids are in their red bandanas. OK, they are off. We can drive down to 192 and check out the place we have a ressie for in Dec. As we drive away a light rain starts. By the time we find the Hampton Inn West it is a full blown storm, complete with thunder and lighting!! We hurry back to the GF where the whole area is under about 3 to 5 inches of water...and the rain is still falling! I go down to the CAPTIAN"S SHIPYARD MARINA (don't forget this now!) and they inform me they are bussing the kids back from Ft. Wilderness. We were to wait at the entrance to the Mouse Club, near Gasparilla's. While waiting I met a couple of other DIS boarders (Forgive me, but your names excape me at the moment!) I was recongnized by my DIS pin and Passporter pin! It was close to 12noon when we were told to meet them out front! Back thru the GF lobby to see another bride ready for her wedding (Sigh!!). When I meet up with the kids they are wet, sloppy and happy with their bag of loot. My saving grace was I had them wear their water shoes today!!
Off to Epcot today. We took our poncho's with us (these became standard daily equipment!) and wore them off and on all day. We had a lunch PS at the Coral Reef restaurant. I sent DH to get FP's for Test Track. It turns out to be at 6:30pm that evening!! We got a nice table right next to the aquarium. The DS's were facinated at sharks, Turtles, colorful fish and stingrays swimming right next to you. We started off with the cream of lobster soup, very good as we were a bit wet and cool. I had the coastal combo and DH had the Mahi Mahi, both were good. The kids had chicken strips and a hot dog. I forgot to ask for an exchange of french fries for the corn, but they brought these without any charge. We finished with one chocolate wave, recommened on Deb's board. It WAS very good and rich with chocolate. The $70 ending bill was a little suprising, but we did enjoy the meal. We saw the divers in the aquarium to feed the fish as we were starting to leave.
We went to the Living Seas exibit, Univ of Energy, Body Wars (bothered DH's vertigo) CC and Making of me. Back to the West side to do "Honey...shrunk audience" but didn't explore the lab this time. Made it over to the Ice Station Cool by Coca-Cola. I found if you mix the Gingerale and Watermelon it made a teriffic combo! I had to find a house phone and call about the PS we had for Teppanyaki for 6:30 pm (of course! same time as FP for Test Track!) and they did allow me to push it ahead till 7:15pm. We enjoyed our test track experience but it did "stop" while we were doing the hairpin turns for about 3 min. Then the ride went zooming outside!! This ride always had a long wait and splitting our party up was not an option, so we only rode it one time. We missed the BLAST performance, but it may have been called due to the on and off again rain.
Along the way to Japan we saw Mary Poppins near the Brittish section and heard a lot of Beatles tunes being performed. We got to Teppanyaki right at 7:15 and had a short wait till we were called. The food is good (much better than the previous night!) but there is not much of a "show" due to the turnover time. We had an older gentleman behind the table and his emphasis was on cooking food, nothing else. We caught the end of one of the TON parades as we exited the restaurant. We had plans to try to catch the Fireworks and Spectromagic at MK so we skipped Illumination. We walked down one of the garden paths back to the front entrance and we happed go to down the one where all the rose bushes are. At about 8:30, close to dusk the fragrance from this area is more wonderful than words can describe. I could have stood there an hour and just "smelled". But DH reminded me of our "schedule" to keep... My DS's did get to ride in the "front" of monorail with a lady from France and her girl. This lady told me my DS1 "chatted" the entire time! We found a spot to watch the fireworks and did catch Tinkerbell "flying" away from the castle. We headed toward Tomorrowland while DH went back to the car to get the video camera so I could tape the spectromagic parade for the nursing home residents. We aggreed to meet at Tomorrowland near the FP booth for BL. We wrode TTA again! my DS1 called it "the blue Line" and that IS what they have on the side of it somehwere. We waited at the FP booth till 10 til 11 and went next to the street to catch the parade. DH did arrive with about 3 min to spare. The crowd was almost impossible, but I did find a space up on a bench to "stand" and tape the parade. After this we were really beat and headed back to the condo to enjoy a quick jacuzzi bath prior to bed!
More to come....
Jacquelyn
