The characters: Me & my partner, with a guest appearance by my mom.
Day 1: 4pm flight on Delta Song (halleluiah they didn't strike!) from NY to MCO. After a little mishap with the city bus - I swear the driver did NOT stop at the Delta terminal, no matter how much he insists he did - we arrived at LaGuardia with plenty of time to spare before our flight. In order to enter the airport you have to go up an escalator, and there was an elderly couple in front of us. The man helped his wife onto the escalator and then tried to take their 2 rolling bags by himself. The escalator went up about 2 steps when he lost his footing and fell backwards, pretty much right into my partner. She yelled at me to push the button to stop the escalator, because this man could not get up with the escalator still moving. By the time it stopped his feet were well above his head. Finally some airport employees came to the top of the escalator and stood there like idiots until I yelled at them that we needed some help because my partner could not lift the man up by herself. He wasn't hurt, thankfully, and the employees helped him walk the rest of the way up the stopped escalator. So that was an interesting start to our trip. We ended up sitting next to them at the airport Burger King a little later, ironically.
Neither of us had flown Song before, and it was nice. Roomy seats, and the flight was not full so we got a row to ourselves. The TVs are great, we spent a good part of the flight playing the trivia game against other passengers. The service was good, just wish they gave us snacks.
We arrived at MCO at around 7pm, made our way to Magical Express, and were at the All-Star Music within a half an hour. We checked in and went directly to the food court because I was starving (stupid Delta & their no snacks!). At the food court we were un-pleasantly surprised to see groups of very scantily clad cheerleaders. I thought there weren't supposed to be any cheerleading or similar events that week, but oh well. At least we didn't really run into them in the parks. After eating we went to our room in the Broadway building. Our bags hadn't arrived yet, so we went for a swim because we'd remembered to pack our bathing suits in our carryon. It was a bit chilly though, so we didn't stay out too long. Went back to the room and looked over our park maps, etc. and twiddled our thumbs waiting for our bags to arrive. Note for next time - pack shampoo & things needed for a shower in the carryon bag too. It ended up taking 4-5 hours after we landed for our bags to arrive, so as soon as they did we got ready for bed so we'd be all ready for our first big day in the parks!
Day 2: EPCOT! We ate breakfast in the food court at the hotel - love those Mickey waffles! - and were on our way to the park by 9. We'd wanted to be there before opening, but that didn't quite happen. Oh well. We made a beeline to Soarin', got a FastPass, then headed over to Test Track. Pretty much walked right on, LOVED IT, and got right back in line for a 2nd go. When we got off we grabbed a FastPass. Hey, we liked Test Track a LOT. By then it was time for our Soarin' FastPass, but when we got over there it was broken down! So we tried to get in line for Living with the Land, but that was broken down too! Apparently that whole pavilion was having issues. So because everyone else seemed to be heading for the Living Seas, we decided to do Spaceship Earth & were able to walk right on. After SE we went back to the Land to see if everything was up & running again, and it was! Yay! So we rode Soarin'. It was good, but didn't really live up to the hype. Then we grabbed a Coke from the food court and tried to get in line for Living with the Land. The nice CM informed us that we couldn't have our drink in line, because too many people spill things. So since we'd just bought it and she was nice she gave us a FastPass so we could sit & finish our drink and not have to get at the end of the (growing) line when we were done.
After Living with the Land, it was food time. We wanted to eat lunch in a country, so we headed over there and perused menus from Mexico to Morrocco before my somewhat picky vegetarian self found something I'd eat. We went to the Tangerine Cafe, and even though they didn't understand that I wanted the sandwich without the meat, I ended up with a good plate of hummus, greens, bread and tzatsiki (sp?) sauce and made my own hummus sandwich. Yummy. My partner had the chicken wrap, which came with sides of tabouleh & lentils. Yummy. After lunch we caught the American Adventure show, then headed back into Future World for our Disney Visa photo op with Minnie & Goofy. We stopped at Club Cool on the way and my partner made me try Beverly. They were out of the best sodas, the Japanese & Chinese ones, but they did have an orange Coke that was good. After our photo op we decided we could use 45 minutes of sitting down, so we did Ellen's Energy Adventure. Heh. Then we went to use our FastPass for our last Test Track ride (of that day, hehe) and headed into World Showcase. We mosied through each country, stopping to do the rides in Mexico & Norway, until our 6pm dinner reservation at Alfredo's. I don't care what any review on the dining board says, that place is GOOD. I had the trio plate, with the fettucine alfredo substituted for the meat lasagna. My partner had the lasagna. We shared the dessert sampler, with cappucinos. YUM.
After dinner we mosied through more countries, continuing clockwise towards Canada. We never did make it as far as Canada though, that day. We spotted a little terrace area across from France, right before the bridge between France & the UK, and decided that was our spot for Illuminations. It was still early though, so we spent a little more time in countries. My partner wanted to go to the UK to find a Cadbury DoubleDecker bar, so we did that, and took pictures with the topiaries of Pooh, Tigger, & Eyeore and Piglet. We'd actually spent a lot of time all day taking photos of & with the topiaries. They're very cool.
Then we went to stake out our spot for Illuminations. We duck-watched, and my partner had to go all the way to Morrocco to find a bathroom. Our spot was great and the show was great. And we were that much closer to the exit when it was over. Earlier in the day we'd thought about going to Magic Kingdom for EMH that night, but we were way too tired. We just went back tot he hotel to get some rest, because my mommy was arriving bright and early the next morning.
To be continued...
Day 1: 4pm flight on Delta Song (halleluiah they didn't strike!) from NY to MCO. After a little mishap with the city bus - I swear the driver did NOT stop at the Delta terminal, no matter how much he insists he did - we arrived at LaGuardia with plenty of time to spare before our flight. In order to enter the airport you have to go up an escalator, and there was an elderly couple in front of us. The man helped his wife onto the escalator and then tried to take their 2 rolling bags by himself. The escalator went up about 2 steps when he lost his footing and fell backwards, pretty much right into my partner. She yelled at me to push the button to stop the escalator, because this man could not get up with the escalator still moving. By the time it stopped his feet were well above his head. Finally some airport employees came to the top of the escalator and stood there like idiots until I yelled at them that we needed some help because my partner could not lift the man up by herself. He wasn't hurt, thankfully, and the employees helped him walk the rest of the way up the stopped escalator. So that was an interesting start to our trip. We ended up sitting next to them at the airport Burger King a little later, ironically.
Neither of us had flown Song before, and it was nice. Roomy seats, and the flight was not full so we got a row to ourselves. The TVs are great, we spent a good part of the flight playing the trivia game against other passengers. The service was good, just wish they gave us snacks.
We arrived at MCO at around 7pm, made our way to Magical Express, and were at the All-Star Music within a half an hour. We checked in and went directly to the food court because I was starving (stupid Delta & their no snacks!). At the food court we were un-pleasantly surprised to see groups of very scantily clad cheerleaders. I thought there weren't supposed to be any cheerleading or similar events that week, but oh well. At least we didn't really run into them in the parks. After eating we went to our room in the Broadway building. Our bags hadn't arrived yet, so we went for a swim because we'd remembered to pack our bathing suits in our carryon. It was a bit chilly though, so we didn't stay out too long. Went back to the room and looked over our park maps, etc. and twiddled our thumbs waiting for our bags to arrive. Note for next time - pack shampoo & things needed for a shower in the carryon bag too. It ended up taking 4-5 hours after we landed for our bags to arrive, so as soon as they did we got ready for bed so we'd be all ready for our first big day in the parks!
Day 2: EPCOT! We ate breakfast in the food court at the hotel - love those Mickey waffles! - and were on our way to the park by 9. We'd wanted to be there before opening, but that didn't quite happen. Oh well. We made a beeline to Soarin', got a FastPass, then headed over to Test Track. Pretty much walked right on, LOVED IT, and got right back in line for a 2nd go. When we got off we grabbed a FastPass. Hey, we liked Test Track a LOT. By then it was time for our Soarin' FastPass, but when we got over there it was broken down! So we tried to get in line for Living with the Land, but that was broken down too! Apparently that whole pavilion was having issues. So because everyone else seemed to be heading for the Living Seas, we decided to do Spaceship Earth & were able to walk right on. After SE we went back to the Land to see if everything was up & running again, and it was! Yay! So we rode Soarin'. It was good, but didn't really live up to the hype. Then we grabbed a Coke from the food court and tried to get in line for Living with the Land. The nice CM informed us that we couldn't have our drink in line, because too many people spill things. So since we'd just bought it and she was nice she gave us a FastPass so we could sit & finish our drink and not have to get at the end of the (growing) line when we were done.
After Living with the Land, it was food time. We wanted to eat lunch in a country, so we headed over there and perused menus from Mexico to Morrocco before my somewhat picky vegetarian self found something I'd eat. We went to the Tangerine Cafe, and even though they didn't understand that I wanted the sandwich without the meat, I ended up with a good plate of hummus, greens, bread and tzatsiki (sp?) sauce and made my own hummus sandwich. Yummy. My partner had the chicken wrap, which came with sides of tabouleh & lentils. Yummy. After lunch we caught the American Adventure show, then headed back into Future World for our Disney Visa photo op with Minnie & Goofy. We stopped at Club Cool on the way and my partner made me try Beverly. They were out of the best sodas, the Japanese & Chinese ones, but they did have an orange Coke that was good. After our photo op we decided we could use 45 minutes of sitting down, so we did Ellen's Energy Adventure. Heh. Then we went to use our FastPass for our last Test Track ride (of that day, hehe) and headed into World Showcase. We mosied through each country, stopping to do the rides in Mexico & Norway, until our 6pm dinner reservation at Alfredo's. I don't care what any review on the dining board says, that place is GOOD. I had the trio plate, with the fettucine alfredo substituted for the meat lasagna. My partner had the lasagna. We shared the dessert sampler, with cappucinos. YUM.
After dinner we mosied through more countries, continuing clockwise towards Canada. We never did make it as far as Canada though, that day. We spotted a little terrace area across from France, right before the bridge between France & the UK, and decided that was our spot for Illuminations. It was still early though, so we spent a little more time in countries. My partner wanted to go to the UK to find a Cadbury DoubleDecker bar, so we did that, and took pictures with the topiaries of Pooh, Tigger, & Eyeore and Piglet. We'd actually spent a lot of time all day taking photos of & with the topiaries. They're very cool.
Then we went to stake out our spot for Illuminations. We duck-watched, and my partner had to go all the way to Morrocco to find a bathroom. Our spot was great and the show was great. And we were that much closer to the exit when it was over. Earlier in the day we'd thought about going to Magic Kingdom for EMH that night, but we were way too tired. We just went back tot he hotel to get some rest, because my mommy was arriving bright and early the next morning.
To be continued...
Then we finished up Asia by doing Kali River Rapids. I GOT SOAKED! My mom & DP stayed relatively dry somehow, but my pants were dripping wet by the end. We had three people in our raft wearing ponchos as well, which I always think is funny. 
