threeboysmom
Living the dream - near Disney!
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2001
- Messages
- 9,426
This Christmas DH and I decided that instead of giving each other gifts, we would take a quick trip to Florida just the two of us. We already had our big family vacation planned for May 2004, so this was just to be an inexpensive weekend. But as I spent more and more time on the internet planning this trip, the weekend gradually stretched from Thursday 1/1 to Tuesday 1/6 (my kind of weekend!).
Who: DW 39 yrs. (sssh! don't tell! it's a secret!)
DH 40 yrs. (known as threeboysdad here on the DIS)
(our 3 boys went to Grandma's - no kids allowed)
We caught a 6:10 a.m. flight out of Manchester, NH, and landed at MCO around 11:00 a.m. In a matter of hours, we went from the low 30's temp. to high 70's! Perfect start to our vacation! We quickly grabbed our bags and headed to pick up our rental from National's Emerald Aisle. We ended up choosing a yellow jeep - first thing on the agenda - figuring out how to get the top down. Once done, we were on our way cruising in the warm sunshine and me trying to hold onto all my hair! We checked into our hotel around noon. First two days were spent at Disney so I won't go into detail about that. Let me just say crowds were HUGE! We've been spoiled apparently by only visiting during September and May. Wow! I've never seen so many people in one place in my life!! Fortunately, we didn't have much on our agenda - just wanted to ride Tower of Terror, eat at Epcot, and see Mickey's Philharmagic & Wishes (fireworks) at MK. And also just see all the Christmas decorations at each park. The rest of the time was just spent gaping at all the people
1/3 Saturday We checked out of our hotel first thing and drove to the Royal Pacific. We checked in around 9:00 and were surprised to hear that our room was ready. I booked a standard and had requested a theme park view. But she offered to upgrade us into a waterview room which was even better! We were in Tower 3, room 3414. The view wasn't impressive due to a tree, but we could see most of the pool, Ripsaw Falls, Dueling Dragons, & some of Dr. Doom (through the branches). The location was great though - close to pool (which means close to water taxi & walkway) & close to lobby. We had our bags brought up to our room and then headed to IOA at about 10:00.
The day before we had driven to the AAA office in Kissimmee and bought our Annual Passes for $119.95. No problem - took about 5 minutes - had to show our AAA card - and we were off!
First ride of the day was Hulk. Awesome as usual! We sat in the very last row so I was a little nervous I would end up with a headache, but it was as smooth as ever. We rode it twice in a row (*LOVE* FOTLl!!!!) then headed to Spiderman (bypassing Dr. Doom! I had a bad experience with it last May) and rode that. Afterwards, I felt queasy and so we just walked around a bit. I tend to get motion sick very easily. By the time we hit Jurassic Park, I was feeling better, so rode the River Adventure and then grabbed some lunch at Thunder Terrace Falls. I had the salad with chicken which was okay. The salad itself was good - different greens, and spiced nuts, and cranraisins(?). But underneath it was real watery so I only ate the top layer. My DH had the rotissiere chicken which he thought was very bland. I took a taste and thought so too. After lunch, I was feeling my usual self again so we rode Dueling Dragons (Fire). Jim rode it again a second time (Ice this time) while I sat out. I KNOW not to ride that coaster twice in a row!! We continued on through the park into Seussland. I wanted a picture with the Grinch, but the wait was 45 minutes! I decided to wait until tomorrow hoping the crowds would be gone. At his point we split up. Jim went to US to try his hand at MIB (our FAVORITE family ride, hands down) while I went back to the hotel to sunbathe at the pool (I know - bad habit - but I need my tan
)
Just a side note - we found it was easier to walk from the RPR to IOA, but take the boat to and from US. The walk was very pleasant and not long at all - maybe 5 minutes? Anyways.....
We met up again around 5:00 at MIB. For the next 2 hours we rode and re-rode MIB each trying to beat the other (we are very competitive). I actually did manage to beat him once so I was proud. I normally score in the 400,000-500,000 range and Jim scored easily in the 600,000 -700,000 range. Together, we ALWAYS blow away the other car no matter how bad the other 4 people in our car are. This ended up being our routine for the remainder of our days - ending the park day with the last 2-3 hours spent on MIB. We thought the park closed at 7:00 that night so we scooted out to Citywalk. Found out later by Dark Marauder that the parks actually stayed open till 8:00 that night. Bummer! We missed a whole hour of MIB!!! We had dinner at Pastamore' which we both were unimpressed. Jim had the Fettuccini Alfredo with chicken added & I had the Fettuccini Carbonera - both were very bland. I did get a side of mushrooms which were outstanding & served in a large bowl - that could have been my meal alone! The mushrooms were simmered in sherry, garlic, & cheese (I can't remember what kind) & other ingredients too, but those are what I can remember. The sauce was delicious! I ended up putting some of my fettuccini in my mushroom bowl with the sauce and eating it that way. If we eat here again in the future, I will definately order those mushrooms again and have some chicken added, and that will be my meal. We'll probably give this restaurant another try in May with the kids.
Wow! This turned out to be very long!! I was going to include all 3 days in one post, but I guess I'd better not!! Yikes! I'm lying in bed right now not feeling well, so I didn't think I'd be so "talkative". At least I got sick AFTER my vacation, and not during, like SpideyHulk - poor guy!
Who: DW 39 yrs. (sssh! don't tell! it's a secret!)
DH 40 yrs. (known as threeboysdad here on the DIS)
(our 3 boys went to Grandma's - no kids allowed)
We caught a 6:10 a.m. flight out of Manchester, NH, and landed at MCO around 11:00 a.m. In a matter of hours, we went from the low 30's temp. to high 70's! Perfect start to our vacation! We quickly grabbed our bags and headed to pick up our rental from National's Emerald Aisle. We ended up choosing a yellow jeep - first thing on the agenda - figuring out how to get the top down. Once done, we were on our way cruising in the warm sunshine and me trying to hold onto all my hair! We checked into our hotel around noon. First two days were spent at Disney so I won't go into detail about that. Let me just say crowds were HUGE! We've been spoiled apparently by only visiting during September and May. Wow! I've never seen so many people in one place in my life!! Fortunately, we didn't have much on our agenda - just wanted to ride Tower of Terror, eat at Epcot, and see Mickey's Philharmagic & Wishes (fireworks) at MK. And also just see all the Christmas decorations at each park. The rest of the time was just spent gaping at all the people
1/3 Saturday We checked out of our hotel first thing and drove to the Royal Pacific. We checked in around 9:00 and were surprised to hear that our room was ready. I booked a standard and had requested a theme park view. But she offered to upgrade us into a waterview room which was even better! We were in Tower 3, room 3414. The view wasn't impressive due to a tree, but we could see most of the pool, Ripsaw Falls, Dueling Dragons, & some of Dr. Doom (through the branches). The location was great though - close to pool (which means close to water taxi & walkway) & close to lobby. We had our bags brought up to our room and then headed to IOA at about 10:00.
The day before we had driven to the AAA office in Kissimmee and bought our Annual Passes for $119.95. No problem - took about 5 minutes - had to show our AAA card - and we were off!
First ride of the day was Hulk. Awesome as usual! We sat in the very last row so I was a little nervous I would end up with a headache, but it was as smooth as ever. We rode it twice in a row (*LOVE* FOTLl!!!!) then headed to Spiderman (bypassing Dr. Doom! I had a bad experience with it last May) and rode that. Afterwards, I felt queasy and so we just walked around a bit. I tend to get motion sick very easily. By the time we hit Jurassic Park, I was feeling better, so rode the River Adventure and then grabbed some lunch at Thunder Terrace Falls. I had the salad with chicken which was okay. The salad itself was good - different greens, and spiced nuts, and cranraisins(?). But underneath it was real watery so I only ate the top layer. My DH had the rotissiere chicken which he thought was very bland. I took a taste and thought so too. After lunch, I was feeling my usual self again so we rode Dueling Dragons (Fire). Jim rode it again a second time (Ice this time) while I sat out. I KNOW not to ride that coaster twice in a row!! We continued on through the park into Seussland. I wanted a picture with the Grinch, but the wait was 45 minutes! I decided to wait until tomorrow hoping the crowds would be gone. At his point we split up. Jim went to US to try his hand at MIB (our FAVORITE family ride, hands down) while I went back to the hotel to sunbathe at the pool (I know - bad habit - but I need my tan
) Just a side note - we found it was easier to walk from the RPR to IOA, but take the boat to and from US. The walk was very pleasant and not long at all - maybe 5 minutes? Anyways.....
We met up again around 5:00 at MIB. For the next 2 hours we rode and re-rode MIB each trying to beat the other (we are very competitive). I actually did manage to beat him once so I was proud. I normally score in the 400,000-500,000 range and Jim scored easily in the 600,000 -700,000 range. Together, we ALWAYS blow away the other car no matter how bad the other 4 people in our car are.
This ended up being our routine for the remainder of our days - ending the park day with the last 2-3 hours spent on MIB. We thought the park closed at 7:00 that night so we scooted out to Citywalk. Found out later by Dark Marauder that the parks actually stayed open till 8:00 that night. Bummer! We missed a whole hour of MIB!!! We had dinner at Pastamore' which we both were unimpressed. Jim had the Fettuccini Alfredo with chicken added & I had the Fettuccini Carbonera - both were very bland. I did get a side of mushrooms which were outstanding & served in a large bowl - that could have been my meal alone! The mushrooms were simmered in sherry, garlic, & cheese (I can't remember what kind) & other ingredients too, but those are what I can remember. The sauce was delicious! I ended up putting some of my fettuccini in my mushroom bowl with the sauce and eating it that way. If we eat here again in the future, I will definately order those mushrooms again and have some chicken added, and that will be my meal. We'll probably give this restaurant another try in May with the kids.Wow! This turned out to be very long!! I was going to include all 3 days in one post, but I guess I'd better not!! Yikes! I'm lying in bed right now not feeling well, so I didn't think I'd be so "talkative". At least I got sick AFTER my vacation, and not during, like SpideyHulk - poor guy!
