Our Super Duper Long Anniversary Trip with PICS!!!!! UPDATE Nov 16***

[DisneyMama629]

Here are the links to each day of the trip...

Day One Part One
Day One Part Two
Day Two Part One
Day Two Part Two
Day Two Part Three
Day Two Part Four
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five Part One
Day Five Part Two
Day Five Part Three
Day Six

I've been posting this TR on TGM. I decided that I would like to post it over here as well so my friends that don't subscribe to TGM can read it. Also I've been reading quite a few great DIS reports lately, so I want to share mine! I'm going to start with my pre-trip report and then I'll start posting the days of the trip that I have completed. There are some TGM references, and references to old trip reports of mine, so I hope that doesn't bother anyone.

Pretrip

We are only 18 days away from our trip. I couldn’t wait any longer! I have to start a pre-trip report. Maybe writing this will make this trip seem real. I just feel so different this time. Maybe it’s because it’s my 3rd trip to WDW. Or maybe it’s because it’s my first time to go back with the same person. Who knows?? On with the details!

The Cast:
Me, Krista- 25 years old. TGM and Disney addict. My first trip to WDW was way back when I was 4 years old. I didn’t go again until I was 24 and convinced DH to go for our honeymoon. I was officially addicted at that point. I had to get back to WDW soon. So I planned a trip for my mom and I to take my brother’s daughter. My dad ended up joining us and it was, as you may have read, “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.”

Me, in my Mickey Birthday shirt. In public. Not at WDW. I’m a true Disney geek.

My first ever trip to WDW. (This pic is from our wedding slideshow, so forgive the pink background)

Our Disney Honeymoon.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly trip

DH, Rob- 25 years old. Wonderful husband who tolerates my love for Disney. He appreciates the theming and all, but he’d rather go to Six Flags and ride thrill rides. While I’m obsessed with WDW, Rob is obsessed with WoW, World of Warcraft for the uninitiated. It’s an online computer game that consumes peoples’ lives. While I plan Disney trips, my husband plays WoW. Thank God we have two computers!

Rob playing some WoW

He loves his thrill rides!

Obviously I don’t

This is the trip that just wasn’t meant to be. DH had said that we could go back to WDW in 2008, which meant I was going to have to skip a year of going to WDW. Oh the horror!!! I couldn’t take it. So I started scheming.

In September I came up with the idea of my old best friend from high school going with me. She was thrilled with the idea! The problem was she had to get it off work. She works at her parent’s sports store, and they aren’t the best about giving her time off. Amazingly, her dad gave her a week off in June! So I started planning and making sample itineraries. Then, it happened. I got a phone call from my friend in November. Her dad changed his mind. The trip was off.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! Literally, that’s what I did. I started to cry and mope and whine. After a few minutes of moaning, Rob looked up from WoW. I explained my terrible situation. Its one thing to skip a year at WDW, but it’s an entirely different story to think you’re going and have it taken away.

Suddenly, I see a gleam in Rob’s eye. It’s a look that tells me that he’s ready to cut a deal. Before I know it he’s agreed to go to WDW for seven nights in July for our 2 year anniversary. WOO HOO!!!!

I started planning immediately. I couldn’t believe that Rob was going to go with me! That’s even better than going with my friend. Rob is always down with the TGM plan and listens to whatever TourGuideKrista says! I booked us for seven nights at Pop the next day.

But then something happened. Rob’s guild on WoW broke up. A guild is the group of people you play with. Rob and his twin were so devastated that they started thinking of new hobbies. RC cars came up. We happen to have two backyards at our house. They started thinking that maybe they should build an RC car track in our back backyard. They called up my dad and started building.

Building the track

Then all three of the boys had to go buy themselves an RC car. But you know boys and their toys are, one toy is not going to be enough. After Rob played with his car for a few days he started thinking he needed another one. My response, “NO WAY!”

Well, our whole trip started with a deal, and there was another deal brewing in Rob’s head. He told me that if he could buy another RC car that we could extend our trip by 5 days!!! That would bring us to a grand total of 13 days!!!! Now granted, we would have to cancel our dining plan to offset some of the cost of the extra days, but I can deal with that. It took me about one second to take this deal. 13 days!!!!!

The cars that made my looooong vacation possible. God bless them!

I’d always wanted to be one of the cool people that went to WDW for more than a week. One of those people who are relaxed because they have plenty of time. One of the people who can actually take a mid week break with no parks and not feel like you’re wasting a perfectly good MK day. I couldn’t believe that I was joining the ranks of the cool people!

Even better than adding extra days, I get to do more planning! I start looking into other options for our resort. I don’t really want to stay at a value for 13 days. What if we have a bad location? What if we have loud neighbors? Back to researching TGM and the DIS.

One day I come upon information about renting DVC points. I spend a few days researching and decide that this is something I would like to try. I decide on OKW due to it being the least amount of points. Plus it looks really nice! I figure that if we stay in a studio with a kitchenette we can save some money on dining. I talk to Rob and we decide to keep our Pop ressie for the first 7 nights and then switch to OKW the day before our anniversary. That was kind of funny how I said I talked to Rob and we decided. More like Rob nodded while I was talking and really could of cared less about what I was talking about.

I found what I deemed to be a trustworthy DVC member on the DIS and got us booked for OKW. I though everything was done. Our plans were set.

Then a friend sends me an e-mail at school. She tells me that Allegiant Airlines has begun flying direct from Wichita to Orlando and that it’s super cheap. Being the great teacher I am, I tell the kids to take out a book and silent read, and I do some airline research. I find out that we could save $250 by flying Allegiant. The problem is that they only fly on Mondays and Saturdays. Well we were checking in on a Sunday and checking out on a Friday. But I can’t pass up savings like this!!! Never mind that I’ll have to spend more to save more.

I call Rob during our lunch break to tell him about the great flight deal. I focus on the savings and not on the fact that it would add two more days to our trip. He says to go for it!!! Now I had to book two more nights at the hotel. The problem was that we couldn’t add on to our DVC rental. So I had to add one more night to our existing Pop reservation and then add a one night Pop reservation to the end of our OKW stay. That means checking in and out three times. Yuck.

On a happy note, our trip is now 15 days long!!! Yes, I said 15 freaking days!!!! I’m so super dee super excited that I am not only in the ranks of the cool, more than a week, WDW vacationers, I’m in the more than two weeks club!!!! Oh yeah!!!

If you’re still with me after all of that super long rambling pre trip report here are the short and sweet details….

July 14-22 Pop Century
July 22-27 OKW
July 27-28 Holiday Inn Express Sanford Airport (I decided that since our flight left super early, we should cancel our last night at Pop and go for something near the airport.)

In 18 days my wonderful husband and I will be spending two weeks at the happiest place on earth!!! I can’t believe it! And it worked, this pre trip report made it all seem real to me!

 

[DisneyMama629]

PreTrip Part 2

I don’t know how I could have left this out. Maybe it’s because I wrote my pre trip after midnight and I was sleep typing. Anyways, here is an important detail that shouldn’t be left out of my pre trip…

A few months ago I was reading the DIS and I read about a pin code. I never get pin codes. I’ve never even paid attention to threads about pin codes because I never ever get one so I just didn’t care. Well this time I paid attention and I’m glad I did!

I started reading about it and it seemed that people were booking this deal without a code. It was actually kind of iffy as to whether or not it was a pin code or just an upgrade that people were getting by luck. I figured I should give it a try. I call CRO and mention that I’m staying at Pop for 8 days and that my friend was given an option to upgrade to a moderate for a cheap price. I asked if I had that option.

And…he said YES!!! He told me I could stay at POFQ or CBR for roughly the same price as paying rack rate at Pop. OMG!!! I couldn’t believe it. I asked him to hold and ran some numbers to make sure I was getting a good deal, and I was. Then I asked Rob which hotel he’d like. He was playing WoW of course and said, “I don’t care.”

I had to weigh my options carefully. We stayed at POFQ for our honeymoon and LOVED it. We loved that it was small, had great bus service, and the boat to DTD was awesome. We went to DTD almost every day.

On the other hand, I’d just read Chico’s trip report. He had stayed at CBR. The pictures looked great and his description was awesome. Plus I was so excited to stay at Pop so I could say I’d stayed at 4 different WDW resorts after this trip. If I stayed at POFQ I could only say I stayed at three.

I decided on CBR and made the reservation. Woo hoo!!! It looks so nice. I’m a little worried about the bus service, but heck, we’re going to be there two weeks, we have some extra time to wait on busses if necessary.

What a great room!

I love pink, I’m excited to stay in a pink resort! Lovely!!!

I can’t wait to lay in one of those hammocks.

So for a quick update…

July 14-22- CBR
July 22-27- OKW
July 27-28- Holiday Inn Express Sanford

 

[babieemelly]

Hey Krista! GREAT report! I hope you had a great time! I LOVE taking long trips. Back in 2005 we went for 28 days, in 2006 we went for 23 days, and this past summer we went for 18 days. It gives you so much time to just relax and take it all in. I'm subscribing to this thread, I can't wait to hear all about your trip!

 

[DisneyMama629]

I'm glad you enjoyed my pretrip report! I'll post day one tonight. I was starting to think nobody was going to read it! At least I have one reader!

 

[babieemelly]

I'm glad you enjoyed my pretrip report! I'll post day one tonight. I was starting to think nobody was going to read it! At least I have one reader!

I thought the same thing when I first started writing mine. It sometimes take a while for people to find your report. I really, really like it, though. I'll even give you a little shout out in my report to get some people over here

 

[momof2boyz12]

Hey, Kris. I'm reading, and you are off to a great start. I think you are going to like OKW. We stayed there in July during our 11 day trip, and we loved it. Of course, we were staying for free (BIL and SIL own and invited us as a Christmas gift), and we stayed at one of the Grand Villas. It is a beautiful place. I'm missing it right now!

 

[kors]

Can't wait to read more!

 

[thptrek]

What great planning and working those discounts! Have a great trip.

 

[DisneyMama629]

Day 1- July 14, 2007: Arrival Day

Our flight was at 9:55 am. I usually pick the crack of dawn flight so I can get to WDW as soon as possible, but this year we changed airlines. Allegiant was much cheaper and they only have one flight so 9:55 it was. My mom came to pick us up at 7:30. I had wanted to go to Walgreens at like 2 am the night before because I realized I didn’t have three things. I had to have SPF 15 spray on sunscreen, Rolaids in the little roll pack, and a lint roller (for excess dog hair that my dogs might have got on any packed clothing).

So after a short Walgreen’s run we were off to the airport. My mom feels the need to take the mandatory outside of the airport shot.

My mom had talked me into wearing my Minnie shirt on the way to WDW. She thought it would be so cute to wear. I went for it, knowing that I was going to have to wear it again to get my picture with Minnie. I didn’t realize at the time what a mistake this would be.

We get into the rather large Allegiant line and wait. In front of us there is a family consisting of mom, dad, and two little boys. They were sitting on the ground with stuff out everywhere. When the line started to move, mom picked up their toys and shoved them in the bag and moved forward. She failed to pick up any of their trash though. She had ripped off all of their old airline baggage tags and just left them on the ground. Pretty rude. I had no idea at the time just how rude this family was going to be. Also, mom was a LOUD talker. It was like a Seinfeld episode. Everything she said rang throughout the entire airport and she was talking nonstop. I even know that they were headed back home to Florida, staying at their cousin’s first, eating pizza for dinner, etc.

The older couple behind us started talking to the woman behind them about flying Allegiant. Neither of them had ever used them before. We had just flown Allegiant to Vegas so I had to turn around and give my two cents. Which then led to a conversation about what everyone was going to Florida for. This was the first of many times that I felt the need to casually drop in conversation that we were going for two weeks!!! I was so proud of our long trip. After some chit chat we got up to the one Allegiant worker who was checking people in.

She asked where we wanted to sit and I said towards the front. Just like being at rope drop, when you’re towards the front of the plane you’re first off. She said we could have the bulkhead seats. I should have asked where the loud talker and her family was going to sit first.

After checking in we headed to the little tiny eating area at our little airport. We shared a breakfast burrito, which came with a bag of chips and a pickle??? I saved every receipt so I’m going to keep a tally in my report of how much we spent.

Sarah’s Ice Cream and Baked Goods
$5.30

This next thing is unimportant now, but important in my TR as a whole. While we were waiting for the plane the most adorable family sat by us. Mom, dad, 4 kids. The 4 kids were so precious. They all looked so much alike and had the exact same facial features as their mom. The littlest girl had a little tiny cast on her arm. Too cute!! Rob and I thought they were so adorable. We will refer to them as “the family” as they come up later in my trip report.

Finally we got on the plane. We were on our way to WDW!!! What can make my happiness fade away? Nowhere to put our carry-ons. Bulk head seats have their drawbacks. We had to put our carryon several seats behind us. That’s like being at rope drop, but having to stop and get a stroller. Oh no! It gets worse. Guess who boards the plane and sits behind us?? Loud talker and family!! Actually we were in the two seat side of the airplane so it was Rob and I, then dad and 5ish year old son, then loud talker and 3ish year old son.

It got bad before the plane even started to move to the runway. 5yo wanted to play War with dad. Dad doesn’t know how to play war. Loud talker proceeds to get up and in the LOUDEST voice on an airplane ever explain war. Dad doesn’t get it. She explains again. Who the doesn’t know how to play War. Finally the dad tells the mom to just sit down and he’ll figure it out.

Soon we get into the air. I get my little neck pillow and settle back for a nice nap since I stayed up all hours of the night packing. Then it starts. BAM! Seat shakes. SLAP! Seat shakes. Here’s a good idea for your next flight, play War with your child on the tray table that’s attached to the seat in front of you. But while you play, make sure that when you place your card down you SLAM it on to the table, because that is really fun for the person in front of you. I let it go for a minute thinking they’ll stop. Nope. So I turn around and politely ask that they no longer slap the tray table as it shakes my chair.

Back to my neck pillow, back to my little nappy nap. The nap that when I wake up from it, I’ll be in Florida. Nope, not happening. The flight attendants start to go buy with the drink, snack, souvenir cart. On Allegiant, nothing is free. You pay for a drink, snack or even Florida souvenirs. Loud talker yells over the seat back and forth with her husband about what they should get. It’s awkward. People are looking over their shoulder like why is she SO loud. Rob keeps giving me the, “I’m about to say something” look. It amazes me how some people have no idea of the etiquette of being in public places. It’s one thing to act how you want at home, but in a little compact space like an airplane. Seriously.

I give up on my neck pillow and my nap and take out my PassPorter. I had bought a 2005 edition for $1. I tried to fill out stuff, but it didn’t make sense because I had already written the same stuff in my TGM binder. I was just copying it down. I was wondering why I had even bought it. For all you PassPorter lovers out there, I’ll have you know that I did end up loving my Pass pockets. It was nice to fill them out and put the receipts in. I may even buy a deluxe model or something for my next trip, but back to my current trip.

After much loud talking and little boy kicking my seat, which I ignored, we landed in FL. Before they turned off the fasten seat belt sign we made a TGM plan of attack of how we were going to get our carryon and still be first off the plane. As soon as the sign went off, Rob leapt into action. Before you know it, we had our carryons and were the first to Dumbo, errr, I mean off the airplane.

For those of you just tuning in that so sadly skipped my pretrip report, we flew into Sanford. We loved it!!! Tiny airport. Easy to navigate. Only two baggage carousels just like at home. While Rob waited for our luggage I went to see if I could get our rental car, but only a few of the rental car companies were in the building. The rest had their own building outside. I returned to help with the luggage. We ended up taking 3 checked suitcases and one carryon suitcase. A girl needs a lot when she leaves home for two weeks, such as 10 pairs of shoes. After we got our massive amount of luggage we started to head out to the rental car area. On the way, the inevitable happened. I had to sit down and change shoes. Luckily I had brought flip flops in my carryon. I had been wearing my Minnie Mouse shoes that match my shirt.

I aspire to be one of those fashionistas that wears cute shoes to the airport and looks so great. I should have known better. I should have been in my Mickey Mouse crocs. Lesson learned.

After the quick shoe change we were off to the Alamo car rental counter. We go outside to find it and it’s raining. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! It’s been raining in KS everyday this summer. It can’t be raining in sunny Florida. It’s not right. It’s not raining too bad yet so we walk on to find Alamo. We pass car rental after car rental and see no Alamo. Finally we spy it, in the distance. As we get closer the rain turns into a torrential downpour. I want to keep going. Rob says he is not walking in the rain because we will be soaked within a minute. I start to reach for the ponchos, but he cuts me off saying that our luggage will get soaked.

It just wasn’t fair. There was a covered walkway for all of the car rental counters except Alamo. To get to Alamo you had to cross a little driveway and then reach another covered walkway but with the wind the coverage of the Alamo walkway was doing nothing at all. So we waited.

I was longingly looking towards Alamo. Thinking about how I should be in a car getting to WDW.

As you can see, I wasn’t too happy.

In the meantime, I called Cee to see where she was at. She didn’t answer. Suddenly, we look down and see SWARMS of ants. EWWWW!!! They were coming out of this little drain thingy and seeking refuge by our feet. Rob tried to stomp and them, but there were too many.

After Rob’s failed attempt at killing the whole colony we moved down some and escaped the killer ants. Finally, the rain died down enough and we walked on over to Alamo. Rob waited outside while I went in to get the car. Let me preface this we’ve never rented a car. We just turned 25 so we’re finally old enough to get a car. I really didn’t know what I was doing.

I got up to the counter an the guy starts rambling so fast my head was spinning. I cut him off and told him to slow down that I’ve never rented a car and don’t know anything. He walks me through it, I initial on about 800 lines and give a credit card and he gives me the keys. It really was pretty easy. Before I left I made sure to ask about how I would drop the car off on our departure day since they wouldn’t be open. I was planning ahead like a good little TGMer.

Since I was being a big girl and doing everything myself I told Rob I’d go out and pick out our car. I got a nice little maroon Saturn Ion, at least I think that’s what it was. Then I go to pick up Rob and our luggage. I get turned around to get him and see that to go towards him I’d be going the wrong way on a one way drive. But the nearby worker was waving me on. I rolled down the window and asked if I could go that way. He said yes. So I begin to drive the wrong way on the one way. Rob starts waving at me to turn on the next aisle. I hear him saying I can’t be going against the flow of traffic. I got all flustered and wanted to cry. I should have let him do this.

I go ahead and turn and go all the way around so I could be going the right way towards Rob. I get over there and there is a sign that says Do Not Enter. ***. Rob’s waving me on, he can’t see the sign, I don’t know what to do, my cute red head band starts slipping off, nothing is going right. Finally I just go and park it in front of Rob. Nobody yelled at me for going through the sign. I jumped out of the drivers seat and left those privileges to Rob.

Boy, I bet you all are thinking this is super dee duper long and boring. If you’re still with me, let me tell you we eventually do get to WDW today. I type these and Word and they’re fun to read back over, so I like to include all the details. I’m at 4 pages right now! I just told Rob and he said that I’m being too wordy. Now back to the report.

We get all the luggage in the car and head out. We ask the lady at the booth how to get to some highway. I had printed directions from All Ears that were supposed to get you from Sanford to WDW with a grocery stop at Wal-Mart. Well, All Ears seems to leave from a different parking lot or we’re dumb, because we got lost. I’d say we were lost for about 45 minutes. We asked one guy in a truck next to us at a light and then asked at a gas station before we found the right highway. But finally we were on our way.

Rob driving our first rental car!

We saw dune buggy’s and we got all excited!!

I really loved having a rental car to get to WDW rather than ME. It was nice to see some of the scenery in Florida. It gave us a lot of freedom. Freedom to slow down and take a picture of a palm tree. YAY!

Pretty soon we were getting closer!

And closer!

And closer!

And just when you think we’re going to go under the WDW sign, we get off and go to Wal-Mart. What a letdown to the readers of my trip report, but we were not on the dining plan so we needed to buy some sandwich stuff.

We got some sandwich stuff, chips, pickles, bananas, and a case of bottled water for those who are interested. This was a cool Wal-Mart!! It was Disneyed out. There were all kinds of Disney shirts, beach towels, souveniers, etc. I really should have looked around and bought stuff here to save money but I was too excited to get to WDW.

When we left Wal-Mart we went to disgusting Burger King for lunch. I got the oldest crispiest chicken sandwich ever and Rob got a chicken fries value meal. Quite a bit cheaper then eating on property though.

Burger King-
$7.79

After we ate we headed back towards WDW. Finally there we were. The Walt Disney World sign!!! Our super duper long anniversary trip is just beginning!!!

 

[babieemelly]

Great update! You and Rob are so cute together! What a mess getting the car, but you guys got through it And your shirt, shoes and headband are literally the cutest ever! LOVE them!!!

I can't wait to hear more!

 

[oh_sachi]

Looking forward to more.
I like all of the details.

Your husband reminds me of my boyfriend...always playing video games. Haha

 

[DisneyMama629]

Day 1 Part 2

Once we got in to WDW we did pretty good at finding CBR. Soon we were passing through the gates.

At CBR it’s a little different because you go to the Custom House to check in. It’s not like a front desk area that’s near everything at the other resorts. Actually once we checked in, we never saw the Custom House again.

The lady that checked us in was so friendly. She had a thick accent and was asking what country we were from with the last name Nevarez. Rob said America. I had to explain that his ancestors are probably from Mexico or something. Rob can’t seem to ever explain this himself. We told her we were celebrating our anniversary and she gave us anniversary buttons.

We were assigned to Jamaica room 4149. As we walked to the car I was telling Rob that I think I’d read on the DIS that Jamaica was sucky. He told me I needed to form my own opinions and not worry about what some complainer on the DIS said. He was right. I loved our location.

When we first got to the room I had to take pictures, of course. That way we could see what the room looked like before we made a disaster of it. I thought the rooms were so nice. Just like Chico’s pictures from his TR. I’m so glad I read his TR and decided to go with CBR.

We were originally supposed to drop off our rental car in the morning, but I thought that would be a PITA so I wanted to do it now. I had explained to Rob that they closed at 6:00 and we needed to hurry because we were closing in on 5:30. Well, he felt the need to unpack everything. By the time we got to the car it was about 5:45 and we didn’t even know how to get to the car care center. We go ahead and try to get there. We turn out of CBR and immediately go the wrong way. Of course there’s no turnaround. At 5:55 I call the CCC and see if we can be late. Nope. We go back to CBR. I’m not happy. I tell Rob that we will have to get up super early tomorrow to drop the car off. You’ll see in the next installment that this turns out to be a good thing!

We go on back to the room and better prepare ourselves to head to the MK. We were meeting up with some TGMers tonight!! Cee, JB, Karen, and Cee’s friend Terri. We got our backpack all ready and I had to make sure I looked presentable for my first meeting with some real TGM friends! I was so excited!

We headed out to the bus stop which I thought was ridiculously far away from the room. You have to walk clear across the parking lot to get to it. I felt like it should have been the other way around, but I’m not complaining, I’m at WDW for two weeks!!! We had to wait about five minutes and an MK bus showed up. Great timing! As you will find out throughout this report I like to hold the camera out and take pics of us. Rob hates this. Here we are on the bus…

Once we arrived at MK and went through the bag check we had to go to guest services. We were upgrading our 1 day tickets that came with our room package to Annual Passes. This was a very painless process and only took a few minutes. The only painful part was when she asked for the $782.50. Rob about passed out. I simply got out the envelope with $800 in it and paid up. Yes I was carrying an envelope with $800 cash. Dangerous.

My new annual pass!

And how appropriate that Rob’s would have Grumpy on it!!! LOL!

After I got my new AP, I called Heather to brag. I asked her to please refer to me as Queen Annual Pass Holder. Yes I stole that from QUAP. Heather was, of course, jealous.

Then we headed in to my favorite park, the beautiful MK. The first thing we did was take several photopass pictures in front of the castle. By the end of the trip, Rob wanted to kill me if he heard me mention photopass. We took over 200 pictures. Hey, I was buying the CD I had to get my money’s worth.

Next we headed to the JC. It had a 45 minute wait. Rob wanted to get a FP but I figured that we’d rather get a FP for POTC than JC. So we went on over to POTC. It had a 10 minute wait. Whoops. I didn’t think that would happen. This was the first of many times that Rob said he was going to tell TGM that I was a noob and was making mistakes. Am I supposed to be psychic and know all wait times? Apparently so.

We loved the new POTC. The new additions were awesome!

Rob’s favorite kind of picture taken on POTC!

Davy Jones…scary.

I love Jack!

Our favorite scene.

After POTC we got a FP for JC. Then we went to see the Tiki Room. We like this show. I know a lot of people don’t, but we both really enjoy it.

When the Tiki Room was over it was time for our JC FP. Of course, there was no need for a FP now. There was no wait at all. We got on an almost empty boat and waited for them to get going. We had some funny skippers tonight though that were full of jokes. One such young male skipper decided to come sit practically on top of me. Him and the driver were telling jokes back and forth while they waited for more guests. They were laughing about how Rob and I sat in the back and were telling us this wasn’t the Love Boat. The CM who was practically on my lap was STINKY. Blech. Bad BO. I was so hoping that we could just get going so he’d get back on the dock where he belonged. Finally we did.

Our skipper told us we were going to get a magical moment and gave us a behind the scenes JC. He pointed out hidden Mickey’s and a hidden Minnie. I videotaped the whole thing. This seemed to bother him. Several times he said it better not show up on youtube. I’d share the footage with you all, but it really wasn’t that great.

After the JC I told Rob it was time to meet the TGMers because it was almost 8. Rob was not thrilled about this. He felt that they might all be axe murderers. He can’t believe I want to meet people from the Internet in person. I kept telling him that I know Cee. He asks how do I know her. I list things off…her name is Cee, she lives in Temple, her husband is Bill, her son is T or Tyler, T has been naughty lately, today’s his birthday, he plays tennis, they just got a new garage door, etc, etc. The list went on and on. Rob would then say, so when do you last see her in person. I’d say never. He’d say, you don’t know her then. He is so clueless.

So we are walking by the HoP looking out for TGMers and this lady says, “I like your shirt.” I say “Thanks, I made it.” She says, “I know.” Then she introduces herself as Karen. I turn into a TOTAL blonde and dumb*** at this time. I was just clueless as to who Karen was. Finally she says that she is MillerWDWFans, but I still can’t picture her avatar. I must have avatars to understand. She introduces us to her husband and son and I introduce her to Rob. I ask her if she’d seen Cee or JB and she hadn’t. I tell her that we are going to go over to CHH to grab a bite to eat and that we’ll be back.

But wait, I make more of a dumb*** of myself before we walk off. I call Cee and ask where she’s at. She was at PP. I told her that Renee and I were over here waiting in front of HoP. Rob says, “Who’s Renee?” I’m like, crap, I am such an idiot. I apologize to Karen, tell her I’m dumb and get out of there to get some food. I felt so bad, I’m horrible with names.

We go to CHH and get a chicken and fish basket to split and a bottle of water. It was pretty good food. As we were leaving I realize that we shouldn’t have eaten here though because we are eating here during our KTTK tour.

Colombia Harbour House
$9.56

After we eat we head back over to the HoP. I see Cee. I’m all super excited because we’ve talked on the phone and I’m so excited to meet her in real life. But, noooooooo, Rob has to stop at some little food kiosk and look at candy. Helleewwwooooooo, my long lost friend is over there waiting to meet me. We don’t have time to look at candy. I promise him that we’ll get ice cream as soon as we go meet Cee and Jb.

I drag Rob away and we go meet Cee and family. Precious little T says, Hi Princess! I loved it. He is so cute! He’s really going to be bringing in the ladies these next few years. We also met JB and his family. It was a little TGM festival! Cee’s friend, Terri, trigler from TGM was there also. We got a quick group picture which JB refused to be in.

Cee, Krista, Karen, Terri

Cee and I

After everyone had met Rob and I had to book it over to Aloha Isle to get our Dole Whips. I couldn’t believe he was wanting me to do stuff with him when my awesome TGM people were around. I needed to be with them, but I guess the husband wins out.

Aloha Isle- 2 Dole Whips
$6.16

We got our Dole Whips and headed back to HoP. We watched some of Spectro. It was raining a bit so we stood back under the roof that’s over there. I mostly chatted with Cee and Bill. JB came over right before the parade and whipped out a billion FP’s. I told Rob that he was a moderator and super smart! JB gave us two FP’s for Buzz, Splash and BTMRR.

About two minutes before Spectro ended I told everyone that Rob and I were going to take off. We were tired and now that JB had given us FP’s we needed to get a move on. We said a quick goodbye to everyone and headed towards BTMRR.

We rode BTMRR with our newly acquired FP from Jb. I’d never rode BTMRR at night. We LOVED it!!! It was so much more fun at night. After BTMRR we went over to Splash. Even the FP line was super long. We got in line and then realized we didn’t want to stay out that late. We ended up giving the FPs to two girls at the end of the standby line. They offered to pay us they were so thankful. We told them to just enjoy! I felt bad for giving away Jb’s FPs, but we did spread the magic.

Next we went on over to Buzz. I try so hard to follow TGM’s Buzz tips, but no matter what, I still suck. Rob scored way higher than me. When we got off we decided to go on CoP. Rob loved it and so did I. What a great classic!

By then, it was time to get going. The 2nd Spectro was about to begin so we needed to be out of there before that was over. When we got to CBR’s bus stop there was a bus there…but it was too full. I figured we’d have to wait 10-15 minutes for another bus. Luckily one came in about 2 minutes. YAY!

When we got back to the room I opened the door and to my delight there was a gift basket!!! How exciting!!! It seems my wonderful friend Heather had sent it to us. What a sweetheart! I was so excited I took a billion pictures. Oh by the way, Heather said to put this in a large font, so here ya go Heather!

What a thrill it was to get a gift basket. Heather is such a nice person and I truly feel blessed to call her a friend. After all the excitement of our first day we went straight to bed.

Food total for the day…
$28.81


Up next- What happens when you’re super early to MGM????

 

[babieemelly]

Another great update! I love all the pictures, they came out great. And what a cute gift basket! I love the picture on the box of chocolates. Keep up the great job!

 

[hellokitty86]

I am loving your trip report so far!!

I am so jealous that you got to go to Disney for so long....my husband says the limit for Disney for him is 7 days

I think CBR looks gorgeous but I am concerned with how far the busses and the food court are from some buildings!! So I don't know if I would ever stay there myself unless I got a preferred room! I'm also jealous of your gift basket- how thoughtful of your friend!!

Can't wait to read more...

P.S. Thank God my husband isn't addicted to WoW.....But I have a friend whose boyfriend is and I agree, it is pretty life destroying and consuming

 

[KimAshton]

Love reading this. Cannot wait for more.

 

[DisneyMama629]

Another great update! I love all the pictures, they came out great. And what a cute gift basket! I love the picture on the box of chocolates. Keep up the great job!

Thanks! I love the picture on the chocolates so much that it's still sitting on my nightstand!

Love reading this. Cannot wait for more.

Glad you're enjoying it!

I am loving your trip report so far!!

I am so jealous that you got to go to Disney for so long....my husband says the limit for Disney for him is 7 days

I think CBR looks gorgeous but I am concerned with how far the busses and the food court are from some buildings!! So I don't know if I would ever stay there myself unless I got a preferred room! I'm also jealous of your gift basket- how thoughtful of your friend!!

Can't wait to read more...

P.S. Thank God my husband isn't addicted to WoW.....But I have a friend whose boyfriend is and I agree, it is pretty life destroying and consuming

My husband said we are never going that long again. Although we are going for 11 days this summer! I really loved CBR. I didn't think it was too bad of a walk to the food court just because it was so pretty. It was long too the bus though. We had to walk clear across a parking lot.

My DH has since quit WoW, but I think he's starting up again.

 

[Heluvsme]

One of the cool people! That's funny, I've always thought the SAME thing!!

I'm lovin' this! Can't wait to read more!

 

[If U Had Wings]

Enjoying your report so far. I'm hoping to take such an extended vacation one of these days. Can't wait to hear more!

 

[DisneyMama629]

Day 2- July 15, 2007: MGM

Remember how we had tried to take our rental car back on our arrival day, but we were too late? It’s because I had no idea how long it would take to get to the car care center and I didn’t want to be late to rope drop at MGM. I made sure that we were in the car ready to go to the CCC at 7:30. We got there really fast and it only took about 2 minutes to drop off the car. Whoops. We are going to be super early to MGM. I don’t mind that much though because I like to be to rope drop early, Rob on the other hand wasn’t a happy camper. This reflected a moment later.

One last picture of our car

We were told to wait outside and a bus would be there to take us to MGM in about 10 minutes. Then this guy walks up to Rob and says, “Can I help you?” Rob says, “No.” The guy says, “Well, what are you waiting for?” Rob tells him that they told us a bus would be coming in 10 minutes. The guys just says well what do you think I’m doing here lets go, and he says it in a snotty tone. Rob’s new thing is to say, “partner.” He says it in this tone that embarrasses me. Rob hits this guy with, “Well partner, I was told a bus was going to be here in 10 minutes how am I supposed to know what you want.” I, of course, am thinking lets just get on the bus. I don’t know what the big deal was with the guy but him and Rob just didn’t rub each other the right way I guess. Anyways, we get on the bus and head to MGM.

We get to MGM about 7:55. It’s deserted. There are two groups there at the middle turnstiles. A honeymoon couple (without their ears they just had buttons, this is important) and a family of three. The family of three was taking up three turnstiles. The honeymoon couple was at the 4th. I got in line behind the mom of the family of three. I start to make small talk with the honeymooners. I asked them where their ears are and they said they didn’t want to wear them. Then she says that she saw a little girl wearing the bride ears and thought “Um, hello, those are for honeymooners not kids.” Then she rolled her eyes. I thought that was pretty rude. We made a bit more small talk and discussed how there were no FP for RNRC that day.

All the while that we were standing there I was telling Rob about how they sometimes pick a family to open the park and how cool that would be. I told him that maybe we had a good chance because we were so early. Now remember the family of three who were taking up three turnstiles? The mom says something to her husband and son and walks off. She doesn’t leave a backpack staking her place at the front of our line. I give her about two minutes and then casually I start to lean on the turnstile and suddenly we were first in line. Rob thought I was being sneaky, but I told him that she can’t just walk off from her spot in line. She should have said something to us if she expected to get back in line. When she returned she just joined her DH and DS. They didn’t need three turnstiles anyway.

Here’s a picture of the happy husband who loves being at the park an hour before it opens:

As we waited I also told Rob that Cee was supposed to be at this rope drop and she was naughty for being late. Well speak of the devil, as soon as I said that T walked up to us. They had just arrived. They were about 10 people back in the line next to us. Had it just been Cee, Bill and T I would have had them join us in line but I think the people behind us would have killed us to let 6 people cut. Sorry Cee!

I had told Rob that if we wanted to get picked for special things on this trip that we needed to be friendly and smile. Rob was taking it to the extreme and talking to every CM within 20 feet, making sure to say good morning and giving him a huge smile. I loved it! About 25 minutes before the park opened we saw a man dressed in plaid heading towards us. He said good morning and then started messing with turnstiles. I knew plaid meant important.

The older lady he was with asked for our tickets. She ran them through the turnstile in front of the honeymooners. I was like, “Is she using our tickets to test the turnstiles??? What a letdown!” Then she said come on through. I can’t even explain the excitement that was rushing through me at that point. I just knew something great was going to happen!

We walked through the turnstile and stood on the other side. The man in plaid turned to us and said that we were going to be Family of the Day. I turned and gave Cee a thumbs up and followed the plaid man. I was right plaid is important at WDW!!! He told us he picked us because our shirts made us stand out! The TGM design studio rocks!!!

Me, super excited!!!

We found out that his name was Les and he led us down the street to the point where the rope drop would take place. There was a sweet old lady CM over there and he told her we were family of the day. I was overwhelmed with excitement and was gushing to her about how much I love WDW. Rob told them I had been hoping that we’d get picked. I told the sweet lady that I’d been praying while we stood there that God would let us be picked. She gave me a quick sermon. Then we took some pictures.

Rob, me and our new favorite CM, Les

The Family of the Day!!

Les rocks!!

They told us we had some time before the opening show and we asked if we could run to the bathroom. We went to the Hollywood and Vine for a potty break. On the way there I was freaking out I was so excited!!! When I got into the restroom I called my mom to tell her. She told me that we are always so lucky. I told her about the honeymoon couple and how if they’d been in their ears they may have been picked. It was pure luck!!

When we got back out we spent some time talking to Les. I asked questions about YOMD and other things. He told us that he got a dream from Disney management. They pick a certain number of CM’s to teach the Traditions class that new CM’s go through. Les had applied but didn’t make the cut. Then the management surprised several CM’s including him with a special ceremony in which they found out they were also going to become Traditions CM. Les was the most wonderful CM and you could tell he really loved his job. He is the ideal Disney employee. He was so enthusiastic and just wonderful.

He also told us that we should try to watch the afternoon parade that day. He said it was going to be really special. He said there was going to be a boy as grand marshal and Les shared the whole story with us. When this boy was 5 his dad went to Iraq. Before he left he told his son that when he returned he’d take him to WDW. Well, his dad never came back. Last year his grandma was telling some CM’s his story and telling them that she was bringing him the next year. The next part shows how WDW really came through for someone who deserves it. WDW had upgraded their room to a deluxe and had gift baskets there on arrival. And today when the boy went to meet Mickey Mouse, Mickey was going to ask him to be grand marshal in the parade. It brought tears to my eyes. It was so magical that they would do that.

While we were waiting I told Les about TGM. He’d heard of him!! I don’t think he understood the website though. He asked about Mike going around to the parks with us. I told Les that was for rich people and we just pay $20 to use the website. I was excited because he knew of TGM!!! After plenty of chit chat with Les it was time for the herds to come through the turnstiles to the rope drop. Les offered to videotape the opening show for us and the sweet old lady took my camera. It was so awesome to be part of the show!! I loved it! The only part I didn’t love was how hideous my hair looked that day. I looked like a mushroom. The bad thing about the show was that their sound wasn’t working that day, but it was still awesome to get to be involved.

Our driver…we later found out on our KTTK tour that this car was one of the original cars that Walt Disney himself used at DL. Too cool!

Our adoring fans, or were they just wishing we’d get out of the way so they could ride rides?

Our director!

Side note about the show and the sound not working. When the sound wasn’t working our driver tried to use a different microphone. It didn’t work. They honeymooner girl said, “It’s still not working.” Our driver answered in a rather curt tone. I was like, way to state the obvious. It was then that I no longer felt a little bad about being picked over the honeymoon couple.

Here's a link to the video of us being Family of the Day...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQgZJf535PY

 

[babieemelly]

Another great update. How cool that you got picked to be the Family of the Day and open MGM!!! The video came out great!