Our Wonderful, Exhausting, and Magical 1st Anniversary at BWV!!! New 9-6!

[schoen]

We made it! We stayed married a whole year! I felt like that was a reason to celebrate. Back in April I convinced my husband that we would really enjoy a trip back to Walt Disney World to relive our honeymoon. We would plan it right around our anniversary, and it would be our anniversary gift to one another. So we went. We had a great time. We booked a week in a studio at the Boardwalk Villas. We spent the weekend before we left at the in-laws. They gave us a ride to the airport, and we were off!

The Cast:

Me: 25, one year out of college, Ann Arbor (home of University of Michigan) native and Michigan State University alum. Basically I am a walking paradox. I am the ultimate planner. My husband swears I should get into event planning, but for now I am looking for an English teaching job in MI, and filling in the time doing corporate training and waiting tables (bleh).

Matt: 27, works in the politics and policy in Michigan. Fellow MSU grad. The penultimate sports freak. He is the greatest person in the world. He treats me like a queen, and as you will soon read about he puts up with a lot from his new bride!

Day One: This Place is Amazing!

It seemed like everything was working out for us. We got to stay all week at the BWV, we had everything packed, and we weren’t rushed, our flight hadn’t been canceled. It was just time to go! I know Matt came up to bed later than me the night before, but I had taken a couple of Advil PM because my knee hurt, so I didn’t even hear him. I woke up to his mom knocking on our door in the morning. I was up and in the shower in minutes. I had chosen my clothes for the day quite carefully. I wanted to be comfortable in the airport, the plane, and the parks. I also wanted something that I could wash up quickly, in case the Magical Express wasn’t so magical and lost my bags. I chose a VERY comfortable pair of white shorts, and this cute orange tank top that is actually a golf shirt. It was a fancy material that is supposed to pull moisture away from your body. I was a little torn about what shoes to wear. I had bought Crocs, and I had found them to be quite comfortable, but I knew I would be happier in sneakers. I ended up going with the Crocs because they would be easier at the airport.

We did a few last minute checks, and we were off like a prom dress! The ride to the airport was uneventful. Matt did receive his call from Mickey, wishing him a good trip. He said he was terrified because he thought it might be the airline canceling his flight. We made it to the airport with no problems. Matt’s dad came in with us because he wanted to make sure that we got through security alright. This was just two days after the terrorist plot was foiled in England, and they had banned all liquids on planes. When we got to the line to check our luggage it was huge! I have never seen the airport like that! Matt’s dad saw there was a special line for business class and also Northwest Silver members. He showed them his card and we checked our luggage in minutes. We did manage to get in line behind some man who was traveling with a drill, so he took a long time. We were through faster than we would have been in the super long line.

The security line was super short. We didn’t wait at all there. We walked right through. They didn’t check our bags for liquids, which I thought was weird, but we made it through really quickly. We had a lot of time until our flight took off, so we walked to our gate and discovered that it was right next to the Coney Island in the airport. We always try to eat breakfast here if we have time. We grabbed a table, and ordered some food. I was too excited to even be hungry, but I knew we didn’t have dinner planned until almost 5:00 pm, so I figured I should eat something. While we were waiting for our food I noticed some guy that I recognized in the airport. This was a guy that Matt works with, and I said “hey isn’t that Chris?” Matt looked up and sure enough, it was.

Matt called him on his cell phone and asked him if he wanted to go out to breakfast. Chris was like “um, I’m at the airport”. Matt said that he was too. By this point Matt was walking behind him. They got a laugh out of the chance meeting, and we all had breakfast. We sat and talked for awhile, and before we knew it we were really close to boarding time. I went to the restroom, bought some gum, and saw Matt waiting all alone basically at our gate. We were ready to take off!

The plane ride was pretty good. I am not a huge fan of flying, and I absolutely detest the turbulence. There was very little to speak of on this flight though. We had gotten an exit row seat which was really nice for Matt. Matt had purchased a portable DVD player for me for our anniversary. We watched most of Meet the Parents on the flight. We were not able to watch the whole thing though, because there was just not enough time on the flight. The landing was very smooth, I didn’t even realize we were on the ground when we landed.

Just like that we were in Orlando! We were so close to WDW! I took a moment and enjoyed knowing that I no longer had to wait for my trip, and I had the whole vacation ahead of me. It was a nice feeling. We followed the signs to the Magical Express area. Matt checked in, we found our line, and we waited. It only took about ten or fifteen minutes for a bus to come. We were the first in line, so I gathered we had just missed a bus to our resort. This would become a regular pattern for us. The wait wasn’t long at all though. Before I knew it we were on the bus.

I made sure to sit at the front of the bus so we wouldn’t be behind a million people at check in. I would pay for this decision. About halfway through the bus ride I noticed I was sticking to my seat. I investigated the situation further and discovered that I had sat on a piece of gum. Yuck. This was not my gum. What was worse was that it was bright blue. I was wearing bright white shorts. This was a disaster! It was not the most magical experience of the day. I was worried that it was some sort of bad omen for the rest of the trip. When we got off Matt gave a tip to the driver, and I told him about the gum. We needed to deal with it, because everywhere I sat I was going to get gum everywhere. We both decided that we should check in first though.

The check-in line was short at the Boardwalk. I was kind of sad, because I had been in the lobby of this hotel several times, so I knew what it looked like. I love to experience the wow factor in hotel lobbies. It was not to be this time though. We waited just a few seconds, and then we were able to check in

Jennifer assisted us. She was wonderful! She was friendly, and she seemed excited to be doing her job. She was also able to get us into a room that was ready. It was only 12:30 or so at this point! She told us it was close to the elevator, but not on top of it, so it was a pretty good room in her opinion. We had wanted to book a standard view room, but there were none available. We ended up booking a pool/courtyard view. It ended up being just excellent. We went up to the fifth floor. We took in our home for the next week, and we were happy with it. It was much different than the 1 bedroom villa we stayed in last year, but it was fine. We also had an AMAZING view. We had a view of the boardwalk and the lake. It was amazing. I have no idea how it happened, she didn’t tell us we had been upgraded to a boardwalk view. It did overlook a courtyard in front of the hotel, behind the surrey bike rental place. It was just awesome. I knew we would spend a lot of time sitting on our patio.
Now that we were in our room we had to deal with my pants situation. We decided to just go and buy me a new pair of shorts. We didn’t know if our luggage was coming in one hour or eight, so we just decided to bite the bullet and buy some new shorts.I vowed to wait until we had to leave to put the new pants on though, in case our luggage came before we needed to leave for dinner. That way I could take back the new shorts. Thimbles and Threads did not have a large selection of shorts available, but they did have one pair, and thankfully I liked them. They were a sweat pant material, navy blue, and were super comfortable. I was glad they had something. I would have preferred that they were more dressy, but they ended up being fine.

We went back upstairs to change, and I was starving! I hadn’t eaten much of my breakfast, and I needed something to tide me over. Matt and I went out to the hot dog stand on the boardwalk and split a hot dog and fries. We had some time before we needed to leave for our dinner reservations at ‘Ohana so we watched TV and just relaxed in our room for an hour or so. We were both thrilled to be there. Before we left the room I actually grabbed Matt’s hand and jump up and down at the excitement of being there! We had arrived and we were thrilled.

We left exactly one hour prior to our reservation. The plan was to take the Magic Kingdom bus and then get on the boat or the monorail to the Poly. The bus stop at the BWV is nice. There are benches, and it is a completely covered walkway, which is nice. We were the only ones at the stop. I imagined that we had just missed a bus. We waited about five to ten minutes before another one came. We then started the terrible loop! We stopped at the Swan and then the Dolphin, fifteen minutes later we were actually on our way. I became very frustrated with sharing a bus with the Swan and Dolphin (and occasionally the Yacht and Beach Club) by the end of the week.

When we finally got there we didn’t really know what to do. Which would be faster? The monorail or the boat? Matt wanted to ride the monorail so we got in line. We walked up just as one was pulling up. The CM told us that we couldn’t take that monorail because it was going out of service. That was fine, we would just catch the next one. Well, the next one had some sort of problem. It stopped about 500 yards away from the station and didn’t pull up for about ten minutes. As our reservation time got closer and closer I got a little impatient, but eventually the monorail pulled up, and we were on our way to the Poly!

I was pretty excited to get to the Poly, because I had never seen it. I have only seen it from the water on the lake. I was amazed by the vegetation, but I must admit, I was not as impressed as I assumed I would be. Don’t get me wrong, it was beautiful. I think I was just expecting more because it had been so hyped for me. Between the bus and the monorail, we were a couple minutes late for our reservation. Once we got out of the monorail, neither of us knew where to go. Between asking a few people and following a couple signs we were on our way. I was so excited. We were going to our first dinner that I had planned so painstakingly! I was also really excited to give ‘Ohana a try! I had read so much about it, and I just knew that we would enjoy it.


Up next: The dinner that never quits and a rainy night at the Magic Kingdom!

 

[schoen]

Matt stood in line to get a dinner buzzer thing, and I found us some seats looking over the water. I figured that if we were going to have to wait that we might as well have a good view! Matt had hardly sat down before the buzzer went off. We hadn’t made any specific requests for the location of the table or anything, and so we were seated basically immediately.

The host chatted with us on our way. He asked us where we were from, and if we had been to the restaurant before. Overall I felt a wonderful sense of relaxation. I wanted to just enjoy the moment and our dinner. Our server came over and we ordered drinks. I REALLY wanted one of the fruity cocktails that they offer, but we had decided that we would wait until later in the week for that. I ordered a watermelon soda, and Matt got a Diet Coke.

Once our drinks were served the onslaught of food began! They brought out a salad that I did not care for. It was baby greens with a lime dressing. I liked the dressing, but not the lettuce. Matt liked the salad. They also brought out fried wontons with varios dipping sauces. Matt made me try all the sauces first to ensure him that they were not too spicy for him. I didn’t really care for any of them. I knew I would like the chicken wings and shrimp that were coming out soon though. When they did come I ate a lot of them! I had three or four wings and three or four shrimp. By this time I was pretty full, and we hadn’t even gotten our meat! Matt didn’t overly love the shrimp, and he wouldn’t even touch the chicken wings, so he was ready for some serious meat!

Soon they brought the veggies and the potatoes. We both LOVED to scalloped potatoes. They were so creamy and full of a nice cheese flavor that we were both impressed. They soon came around with the beef and the pork skewers. Matt and I were so busy eating at this point that all conversation had seized! I took a couple bites of the pork and the steak. I determined that I liked the steak much better. When they brought the turkey and the sausage I tried them both, but was so full at this point that I couldn’t eat any more.

Matt was in heaven. He loves meat! He thought that the steak was just amazing. I ended up giving him most of my meat, and he got a couple seconds! We were certainly full. Little did we know, the best was yet to come! The dessert was just amazing. It was so sweet, and had such a nice flavor and texture. I just can’t say enough amazing things about it. I loved it so much that even though we were both bursting, I ordered a second! We didn’t eat much of it, but I just wanted to taste it one more time. I ordered a coffee with dessert, and I was officially a happy camper!

On the way out Matt declared that it was an amazing meal. He said he was thrilled that we went there. I was really glad, because when I was planning the trip I was worried that the coconut races, limbo, and birthday/anniversary stuff that was going on might annoy him. We weren’t in the main room, so we could only hear what was going on, and it didn’t bother either of us. Matt declared that it was fun. I was glad that ‘Ohana was a hit! Matt actually called his family and told them that they would have to try it the next time they were in town.

After our successful dinner we decided to go to the Magic Kingdom. I don’t really care for this park too much. There is not a ton of stuff that I like to do there, but there are a few things. One thing in particular that I wanted to do on this trip was watch Spectromagic. I hadn’t seen this parade since I was very young, and I was interested in seeing it again. I also wanted to watch Wishes from the park. We had seen Wishes multiple times during the fireworks cruises that we have been on, but I have never sat and watched it in the park. I wanted to do this for this trip. We got to the park around 6:00 which gave us about two hours before we would have to stake out a spot for Spectro. I wanted to sit on the curb on Main Street.

Up Next! Rain, rain, and more rain!

 

[mince]

Great report...thanks!

 

[lookingforward]

Thanks for the reports. I am enjoying them. I think it is nice that you returned to WDW for your first anniversary! Lookingforward to reading more.

 

[DeterminedOne]

I'm glad you enjoyed 'Ohana. Looking forward to the rest of your report.

 

[BeautyNBeast]

My DH and I are going to WDW for our 1st year anniversary in December as well, and we are the same ages as you both, and are also MSU alums. Happy Anniversary! I love Ohana's. We go everytime we go to WDW. I am enjoying your TR!

 

[NewOrleansLady]

We did a few last minute checks, and we were off like a prom dress!

That killed me! Enjoying the report

 

[Mouse511]

Great trip report, can't wait to hear more.

 

[schoen]

Thanks to everyone who has replied. BeatyNBeast, it is nice to know there are other Spartan fans hanging out here! I hope you and your husband have a great Anniversary trip!

 

[schoen]

The weather had been overcast all day, which had actually made it pretty nice. It was certainly hot, but the sun wasn’t blaring down on us. We could tell that rain was on the way though. When we walked in the park we headed straight for Tomorrow Land. I wanted to ride Space Mountain, because I never had before. The line was pretty long, so we decided to fast pass the attraction. Magic Kingdom had extra magic hours that night, so I knew there would be plenty of time to hit all the rides that I wanted.

Matt wanted to go on Pirates, and I wanted to go on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, The Haunted Mansion, and see Mickey’s Philharmagic. We started out looking for Mickey’s Philharmagic, because it was just starting to sprinkle a little bit. We found it pretty quickly. We watched it, and once again it was pretty amazing. I have to say, I don’t think it is my favorite 3-d movies in the parks, but it is always sweet and fun.

We walked outside into rain, thunder, and lightening off in the distance. It wasn’t raining too hard though, so we decided to give BTMRR a try. We found it pretty easily, and once we got there we discovered it was shut down. We thought about getting a fastpass, but we were out of luck, our Space Mountain fastpass wasn’t valid yet.

Matt was still very interested in Pirates, so we went to look for it. Matt insisted that we go to the right, and I knew that we had to go to the left. He was looking at the map though, and he swore that we needed to go to the right. I didn’t argue with him too much, because generally he is right about these things. It soon became clear to him that we were going the wrong way. He was getting a little crabby at this point. He was wet, it was raining steadily with no sign of stopping anytime soon, and he was lost. I suggested that we get into the line for the Haunted Mansion, because we were pretty close.

The wait time said that there was a 20 minute wait, but it was not that long. I love reading the tombstones that are outside the mansion. I noticed the rose that was lying across the stone, and I also enjoyed some of the jokes that were written on some of the graves. I was actually disappointed when the line moved inside! That ride always freaks me out just a little bit because I don’t always like the dark. It is certainly more cute than scary though, and it is overall very enjoyable.

When we exited the ride it was still raining. That was really disappointing to us, but we decided to stay and wait to see if Spectro would go on. It was about 7:20 at this point, and we had just enough time to get to Pirates and then line up on Main Street for the parade. Matt’s inner compass was all messed up, and so I insisted that he just follow me, and we found Pirates with little effort.

Over the years I have just spent more time in the Magic Kingdom than he has, and I basically just know my way around. He accepted that and let me take the lead. The wait for Pirates said 20 minutes, and it was pretty accurate. We got on the ride with few problems though. The details in the ride are pretty impressive. I love the bottles that float in the water. Matt really likes the movie, so he was happy to see Jack. I kept thinking that it would be weird to be Johnny Depp, and have these animatronic versions of you entertaining people everyday. When we were done Matt needed a potty break, and when he got out he was once again very disoriented about which way he should go. It was so weird! Matt is one of those people who knows where he is all the time! He just has to go someplace once, and he can get you back there. It felt pretty good to be able to lead him in the right direction.

Since we were in Frontierland, and the parade was going to start soon, I decided that I should find Aloha Isle and purchase a Dole Whip. I had heard so much about these, and I knew that I wouldn’t be in the Magic Kingdom again anytime soon, so I wanted to try one. I wasn’t very hungry, but I just wanted a taste, so I could have some frame of reference. Matt and I split one. It was hard to eat, because it was still raining pretty hard, and it was also hot. The ice cream was melting and getting wet, but we managed. I have to say that I wasn’t all that impressed with the Dole Whip. I did think it was alright, but I would not go back to get another one. I ate some of it, and then Matt finished it off.

While we ate our ice cream we headed back to Main Street. We were able to locate a spot right on the curb, but people were already starting to line up. We sat and waited for awhile. Matt was starting to get pretty uncomfortable at this point though. It was raining, and he had on Birkenstocks, which aren’t comfortable for him when he is wet. I had brought ponchos for us, but he was too tall for his, so he ended up sitting on the wet concrete. We had a full hour to wait, and he wasn’t happy about it. He knew I wanted to see the parade though, so he complained very little. After a few minutes though, I started to wonder if they would even have the parade. It was raining, and it had been raining for about 90 minutes. I asked a Cast Member, and he said that it would have to stop raining. We assessed the situation, and decided that there was no way it would stop raining. Our fast passes were valid now for Space Mountain, and so we decided to just go on the ride and call it a night.

 

[schoen]

had wanted to ride Space Mountain, because I had only ridden it once, and I didn’t really remember it. I ended up being in the very first car, and I didn’t like it! I like smooth roller coasters, and this one seemed rickety to me. I also didn’t like sitting by myself. Overall, I didn’t enjoy the ride too much. I wondered if maybe I am just getting too old to enjoy roller coasters. I hope not!

When it was over we decided to check once more and make sure the parade wasn’t happening. It wasn’t. We debated sticking around to see Wishes, because they would certainly do that, but we decided against it. I had just eaten too much food to be very comfortable, Matt was soaking, and there was really only one more ride we wanted to go on, and that was Buzz, which had a super long line. We decided to just make our way out of the park, and call it a fairly successful first day.

Our bus ride back was slightly annoying. We had to wait almost twenty minutes for the bus driver to load a wheelchair. I felt bad for the person, because the bus driver clearly didn’t know very well what he was doing. I could tell they were embarrassed. Then he took the world’s longest route back to our hotel. After dropping off the Swan and Dolphin, we were ready to just get out. The bus was packed, There was this poor woman who was holding her toddler, an infant, a giant bag, and an infant car seat in her lap. I don’t even know how she was doing it. Meanwhile her husband was holding the stroller. What are you gonna do?

I was so nervous to go back to our room, because I was afraid that our luggage wouldn’t be there. I was wrong though. Our bags greeted us when we opened the doors to our room. We unpacked and sat on the balcony for awhile. At 10:00 we could see Wishes from our balcony. We could only see the high fireworks, but it was still pretty cool. Shortly after we went to bed and were looking forward to our first full day in the parks, which we would be spending at Epcot!

 

[schoen]

Day 2 August 14th

I was still so excited to be there that I woke up pretty early. Around 7:30 or so. Since we didn’t need to leave for the park until 8:45 for the nine o’clock opening, I stayed in bed and watched some TV. After a half hour or so I woke Matt up and we got ready to go to the park. Epcot is Matt’s favorite park, and so he was very excited to be going. We got ready and were out the door at about 8:50. We knew we would miss the rope drop, but that was fine with us. We walked into a very deserted International Gateway and made our way to Soarin’. As we walked I really tried to take everything in. I was so thrilled there, I just wanted to soak it all in, and really appreciate every second of it.

We were both pretty shocked at the lack of people in the park. Last year when we were here there were masses of people walking into the Land. That was not the case this year. Once we got into the land it was pretty busy, but it wasn’t too bad actually. We quickly obtained a fastpass, and debated hopping on Living with the Land. The wait was already 20 minutes though, and Matt hates that ride, so I told him we would get a fastpass later. We left and decided to get some light breakfast, because we were both starving. We walked into the electric umbrella and we didn’t know if we should be encouraged, or disappointed. There was no one there. The building was open, but we didn’t see anyone inside eating or taking orders. We asked someone cleaning tables if they were open and we were told that they open at 10:30. Oh well. I was a little upset because I was so hungry, and I knew that we had to eat now or it would be too close to 12:00, which is when we had reservations for lunch in Germany. We decided that we would live until 12:00 and we headed over to Test Track.

The line said that there was a 20 minute wait, so we hopped in line. We walked slowly trough the line area, and it took no more than 10 minutes before we were in our car waiting for the ride to begin. I was a little concerned because my back had been hurting a little bit for the past couple of days. It was nothing serious, but I wasn’t looking forward to any jerking, and I didn’t really remember if there was any of that on the ride. Once it started I totally forgot about that. Matt and I sat in the back of a car. Two younger girls and their dad were in front of us. As we were going through the various driving tests that the ride simulates the older of the two girls said “this ride isn’t that fast”

I thought that was kind of funny, because I knew she was in for a fun surprise. When we hit the fast part of the ride she revoked her statement. After the ride was over Matt and I went to check out the picture, and we were surprised to see that there was no picture available. That was quite a shock to us because we had purchased one in December when we came here with his family. We looked at some of the cars, and commented on how this ride might as well be a GM showroom and then we were off. We had a few minutes until our fastpass was ready for Soarin’. We decided to check out as much of Future World as we could.

We decided against Mission to Mars because neither of us loved it, and we both felt like once was enough. Matt also claims that I felt very nauseas after I rode it last year, but I don’t remember this. I wanted to take a couple pills for my back, and we were right next to Club Cool. Matt kept insisting that he didn’t like that place, and he didn’t want to go there. I suggested he go to the bakery and see if there was anything there that he thought looked good.

I headed off to Club Cool and found slim pickins. There was only one flavor that was working, it was a lemon-lime flavored one (can’t remember which country it was from). I started to feel a little weird about popping pills in Disney World. I was only taking Motrin, but I still just felt like maybe I should be somewhat discrete. I located a drink machine that was up against the wall. I could hide out there. I took the pills, refilled my little tiny cup of (free) pop and went to find Matt.

As soon as I walked out of the door I could tell that he wasn’t where we had discussed meeting. Upon looking around though I spotted him walking away from me. I called his name and ran to catch up with him. He saw nothing of interest in the bakery and he came to Club Cool to find me, but he didn’t see me. This makes a lot of sense, because I was hiding. We did a quick time assessment. It was about 10:00 am. We wanted to go to Innoventions, The Living Seas, and Soarin’ before our lunch. We should have plenty of time for all of that.

We headed off to Innoventions. As always the first thing we did was find a computer terminal to take our picture so that we could email to our parents. This is a little bit of a tradition for us. We then found a computer that we could play who wants to be a millionaire on. We did really well! We didn’t need a lifeline until the 64,000$ question. We phoned a friend, and they gave us the wrong information. Oh well, I was starting to get bored with the game anyway. We meandered through the rest of Innoventions. It was REALLY dead. There was not much going on so we headed over to the Living Seas.

I personally REALLY miss the ride that took you through the aquarium. I do NOT like the way they have revamped this area. There are a few favorites that I always enjoy though. I like the manatees and I also like the sting rays I also wanted to see Turtle Talk with Crush. I was a little reluctant, because I knew it would not appeal to Matt. I was right, he wasn’t interested, but there was no line and the show was about to start just as we came in the area. He said we would be silly not to at least try it. That is one of the things I love about Matt. He is pretty willing to try anything once. If he likes it great, if not, he had a new experience. We had to stand, but that was okay. I thought the show was funny, but I have to admit I was sick to death of the word “dude” by the time we left. I was thrilled that we got a chance to see it without a wait. It was pretty early though, so I guess I shouldn’t be too shocked, but still, I felt pretty lucky.

Up next- Epcot day continues, Lunch with the McBorings and Some major Illuminations Pixie Dust!

 

[schoen]

When Turtle Talk was over we looked at some of the aquariums. We were starting to run out of time, so we didn’t dawdle. We looked at the manatees from the aquarium, so we could see them underwater. I don’t think I had ever seen that before. We then went upstairs to view them from the top, which we do all the time. We walked over and got a glimpse into the dolphin tank. We could sort of see the silhouette of a dolphin swimming, but it was NOT a good view. I have often wondered why Disney does not showcase these amazing animals in a better way. I have never really gotten a good look at a dolphin at Epcot. Maybe I am just not finding the right places to look, but it seems to me they could stand to do a better job here. We looked at the big aquarium, we could see through it and into The Coral Reef restaurant. That brought back nice memories of our lunch there last year.

When we were done looking upstairs we headed back down. I wanted to just get a quick look at the rays and the clown fish, and sea horses. The ray pool was very active. There was one smallish ray that was swimming right next to the edge of the tank at the very surface of the water. He was very interactive with me. He followed me, and he kept trying to move towards me. It was a brief moment, but it was very enjoyable.

Once we rushed out of the Living Seas we were in a big hurry to get to Soarin’. Matt was convinced that if we didn’t make it there by the time the fastpass expired we would not be let on. I tried to explain to him that it would be fine. He asked if it was worth risking missing the ride. Since this is Matt’s favorite ride I agreed and we rushed off to the ride.

When we got there we walked right up to the fastpass line, and had no troubles getting in. I always feel like the fastpass return line for this attraction takes longer than other rides. Maybe I am wrong, but it always seems like the fastpass line should warrant even less of a wait than we always have there. We got line and were sent to Concourse A. We rode the ride and found it very relaxing. We were in Row 3, so we were right in the middle. Matt REALLY wants to be in row one some day, but it wasn’t in the cards for us this time. When the ride was over we made our way up the ramp to the exit. I don’t remember what it was that made me realize it, but I didn’t have my purse. I had placed it in the holding area under the seat. I told Matt we had to go back. There were two halls, and Matt said we should go one way. I was pretty sure we should go the other way, and remembering his lack of an inner compass from the night, before I insisted we go my way. Of course, I was wrong! Matt is still the king of directions. We went back to the other concourse, which was a little bit of a walk of shame for me, and we entered the ride from the exit.


I could see the CM there holding people’s belongings. I did a quick survey and didn’t see mine. I went back to the seat I had been sitting in, and my purse was there. My purse is black, and so it was hardly noticeable, but sure enough, it was still there.

I was pretty disappointed in myself for leaving it there. I have a terrible history with losing things, but recently I have been doing so much better. I saw this episode as a setback. Matt told me it was understandable, and at least I remembered it fairly quickly. This acquiesced my conscious, and we were off!

It was time to start making our way to lunch. We still had a half an hour until our seating time. We were starving! We were not sure exactly which one was Germany, but we were fairly sure that we should walk through Meixco and China and around that way. We took our time. The World Showcase had just opened up, and it seemed like we had the whole place to ourselves. We walked past Mexico and drooled over the churros, and then we walked past China.

I got an amazing idea outside of China. It is a tradition of ours to get an egg roll as a snack in WDW. Last year we took a long and arduous walk across the World Showcase to do this in extreme heat, after a huge lunch. Last year it really felt more like a task. This year, we were right there, we were starving, and we still had a little time before lunch. We knew it would put a slight dent in our appetite for lunch, but we also recognized that we were so hungry it would truly serve as an appetizer. We would still be hungry when we were finished with it! There was no line at the Lotus Blossom Café, and we got an order of egg rolls (it comes with two) and used a snack credit for a Diet Coke for us to share. The egg rolls were delicious, probably because we were pretty hungry. I think they were long gone before we even made it out of China! We were pretty pleased with our snack, and we were still hungry for our lunch.

When we got to Germany we located Biergarden, and it was not open yet so we explored the shops in Germany. We went into this store that displayed nothing but beautiful glass ornaments. They were all so cute! I love Christmas ornaments. I buy one to commemorate every trip we take. I love them at Disney, but I could do without a Mickey and Minnie on every ornament, so these really appealed to me. I picked one up that I thought was cute It was 22.50$. That is a lot for an ornament, but I have certainly seen more expensive ones. I then picked up one for 25.00$, and then one for 28.00$. Matt declared that I needed to stop because they kept getting more expensive. I told him that was hogwash. I picked up another one, and sure enough it was 32.50$. Sometimes Matt is so smart.

I thought they would make great gifts for me and my mother. I vowed to keep them in mind, but did not purchase anything just yet. Finally it was time for us to head to Biergarden. I had purposely made a reservation for early in the day. I knew that they would not fill the place up immediately, so I also knew we would basically have the buffet to ourselves. I was also hopeful that we would get our own table. I knew that this was not likely, but I was hopeful.

We were given a buzzer, and we had to wait about ten minutes, but then we were on our way. We were not seated alone, bummer. We were seated with a much older couple from New York. They had come with their daughter and granddaughter, but they had decided to skip the second day in a row of the Magic Kingdom. They were nice, but they were very talkative. This isn’t always a bad thing, but it got to be pretty comical. They love German food, they had been to Biergarden several times, and they made a lot of sausage at home.

I decided to focus on the food. I had got it in my head, randomly, one day shortly before we left that I thought I would enjoy Biergarden. I didn’t want to have dinner there, but I thought a lunch might be nice. I figured we would just pay out of pocket for it. I thought about the food that was offered there, and I realized that I would probably really like it. I figured Matt would like it too, but probably not as much. But seriously, what is not to like? Sausage? Good. Spatzle? Good. Chicken Schnitzel? Good! Matt doesn’t like sauerkraut, but I figured he would be fine.

We made our way up to the buffet and I found myself being a little more adventurous than I might normally be. I figured the sausage would be good here, and I LOVE sausage, so I tried all they had to offer. I took some chicken, pretzel bread, some spatzle and gravy, soup, and some sauerkraut. I was ready to try it all and see where I needed to focus my efforts for my second trip. That is generally my strategy at buffets, I try a little of everything the first go round. I only eat what I really like, and on my second round I focus on what I liked from the first round.

The food was delicious. I don’t know if I just really love German food (that would make sense, I grew up on the stuff) or if we were just so hungry that everything was tasting good! Despite Mr. and Mrs. McBoring at our table, I was really enjoying the food! The McBorings really weren’t that bad anyway. Although, I did feel bad because when we left Matt told me that while Mrs. McBoring and I were up at the buffet Mr McBoring went into extreme detail in explaining the process of making sausage. He gave Matt quite the lesson on casings I guess. Actually, I guess it is fair, because Mrs. McBoring told me about her yearly physical.

The band and show was scheduled to start at 1:15. By 12:45 I had been up to the buffet twice, Matt three times, I had decided that I couldn’t find room for dessert, and we had chatted politely with the McBorings. Neither one of us wanted to stick around for the show. We decided to use two table service credits, and we were off. I have to say, this was certainly at the top of my list in terms of places that we ate. I thought the food was just amazing. I was thrilled. As expected, Matt liked it, but isn’t counting the days until his return. I am trying to come up with ways to lure him back in there though! I loved it.

We were both ready for a break after lunch so we headed back to the hotel. We always love walking to and from Epcot. It almost feels like we are in on some sort of Epcot area resorts secret every time we do it. The location of these resorts is just so worthwhile to me. I asked Matt if he would rather have our studio room at the BWVs or a one-bedroom at Old Key West. He didn’t even hesitate! The Epcot area is just a wonderful way for us to do Disney. My dream vacation would be to stay at a Grand Villa at the Boardwalk! Maybe in some other lifetime…


Up next: More Epcot!