Partying Between the Raindrops (9/29-10/6) UPDATED 7/1 - MK in a Day?

[If U Had Wings]

Hi!

I've been debating for awhile now about doing a trip report. I've been a bit obsessed with reading everyone's trip reports on the boards, but was feeling a bit shy about doing one myself. Finally deceided to live life on the edge and just do it.

The cast:

Me - Chris - 36 The Planner - a bit obssessive about it, but am normally ignored by my family as they think I tend to over plan. (So unappreciated!) This time my BFF has turned complete planning control over to me! (I know you other Diser's have to appreciate that). Normally I average a trip to Disney every 5 years or so, but getting better. Last trip was a family trip last May. My biggest goal for this trip is to finally get to meet the Duckman - Donald . He has been alluding me for years, but I've already warned my friend we are waiting no matter how long to meet him.

BFF - Heather - Slightly older than me. We've been friends since meeting at a part time job in college about 15 years ago. (Ugh has it really been that long ago?) We actually realized a few years ago that we had must have met at one of my cousin's birthday parties when we were about 11 or so, although neither of us remembers meeting - we just know we were both there. Hates planning so had let me do all the planning. Hates planning so much that she has always told us if she ever gets married she's turning all planning over to me and another friend of ours. She was my former concert going buddy (rock and classic rock) until she moved down south and started listening to country music. Favorite characters are Lady and the Tramp so she's a bit put out she'll never get to meet them in the parks. Hasn't been to the MK or Epcot in 21 years, and then only for about a day apiece. Was at MGM about 10 years ago, but only for a half a day.

Both of us are single, never married, no children. I have 2 great nieces who play small parts in my report later on. I couldn't love them more if they were my own kids. We both also work for attorneys and were desperately looking to kick back, laugh and have some fun getting in touch with our inner children.

Some background:
The idea for this trip came up sometime last year after I got back from my family vacation. I was talking incessently about my trip to by BFF and she was getting wistful thinking of how long it had been since she had been to Disney. We started talking about the possiblity of going in about a year or so. I was hopeful for this, but realize that usually when it comes to vacation plans with my friends - something inevitably goes wrong.

This year was no exception when I my office went through a restructuring and I lost my job right before Thanksgiving last year. I had pretty much given up on the idea of a vacation this year, but luckily I found a job by February and would have enough time off coming to be by fall to take a vacation.

My friend was in town in May for a Christening so got together and picked the end of Sept/early Oct for a vacation time and from there it was all on me to plan. I don't know if she realized quite what she was in for!

We deceided on a moderate Disney resort and though I was tempted to try a new resort we booked at my fav. POFQ. I adore the theming, and love the small size. None of the other moderates really appeal to me in the same way - and again my friend didn't care one way or another. By the second week of June our resort was booked and the waiting game had begun.

Next - Off we go!

 

[If U Had Wings]

Day 1 Part 1 or the No, Really it's me Day!

I had decieded to stay over at my parent's house the night before my flight. My father had very kindly offered to drive me to the airport (in exchange I'm going to drive my parents to the airport when they leave for Disney this Saturday). Normally I have always flown Delta out of Hartford and just drive to the airport myself, but the rates this time were just too high. ($220 each way). I booked my flight on Air Tran out of White Plains, NY. I had been warned ahead of time by a cousin that the parking there was very limited, and pricey if you are actually able to get a spot, $25 a day, so having the ride worked out wonderfully.

The alarm went off at 4.45 and we were out the door at 5.30. I'm convinced I've forgotten something, but I've triple checked my list and everythings packed. I am probably the worst morning person ever, but I try my best to not be too cranky since someone is actually doing me a favor at this ungodly hour of the morning. My father on the other hand is a morning person, and is way too happy and cheerful for someone who isn't even going to Disney for another month.

There is no one on the road, and in no time at all we are getting off the highway, driving past the Greenwich mansions and pulling into the airport. My father drops me off and takes off.

The White Plains airport may just be the smallest airport I've ever flown out from. What a difference from the NYC and Hartford airports! First hint that this is going to be a bit different is the lack of curbside checkin. I make my way through the doors - so small! The airport consists of only a handful of counters and one main luggage check in area. I hop in line and find the first of the many wonderful friendly people I met on my vacation. I've been to Disney several times before, but never have I met so many great people as I have this trip. It was pretty much a constant for us this trip. I can't even count how many wonderful friendly people we met along the way.

Only had to wait about 5 minutes to check in and get rid of the luggage. It's now about 6.30 and my flight doesn't leave until 8.20. I grab my carry on bag and take off to explore before heading through the gate. There is just one small problem. There is no where to go! Up one escalator is a small coffee shop, up another escalator is an observation platform and that is about it. That took all of 10 minutes so I decieded that I was a little hungry so I headed to the coffee shop. Amazingly enough it was quite affordable considering it was at an airport, in Westchester county. For $5 I had a sandwich and a soda - not too bad.

With nothing else to see I headed over to the gate where I was given a minor heart attack by the security guard there. I was the diligent traveler. I took off my shoes, pulled out my liquids bag, handed over my laptop and walked up to show my boarding pass and ID to the guard. He looks at the ID, turns, takes a look at me, looks back at the ID squinting a bit, takes a look at me. He repeats this several times before asking me - "Are you sure this is you?" Umm - yes! I know my hair is a different color than it was last year when the picture was taken, and I don't have bangs any longer, but really - look at the face it's me. I'm now completely freaking out . I'm mentally trying to think if I have something else with me that has my picture on it. He finally deciedes to give me the benefit of the doubt and lets me through. I start to breath normally again.

White Plains airport has all of two gates, so seating is pretty crowded already. I try to read a little of my book, while watching a Jet Blue flight board from out on the tarmac. I try to give my friend a call, but she must already be on her flight. Finally a little before 8 we start to board. I think there is all of 10 of us who don't get to pre-board since everyone else gets to pre-board with children. I take my seat and of course there is the requiste kid behind me kicking the back of the seat - the one thing I hate about trips to Disney World. Every time I fly to Disney there is one behind me and the parents never stop the kids from doing it. Even if the kid didn't listen, I'd appreciate seeing at least an attempt to stop the kid. At least there are no screaming kids on the flight.

The flight was the best kind - uneventful. I drank my 1/2 can soda (why do they never give you the entire can?) and watched a few episodes of Charmed on my laptop. (Never watched the show when it was originally on, but started watching it on TBS. I'm completely hooked, especially the early ones with Prue). We actually arrived at MCO 20 minutes early, but there were no available gates so still didn't get off the plane until right on time. It is warm and sunny and I'm getting more and more excited to be there.

The ME counter was a bit hard to find. I made it down to the right level and then there were no signs directing anyone where to go. I was standing there with a few other familys looking perplexed until a worker wandered by we could ask. Now off in the right direction I find the counter. The line is huge! It is wrapped all through the maze and stretched back a few feet. It is not helped any by the people who refuse to listen to the cast members requesting that only one member of a party wait in line. The party in front of me consists of Mom, Dad, 2 kids, grandma and grandpa. Grandma is flat out refusing to move from the line. Ugh!

My friend finds me in line. She tells me that she got in about an hour before me, and there was no one in line at the ME counter at that point. She was able to walk right up. Figures, just my luck! I finally get through the line and my friend and I go to get in the line for the Downtown Disney resorts. The line for our resort was the longest of all of them. Definitely a sign of things to come on this trip!

Next up - How much Disney can you squeeze into a 1/2 day?

 

[If U Had Wings]

Day 1 Part 2

Wow, somehow a week got past me since my last entry. How in the world did that happen? I promise I'll be better from now on, really!

Just for a bit of edification first, I thought I'd show a comparison of my license pic and one of just me to show why I was getting a bit annoyed at the airport.

First my license pic - taken only last October:

and a picture of me from Easter:

It looks about the same now, accept it's not that red any longer. (That was a bit of an accident). Really though, slightly different style and color and this guy wasn't going to let me through. I think it still looks like me. Point learned though. Next time I'll have to update my license first.

Anyways back to the trippie!
We hope into the long line for the DD resorts and have to wait for awhile to get going. The first bus that comes by fills up, and we are one of the first people on the second bus. We are having fun chatting and catching up, but we keep gazing longingly at the short lines to the other resorts. We are both as excited as all the little kids around us to be getting to Disney.

Finally our bus arrives, and I swear just as we are getting onboard raindrops start to fall. Nothing major - just a light misting. We are fairly unphased and hop onboard. We grab a seat in the front of the bus and sit back and relax watching the video and chatting with the bus driver about the love bugs that are all over the windshield of the bus. Yuck!

POFQ is the first bus stop. The love bugs here are really thick. While I'm waiting for the driver to pull out my carry on bag they are landing all over my head and just swarming around my face. I feel completely gross, and even once I'm inside I keep feeling like they are still on me. We make a run for it into the lobby to avoid them.

Ah! I love being back at POFQ. I love this resort! I hear the jazz music wafting around and I feel so happy. We head over to the check in desk and are waited on immediately. A wonderful cast member (I hate that I forgot to make note of his name) greats us with a welcome home and the wonderful news that our room is ready early. (It's a about 1pm at this point). He also tells me that case of water I had ordered from Staples has arrived, and he will have it sent over to the room with our luggage. He hands over our pile of paperwork and goodies and we are off to our room in building 7. (7128).

We make a quick check of our room. There is a cute towel animal waiting for us! Aww! We don't want to waste anymore time in our room though. It's park time! I grab my poncho and umbrella and we are off. It's not a bad walk to the bus stop from our room. The sky though is getting more ominous as we head over. My friend insists though that she doesn't need anything. Hmmm - okay.

We don't have to wait too long to grab a bus to the MK. I had originally planned to spend the entire first day at Epcot, but today is the only day we will get to ride BTMR before it closes for it's refurb so MK it is! Just as we are getting off the bus it starts to rain in earnest. I throw my poncho on and loan my friend my umbrella. We deciede to ride the train first and head over to Frontierland. The rain is still coming down fairly hard when we get to Frontierland so we stay on the train and make a round trip around the park. By the time we get to Frontierland again the rain has stopped.

Headed over to BTMR and they had a 10 minute wait posted. Yah!!! We hop into to line, and there is no one there. We probably waited only about 5 minutes or so to board. Just as we were getting ready to board, I noticed that the people getting off as we were boarding were awfully wet. Obliviously I figured that they had rode Splash Mountain before this ride and hopped on. Now I notice that the car itself is looking awfully wet as well. As soon as we get outside I realize that it is now downpouring out! It definitely added a new sensation to the ride. Kind of added to it actually. The rain was pouring down, and your watching this mining town flooding, it kind of fit. By the last few turns we couldn't even look up anymore because the rain was hitting us right in our faces. We thought it was a blast and were laughing the entire ride.

Headed over to the Haunted Mansion to check out the refurb before going to Pecos Bills for a quick snack. Our dinner reservations were at 7pm and and we needed something to hold us over. Since we were wet anyways we headed over to Splash Mountain. A 20 minute wait was posted there, but we only waited about 10 minutes or so. We got put in the first car, but were so wet it didn't even matter.

After Splash Mountain we deceided to head over to Pirates. I'm dying to see the updates on Pirates, and it was closed on my last trip. Love the changes! The Davy Jones affect is great, and I always love me some Captain Jack.

We get off and deciede to head over to Main Street and poke around for awhile before heading over to Epcot. On our way though I see the sign for the Captain Jack meet and great at the old Adventureland Terrace and drag my friend along to get in line. I had 3 characters I wanted to meet on this trip and Captain Jack was number 2. (After Donald and before the Beast). There was a 20 min. wait posted, and I'd say that was pretty much how long we waited. The set up was much like the Princess set up in Toontown. Your kept from seeing anything while your waiting in line until they bring you into the room in small groups. We were brought into Jack's treasure room with 2 other families. It was great. The room was themed wonderfully, packed with all kinds of gold and goodies. Jack was great too. When we all first walked in, he was sitting in a chair with his head down until a cast member told him he had visitors. He got up, and started walking around the room tossing gold coins around in perfect character. He was wonderful with the kids in front of us. One of the kids was scolding him for having such a messy room and he really had fun with that. We were the last in our group to meet Jack, so we got to have him all to himself. He was as great with us as he was with the little kids. We got a big "Ladies!" when we went to meet him, and I got teased about my hat that had thoroughly wilted thanks to all the rain ("Nice Hat" a la Wil Turner). I had been a bit wary before my trip about meeting any face characters thinking I'd feel dumb, but I had a blast. Maybe one of these days I will do a Princess meal! Here's my pic with Jack.

The rain was starting to come down again so we decieded to head over to Epcot early. It ended up being a lovely way to end the night.

Next - Where is everyone?

 

[disneyaddicted]

I am really enjoying your trip report, I can't wait to read more.

 

[If U Had Wings]

So happy to see a visitor visiting my report. I was thinking I was doing this for myself.

Day 1 Part 3 - Where are all the People?
By the time we got off the monorail the skies had opened up and it was downpouring out. Thunder, lighting the whole bit. We made a run of it to Spaceship Earth and poked around for awhile in the gift shop. The umbrella my friend was borrowing wasn't helping her much at all. Our ADR time was fast approaching now, but we didn't want to chance going out with the lighting. Finally it eased up and we were able to head over to the Mexican pavillion. Thank goodness it's not that far to the Mexican pavillion.

My 6 year old DN is one of the sweetest kids I know. She is very thoughtful, and has a real little old lady mentality about her in which she worries and frets about the rest of her family all the time. (Her wildcat little sister is going to be the death of her one of these days). She had called me right before I left for vacation with very explicit directions on where I could meet my favorite man Donald. She knew that I had my heart set on this, and since she had met Donald twice on her last trip to Disney (a few weeks earlier) she now considered herself the expert. She's so sweet - she was so worried that I wouldn't meet him again this trip that she had to keep telling me where to find him. I think in the time between her vacation and mine she had my brother call me 5-6 times to go over where to find Donald. One of the spots she had told me about was outside of Mexico with Jose. Unfortunately thanks to the weather no Donald was around. I don't know if I was more sad I didn't meet him because of her, or for me!

We head in to check in for dinner. I have always wanted to try the San Angel Inn, but the rest of my family isn't really big on Mexican food. I am excited to be trying it this trip, but a bit wary as well due to many of the poor reports here on the DIS. We check in at the podium and are given our beeper, and go off wandering around the gift carts. I stop myself from buying everything Donald I find. It's the first day of vacation and I've really made it a goal to not make any frivolous purchases on this trip. (That's the plan at any rate). The beeper scares the bejezus out of me when it starts talking to me. All of a sudden it's lighting up, buzzing and verbally telling me our table is ready. I was not expecting the thing to actually talk. Our entire vacation this is the only beeper that actually spoke.

The restaurant isn't too crowded. It looked like plenty of tables were available. Our waiter is very friendly and explains the meal plan to us. The atmosphere is really lovely there, but the reports of it being awfully dark are true. It was a bit of a challenge to read the menus. We follow the recommendations from the DIS and order our appeitzers and wait to order our entrees. For appetitzers my friend ordered the Nachos and I had the Sope Tradicional. The nachos appeared to be your typical nachos to me, but my friend really seemed to enjoy them. I really liked the Sope Tradiconal. The meat and spices were delicious. I wasn't as thrilled with the consistancy of the corn shell base - it was a bit too soft, but it tasted good. I just have a thing sometimes about food with a soft consistancy.

For dinner my friend had the Camerones Con Fideos. She really liked it, but felt it was a bit light on the shrimp and a bit heavy on the pasta. I'm not a big shrimp person so I didn't have a taste. It did look like there wasn't much shrimp there though. I had the Puntoas De Filete. Yummmm! I highly recommend it! It was one of my favorite entrée's of the entire week. At home I never eat beef other than the occasional burger if I'm out, but when I'm on vacation I like to indulge a bit. This was delicious - just a bit spicy. My mouth waters just thinking about it. I was getting full, and wanted to try some dessert so I finally had to stop eating it. So sad! We both had the Flan for dessert and enjoyed it.

After dinner we rode the boat ride. (I can't think of the new name of it at the moment). I loved the changes to it. Love seeing Donald in it! The ride definitely looks less dated now. I was also happy to see the part gone at the end where the people in the market used to follow you trying to get you to buy things. I used to get a kick out of it until I went on a cruise to Cozumel once and was sick of them really doing that. Wasn't so entertiaining in person!

Luckily the rain had stopped again. It was about 8.30 by now so I figured we had better head outside to hunt down a spot for Illuminations. I wasn't even hoping for a good spot, just a spot at this point. We came out of the pavillion to find the lagoon virtually empty. Shockingly empty. It was 8.30 and there wasn't a soul wating along the railings. A few people were wandering around at the Food and Wine kiosks, but that was about it. I've never seen it that empty! I'm guessing that the rain chased people away. We deceided to walk around the lagoon and head towards the American Pavillion. We are both beginning to feel really beat at this point. We made it over to America, bought a few pins and lanyards, and sat down to watch the end of the Al Stewart concert. We left a few minutes before it ended to head over to Italy where we are able to stake out a prime viewing location right on the railing by the gondolas. I think it was the best spot I've had in years for the show. My friend really enjoyed the show. It's very different from the old Illuminations show that she remembered.

After the show we made the hike back to the buses and the rain starting to fall again. At the bus stop we had a good time chatting with group of women in front of us who had smuggled their wine out with them. Luckily the wait wasn't too bad for the bus. Made it back to the room to find our luggage and the water had shown up while we were gone. I tend to be a real night person so about this time I started getting a second wind and made a run over to the food court to pick up mugs and fill them with soda. I wanted to hit the hot tub, but it was raining yet again so instead I unpacked and started going over the plan for the rest of the week. My friend realized about this time that I'm nuts. She showered and crashed while watching the 10 Best Things at Disney channel. Finally some sleep before our first full day in the parks!

 

[OhMari]

Hi great start to your Tr.

I used to frequent the 3chicks board. I'll have to take a look and see how they are doing.

 

[If U Had Wings]

It's been ages since I've updated this trip report, and honestly I really didn't think I'd be finishing it. I've had a change of heart though lately, and I've been overtaken with an urge to update this. Primarily so I have a record of my trip.

Day 3 arrived and the plan was to hit the Animal Kingdom. We didn't seem to get nearly enough sleep when the alarm started going off. Nevertheless we were at the food court at 7:30, ate, dumped our mugs off in the room and ran off to the bus stop. This is when I had my one and only dis meet of the entire week. Before leaving home I had run to Home Depot at the last minute to pick up some LGMH. I hadn't had enough time to laminate them or protect them, and with all the rain they were already looking a bit rumpled hanging off of my backpack. Still I was spotted by ThunderCat One. (I'm not sure of the exact spelling of her dis name that's just my best guess). She was heading off to Animal Kingdom herself, so while we waited for the bus we had fun chatting about the boards.

This is though where I had to explain to my bff what in the world the Dis boards where, and how in the world this woman knew I posted on these boards. Lets just say she definitely thought I was a bit nuts after this. I think she was afraid that I had joined some kind of cult without her knowledge.

My LGMHs fell off and where lost during the week, so I didn't really get to meet any other Dissers sadly.

We got to the Animal Kingdom just before rope drop to find a minimal crowd waiting there for the park to open. I was armed with a pocket size copy of the UG plan for AK. My friend had never been to AK before, and we were going to see everything. I was ready to go and as soon as the park opened we headed over to Kilamajaro Safari's, then headed over to pick up Everest fast passes. Then we headed over to Dino to hit the next attractions on my list - Primeval Whirl and Dinosaur. We were waylayed by Nemo. The show was seating and had no line so we chose to see it then instead of waiting for the afternoon. The show played to a half empty theater. I was still so amazed at how quiet all the parks where. I liked Nemo, but prefer the old Tarzan show. I seem to be a minority on this one, but I really liked the Tarzan show. It had so much action and activity. I loved how everything in the show was going on all around you. Nemo was fine though. I don't know if I'd consider a "must" though.

After Nemo we got back on plan and hit the rides over in DinoLand, and use our fast passes at Everest. After Everest is when I managed to ruin the plan all on my own. The plan called for us to hit Kali, Flights of Wonder and the Maharaja Jungle Trek before lunch. We decieded though to run over to Camp Minnie Mickey since there was a Lion King Show due to start. We were a litle early so we caught the Pocahontas show, and then the Lion King show right afterwards. We couldn’t believe the luck we were having just walking right into and onto everything. I've never been that lucky!

Then it happened. We were all set to head over to Kali, and I saw the tent. The Duck. Donald himself, just a few feet away from me. Now don't get me wrong, I love Mickey. He's cute, and this all started with him, but lets face it...he's a bit white bread. He's nice and all, but really a bit dull. I like my guys with a little edge to them, when they have a little attitude. Donald - all attitude. He's the man.

I could practically taste it. After years of trying, I was finally going to meet my man. I grabbed my friend and dragged her over to the line. Of course right after we get in line, he sneaks off to take a break. No matter. I wasn't moving. Nope. I wasn't moving until I met Donald. I was more antsy than any kid once Donald came back and I was waiting more or less patiently in line for my turn. When it came I handed over my photopass over to the photographer and ran to meet the duck. I had the photographer laughing. He said that he hadn't kids as excited as I was, or smile as much as I was. I even let my friend into a few pictures. I felt like I was 8 again.

Was it worth blowing my plan over? Check out my smile -

Right after we left, I called my DN to let her know that I had met Donald in one of her spots. I didn't want her to worry about me any longer. She was so happy for me. She's just the sweetest kid.

So with the plan blown we headed to find some lunch. Let me just say for the record that the AK needs more places to eat. The selection seemed really small. Part of it was timing for us. Tusker House was closed for refurbishment while we were down there, and Yak and Yeti was still under construction so that really left us with Pizzafari or Flame Tree BBQ. I was in the mood for neither. I really didn't want Disney's excuse for pizza, and I'm not a huge fan of BBQ. I was hungry though. My BFF loves BBQ though so I headed over there with her and decieded to just get the fruit plate, which the cm told me would be the best fruit plate I ever had.

With the oddities of the food plan, I was told that I also got to pick out a side. There really isn't much that goes with a fruit plate though. I ended up getting onion rings and key lime pie for my desert. Then we went off in search of seats. For a park that was pretty dead that day, there were practically no seats to be had, at least none that had even a little bit of shade. After circling around for about 10 minutes, we finally got lucky when a nice family got up and called us over to give us their table. Not completely shady, but at least it was out of the direct sun. I can't even imagine how horrible that seating area must be in the middle of summer. Oh, and the fruit plate was very good. They give you tons, it was very filing. The key lime pie was to die for.

After lunch we hit Kali River falls. I managed to stay fairly dry through most of the ride, but was hit badly by the people on the overpass with the quirt gun things. Honestly, I got more wet from that then from the ride. After that we hit the bug show (awfully cold in there after Kali), walked the Maharja Trek, and caught the Jungle Jammin parade. My BFF wanted to ride the train, so we took it out to Rafiki's Conservation station. I think that was the first time I had been out there. We didn't stay though, just came back. By then it was after 4 already. We had a 5:50 ADR for dinner so we started heading towards the entrance.

I still can't believe that it was as slow as it was, and we still managed to miss the Pangani trail and the Flights of Wonder. I was obviously slipping. We made it out to the entrance and headed out for our adr.

 

[If U Had Wings]

Day 3 Part 2

After leaving AK we headed out to the bus stop to catch a ride over to the AKL for our Boma ADR. I fell in love with AKL after getting bumped up to the lodge back in 2003. Having a family wedding to attend to in th Fort Lauderdale area, my parents and I decieded to make a week of it and squeeze in a few days at Disney. A week before we were to leave Connecticut we received a call from Disney telling us that the resort we had booked at (POFQ) was going to be closing for renovations (the entire resort - not just a few buildings), and we were going to have to change to another moderate resort. Much discussion followed. My parents hadn't really liked Riverside when they had stayed there previously due to the large size - which was the same issue that was facing us for the rest of the resorts. To say we were disappointed was putting it mildly. I called Disney back to let them know that we weren't happy, not with the intention of trying to get something for nothing, but just so they knew.

The CM I spoke with put me on hold, and then came back with an offer to upgrade us to a deluxe resort (standard view) for $120 a night. She suggested AKL since it was the newest at the time, but for the most part we had our choice of resorts. We jumped on it, especially as we had been due to pay more per night for our moderate room! When we got to AKL we got upgraded to a Savannah view. It was absolutely fantastic, and one of those once in a lifetime upgrades we don't expect to see again.

Anyways, back to 2007, I had been wanting to get back to AKL, and try out one of the restaurants there and just see the place again. We got there early, and wandered around the gift shop until our table was ready. Oddly enough when we were seated, the place was half empty, so I don't know why the wait, or why they were turning people away at the podium. Odd.

Boma is definitely a place that is going to garner a second visit. (or 2, or 3…) I am a big fan of soups, and the variety of the soups were fantastic. I loved the Muligitawny Soup. Our server recommended the carrot ginger soup, and that was phenomenal as well. Those were the standouts for me, although I loved the watermelon rind salad as well. I love buffets because they let me try things I normally wouldn't order. They give you the chance to try out all kinds of things. I let myself be pretty adventerous at Boma, and was glad I did. I still crave Zebra Domes!

The cm's at Boma were great too. There was one working at the Buffet who I got to talk to for a few minutes, about the food and Disney in general. I don't know why, but this trip I kept meeting the friendliest people - both cm's and guests. It seemed everywhere we went people were just more chatty then usual. We'd be in line somewhere, or walking around and we'd find ourselves in conversations with really wonderful people. Maybe it had to do with the lack of crowds in the parks - people weren't quite as fried. Irregardless it was a lot of fun.

After dinner we wandered out to the Savannah and checked out the animals for awhile before catching the bus to Downtown Disney to get back to POFQ. Since we were already at Downtown Disney we decieded to do a bit of shopping. I managed to get through unscathed. I was determined this trip not to do lots of unnecessary shopping. My BFF did a bit of damage at the Art of Disney. She's a huge Lady and the Tramp fan so she picked up a few figurines while we were there and had them shipped home.

By this point we were getting pretty worn out and decieded to just head back to our room. We had contemplated going to Pleasure Island to go to the Adventurers Club, but there was no way we'd be able to hang out there and then be at Epcot in the morning for the 25th anniversary celebration. We chose the party at Epcot in the morning, so left PI. We took the boat back which was nice. My last trip to POFQ the boats were shut down due to West Nile virus threats. I liked getting to check out the other resorts along the water. Old Key West is definitley being put on my resort "wish" list.

I comtemplated hitting the hot tub when we got back to the room, but it looked pretty crowded so I chose not to bother. (I'd love to see them make the hot tubs at the resorts bigger, as they seem to be pretty popular). I filled up my soda cup and went back to the room.

Day 4 was going to be Epcot's anniversary celebration, and we didn't want to miss it.

 

[wdwnomad]

Great report so far. Glad to see if up and running again. I was at POFQ the same time as you. I like reading people's trip reports when I was there.

 

[irishelysia]

enjoying your trip report! can't wait to read the rest.

 

[If U Had Wings]

Day 3 and it was already getting tough to wake up. I am not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination so I reluctantly pulled myself out of bed while my BFF slept awhile longer. She showered the night before to allow herself this luxury. I would never be able to wake up without that water falling on me so am doomed to have to wake up early on vacation.

We needed to get to Epcot early to sign in for the Celebration 25 festivities that were going on at Epcot. I had heard about them on a thread here on the disboards, and had registered for them just in case I could talk my friend into going. She was all for it. We arrived at Epcot at about 8:15 and signed in with no problems. We got our vintage Epcot maps, yellow lanyards, Epcot birthday pins, and schedules and then headed over for the rope drop.

Once the rope dropped we rushed over to Soarin to pick up fast passes. I think nearly everyone else in the crowd had the same idea because we seemed to be walking in a large mass of people.

Once we got our fast passes we headed back over to the fountain to get spots for the rededication ceremony. The humidity was really building and the sun was peeking out a bit, making hanging around feel very uncomfortable. My bff decieded she wanted to go to Mouse Gears and check out what they had, so I stayed to hold our spots. I kept seeing a non-Disboards podcaster that I also listen to near me, but was too shy to approach and say hi. (Just felt weird). Didn't want anyone to think I was some kind of stalker.

There was a really friendly older couple standing near me, that I started to chat with while waiting for the ceremony to begin. They were frequent visitors to Disney and had been at Epcot on it's opening day. The gentleman was telling me that over the years, he think that nearly every ride in the MK has broken down while he was on it. He was telling me how once while being on the last ride of Space Mountain of the night it broke down while he was on it, and he was stuck on it for an hour. His wife was waiting for him outside and had no idea where in the world he was. He said walking out of the park was a surreal experience as the park had completely emptied out and they were the only ones around.

By now my friend is still MIA. The crowd is begining to build, and it's getting harder to save her space. I am getting a bit perturbed, but am trying not to let it get to me. (It is Disney after all).

Everyone waiting is in a good mood, and they are playing all the old EPCOT Center music which was alot of fun. People were humming along quietly until they started playing the old Universe of Energy song. The first few notes started playing and suddenly the crowd was singing out loud. Everyone kind of looked around at each other a bit sheepishly, laughed, and then launched into a full volume singalong. At the end one guy yelled out "Keep Rocking EPCOT!" and the whole crowd laughed. After that then played the old One Little Spark song and anyone left not singing was pulled in with the rest of the crowd.

Still no friend.

Then the ceremony started and was really nice and moving. They had representatives from the different countries come on stage carrying water jugs filled with water representing great rivers in their countries and poured them all into the fountain at the same time to rededicate the park. Some nice speeches about Epcot was really just begining.

The festivities this morning where really one of the highlights of the trip. I don't know why it felt so different from other things I've been to at Disney, but these felt really heartfelt, and more spontaneous than other things. No one was out there telling people to start singing, it just happened. Out of the blue from people having a good time together. I had such a wonderful feeling to it.

Of course now I am missing my friend in a crowd of people. Will I find her??? Will the sun stay out? Stay tuned.

 

[If U Had Wings]

When we left our last trip report I was standing in the middle of a breaking up crowd, missing my bff who went off shopping and didn't come back.

I decided to do what you tell kids to do and just stay put. I figured, that she knew where I was - she could find me. Eventually she did find me - bringing gifts with her:

Figment! She had bought the last two 25th anniversay Figments in Mousegears, which is why she got tied up and wasn't able to make it back through the crowd.

We had a discussion over the rest of our plans for the day. I wanted to partake in the rest of the 25th Celebration activities. They were having Imagineer speeches and walk around tours. My friend just wanted to ride the rides and see the sights as it had been years since she had been to Epcot. We ended up going with making the rest of the day a normal park day. We headed over to hit Test Track and Mission Space. I wanted to be sure we got on Test Track before the rain started, as the sky was getting darker and more ominous looking.

From there we headed over to Soarin to use our fast passes. My friend was worried that I had hyped the ride up too much and she was going to hate it. Luckily this wasn't the case and she ended up loving Soarin. Had lunch at the pavillion and then rode Living with the Land, and watched the Circle of Life film to close up that pavillion. Hit the rest of the sites on that side of the park. I liked the new Nemo ride, but it was so short! We were hoping to meet Figment at Figment's place, as he is one of my bff's favorite characters, but alas his meeting spot place was empty when we went in. By this time the rain was starting again so we spent a lot of time dodging raindrops to the different attractions.

From there we headed over to Canada, making our way around World Showcase. We got maybe about 1/2 way around and decieded that maybe we should start heading over to the Poly for our dinner ADR. We had made the ADR before we had found out about the 25th anniversary party. I had tried to get an ADR at Epcot so we wouldn't have to leave and miss the special fireworks, but we couldn't get any for the places we wanted. In the end we just kept our Ohana reservation.

The sky was beginning to look threatening again so we wanted to start early. We decieded to take the boat launch across World Showcase Lagoon. Practically as soon as we got on the boat, it started to downpour. Monsoon rain. When we reached the other side, no one wanted to leave the protection of the awning on the dock.

We put on our ponchos and made a run for it to the small gift shop at the beginning of world showcase on the Mexico side. It was raining so hard, you could barely see through the rain drops. The cast members were actually opening and closing the doors manually to keep out the rain. The rain was so bad that we couldn't leave the shop without risking complete drenching. Even with our ponchos. So we just hung back and waited. For about a half hour, 45 minutes or so.

This is when we saw our first moments of dubious parenting on this trip. (Both of which involved the rain). I felt incredibly bad for a small boy about 6 years old standing in the middle of the store crying hysterically. The boy had no poncho, and was completely soaked. The poor thing wasn't even mildly dry. Soaked. He was crying that he was so cold, and I could see him shivering from across the room. The mom was yelling at him to be quiet and stop whining. What did he expect her to do about it. Finally the dad showed a bit of sense and told her to buy him a sweatshirt. Hopefully he picked up a poncho for the boy as well.

After waiting for so long we were beginning to be afraid that we would miss our ressies. We saw a small easing of the rain, and decieded to take a chance and make a run for it. Pools of water everywhere! I felt like we were running through a wading pool.

By the time we reached the monorail we were feeling bedraggled and cold. We didn't have enough time to head back to POFQ before dinner so we headed over to Poly for our 8:45 ADR.

 

[If U Had Wings]

Ahhh, Home! When I was a kid we made several trips to WDW and always stayed at the Poly. I hadn't really been back there since 1988 which had been my last family trip before graduating from high school. After 88' Disney started building the moderate resorts and the price of the Poly skyrocketed out of my reach. It felt wonderful to return! On my last visit to the Poly it was still the Coral Isle Café, instead of the Kona café, and Ohana was something different as well although I can't remember what it was. If I remember correctly it was a bit more geared towards adults, a bit more of a "signature" meal. Could be wrong on this one though as it was so long ago.

We made it to the check in desk about 15 minutes before our reservation, and were seated right on time. I had made the ADR's at 8:45 so we could watch Wishes. We weren't able to get a window seat , but did get a table towards the back of the restaurant right near the fire pitts. When we sat down they were teaching the kids to hula and they were all singing the huki la song (sp?). They were just wrapping that up as they started bringing us our food, which was nice. We had a relatively quiet meal.

I do have to say that they wait on you very quickly here. We had to tell them to slow down. We had barely started to eat our fried wontons and dipping sauces when they started bringing out the next items. Next time I will tell them to take it slow as soon as we are seated. That was the only minor issue we had during our meal.

The meal itself was a surprise. My BFF had picked Ohana when, try though I might, we were unable to score a Le Cellier ADR for dinner. I thought many times of cancelling our Ohana ADR after reading many bad reviews about dried out, bad food there. We were so glad I didn't!

The food was delicious. My friend loved the shrimp. I didn't have any as I really only like cooked shrimp, but she said it was delicious. We fought over the yummy grean beans. (Actually had to get some seconds on those). The turkey was very moist and juicy, the steak was tender, and I even really liked the pork and I don't usually like pork at all. The sausage was the only item that we didn't like. It wasn't bad, but it was a bit dry and flavorless. Very disappointing as I usually love sausage. And the potatos. Yummm. I don't want to think about how sad I am that they got rid of the potatos for noodles.

The best part of the meal was last though. The banana bread pudding! The fireworks ended up starting late that night so our desert arrived just as Wishes was starting. Delicious! We cleared the plate completely. We were feeling a bit guilty about that, until we looked over at the table next to us. It was a table of 4 men, about our ages (late 30's, early 40's). They each had polished off one family size plate apiece. That's a lot of banana bread pudding! Their plates were practically licked clean. (Just as aside…we thought it was too cool that there were a table of guys out enjoying Disney. You never seem to see that as much as the groups of women.)

Anyways, we really loved Ohana. Our rankings of our table service meals so far:
1) Boma
2) Ohana
3) San Angel

We finally rolled ourselves out the door and headed back to the monorail. My BFF wanted to ride the monorail for a round trip so we did, then dopey me for some reason though we needed to catch our bus back to POFQ at the TTC. Needless to say as most of you probably already know you can't do this, so we hopped on the monorail again, and made another trip around back to the MK. I think we got riding the monorail out of our system for awhile. Seriously though I'm nearly postive that I remember catching a bus to the POFQ from the TTC in the past. Obviously the brain is failing me.

Again I had wanted to try out the hot tub again, but once again the rain was falling so no hot tub. I was beginning to get a bit sick of the rain to be honest. I walked over to the food court to refill our mugs for the night, then headed back to the room to organize my stuff for the next day.

 

[If U Had Wings]

Day 4 was our Magic Kingdom day. The alarm went off bright and early much to the dismay of both of us. The pace was beginning to catch up with us. It was tough though, as the rain was already falling and it really would have been a perfect day to stay inside. Still we dragged ourselves up and out the door, ponchos on yet again, and headed over to the MK. We made it there just in time for rope drop, and headed over to Tomorrowland. The park was dead. I don't think that I've ever seen the MK quite that dead. We started off on Space Mountain, and then headed over to Buzz. Had so much fun that we rode Buzz two more times.

From there we headed over to Fantasyland, where we practically had the place to ourselves. We went through and hit Pooh, Snow White, Peter Pan, Small World and Philarmagic. By the time we were getting done with this it was only about 10 am. Can't recommend enough staying in the parks if it's raining. The rain was slowing down a bit so the crowd was building a bit, but still didn't get bad.

We headed over to Frontierland to ride Splash Mountain and the Haunted Mansion. We also got to ride the Riverboat, which I don't think I had done in years.

Headed over to Pecos Bill's for burgers before watching the Country Bears and Pirates. Stopped to get a Dole Whip for my BFF. I've never tried one myself. I want to, but my feelings on pineapple are a bit iffy sometimes. Now if they were orange I could really get behind that. Thought we'd head over to watch the afternoon parade. We found a good viewing spot, and I went off to get an ice cream cone. As soon as I got out of the parlor the rain started coming down heavily again. We sat and watched the parade, but in the process managed to soak our butts thouroughly. We were both feeling miserable from the wet clothing so decieded to head back to the room to get changed.

When we got back to the MK we managed to get on the rest of the rides in Adventureland. (Plus some more Pirates!) I made my BFF walk to the top of the treehouse againster her better judgment. Swiss Family treehouse is the one attraction that I have to do everytime I go to Disney, even if no one else does it. I don't know why I love it so much, but it's very much a favorite of mine. Maybe it's because I've always harbored fantasies of hiding away there and not going home.

It was just about time to head over to Main Street for our ADR at Tony's