Hi guys! We are back from a fantastic trip! This will be long, so please be patient and I'll try to remember as much as I can! Our group consisted of myself, the Mom and master trip planner, my husband, who finally got excited about a week before the trip, my 17 yr. old son, and 13 yr. old daughter.
Day 1 - arrival
Our alarm went off at 3:00 a.m. on Monday. My daughter informed me that she woke up around mid-night and could not go back to sleep. I told her I woke up at 1:45! We were out the door by 4:15 and headed for the airport. Our flight took off at 6:00 and went very smoothly. Between Houston and Orlando we were served Cheerios and raisins...yuk! Arrived in Orlando on time and I could just barely contain myself from what was about to occur. You see, this was our 20th wedding anniversary and I had a surprise for the entire family. They expected a Tiffany towncar to pick us up, but I had secretly arranged for a Limo. We were met at the bottom of the escalator by a nicely dressed young man holding a sign. I didn't have my glasses on, and I didn't see our name on it but it did say Tiffany. He asked if were the Phillips family and off we went to get luggage. Boy, that takes a long time! Finally, out the doors! My son was the first to say something to me when we all noticed that the only vehicle sitting there was a beautiful white with black top Limo. He said, " Is that our car?" I said, "shhh!" The driver, who by the way wasn't that friendly, said, "can you wait here while I go get the car (with a sly look on his face)?" Then he reached for the door handle and said, "well, let's see if this one works." That's when I looked at my husband and said, "happy anniversary!" Boy, were they surprised! What a great drive!
Finally arrived at All-Star Music. Check-in took a little while but went well. We were given our building of choice, Calypso #10, on the second floor. Our room would not be ready until after 4:00, so we decided to go ahead and get lunch. We left our bags with the bell desk and proceeded to the food court. Bought our mugs (4) at a cost of $35.96. My son, daughter and I had pizza, (husband wasn't hungry) and drinks. Cost was $19.87.
After locating our building (couldn't believe how close it was to everything), we headed off to Epcot. I have to say something about the buses here. I had read that the buses would run an hour before park openings. Well, we found out on early entry days, which meant the parks opened at 7:30, the buses (at least at All-Stars) never showed up before 7:00 a.m. But, we still got to the parks to be among the first to get in! So, getting to the parks was always efficient, however, getting back at the end of the evening was another story. I'll go into that a little later!
Arriving at Epcot was wonderful! The music, the smells, the people. Now, this was around 1:30 in the afternoon, and we kept saying, "where are all the people?" Maybe, everyone leaves during that time. We heard several people commenting on it. We figured lines for Test Track were probably already long, so we would do that when we came back the next day. We went on Spaceship Earth, which had no wait. One thing I noticed, was that most rides with a line, still seemed to move pretty fast. This was a really neat ride. Nice and cool inside. One thing we noticed too, was the big fountain was not running. Disappointed in that. Honey I Shrunk the Audience was so funny! We loved it. My son, daughter and I did Body Wars. I was a little unsure of this, but daughter really wanted to do it, and I have to say, I'm glad I did. It was cool! Cranium Command was cute. Ice Station Cool, a nice relaxing break. The lemon-lime drink from Italy was really good, but I dared to drink Beverly and all I can say is YUK! Living Seas, well, we really think our local aquarium is much better. But I really enjoyed seeing the manatees.
We ate dinner at the Electric Umbrella. Not impressed at all. Very BLAH. My daughter and I had a Chicken Deluxe sandwich, son had an individual cheese pizza (did I mention my son loves pizza?), and my husband had a cheeseburger. Cost with 4 drinks, $33.31.
The plan was to continue into World Showcase and stay for Illuminations, but were all grumpy and extremely tired, since 2 of us hadn't slept since mid-night the night before! So, we headed back to find our room and call it a night. Stay tuned for Day 2!
Day 1 - arrival
Our alarm went off at 3:00 a.m. on Monday. My daughter informed me that she woke up around mid-night and could not go back to sleep. I told her I woke up at 1:45! We were out the door by 4:15 and headed for the airport. Our flight took off at 6:00 and went very smoothly. Between Houston and Orlando we were served Cheerios and raisins...yuk! Arrived in Orlando on time and I could just barely contain myself from what was about to occur. You see, this was our 20th wedding anniversary and I had a surprise for the entire family. They expected a Tiffany towncar to pick us up, but I had secretly arranged for a Limo. We were met at the bottom of the escalator by a nicely dressed young man holding a sign. I didn't have my glasses on, and I didn't see our name on it but it did say Tiffany. He asked if were the Phillips family and off we went to get luggage. Boy, that takes a long time! Finally, out the doors! My son was the first to say something to me when we all noticed that the only vehicle sitting there was a beautiful white with black top Limo. He said, " Is that our car?" I said, "shhh!" The driver, who by the way wasn't that friendly, said, "can you wait here while I go get the car (with a sly look on his face)?" Then he reached for the door handle and said, "well, let's see if this one works." That's when I looked at my husband and said, "happy anniversary!" Boy, were they surprised! What a great drive!
Finally arrived at All-Star Music. Check-in took a little while but went well. We were given our building of choice, Calypso #10, on the second floor. Our room would not be ready until after 4:00, so we decided to go ahead and get lunch. We left our bags with the bell desk and proceeded to the food court. Bought our mugs (4) at a cost of $35.96. My son, daughter and I had pizza, (husband wasn't hungry) and drinks. Cost was $19.87.
After locating our building (couldn't believe how close it was to everything), we headed off to Epcot. I have to say something about the buses here. I had read that the buses would run an hour before park openings. Well, we found out on early entry days, which meant the parks opened at 7:30, the buses (at least at All-Stars) never showed up before 7:00 a.m. But, we still got to the parks to be among the first to get in! So, getting to the parks was always efficient, however, getting back at the end of the evening was another story. I'll go into that a little later!
Arriving at Epcot was wonderful! The music, the smells, the people. Now, this was around 1:30 in the afternoon, and we kept saying, "where are all the people?" Maybe, everyone leaves during that time. We heard several people commenting on it. We figured lines for Test Track were probably already long, so we would do that when we came back the next day. We went on Spaceship Earth, which had no wait. One thing I noticed, was that most rides with a line, still seemed to move pretty fast. This was a really neat ride. Nice and cool inside. One thing we noticed too, was the big fountain was not running. Disappointed in that. Honey I Shrunk the Audience was so funny! We loved it. My son, daughter and I did Body Wars. I was a little unsure of this, but daughter really wanted to do it, and I have to say, I'm glad I did. It was cool! Cranium Command was cute. Ice Station Cool, a nice relaxing break. The lemon-lime drink from Italy was really good, but I dared to drink Beverly and all I can say is YUK! Living Seas, well, we really think our local aquarium is much better. But I really enjoyed seeing the manatees.
We ate dinner at the Electric Umbrella. Not impressed at all. Very BLAH. My daughter and I had a Chicken Deluxe sandwich, son had an individual cheese pizza (did I mention my son loves pizza?), and my husband had a cheeseburger. Cost with 4 drinks, $33.31.
The plan was to continue into World Showcase and stay for Illuminations, but were all grumpy and extremely tired, since 2 of us hadn't slept since mid-night the night before! So, we headed back to find our room and call it a night. Stay tuned for Day 2!
