So life will never stop amazing me at how things happen for both the good and the bad. Since I started writing this TR I've had my share of ups and downs, since the start of February I've really had my fair share of down times. But here I am on the other side of it all with things taking a turn for the better. I'm starting March with my hopes for my future still together, my happiness mostly restored to me, my sense of humor still there and the knowledge that I will survive whatever comes next. I also still have a crazy big family and a boyfriend I adore. So I guess this month served as another reminder that life is too short not to have fun and that all the worrying in the world is not going to solve things so face them head on and it will turn out for the best.
But enough about that, time for more trip report. (I'd like to have this done well before my next trip in September!)
So I woke up the next day and realized that our trip had gone from being great to amazing. I think we were both in better spirits when we woke up. Not that we weren't in great spirits before but more we had put the illness from the start of the trip and all that behind us. Ironic that this day when our mood was lifted was the one day that was over cast. We had great weather for the entire length of the trip, I wouldn't complain about a day. But this was the only day that the bright Florida sun wasn't shinning down on us. We took our time moving that morning because we were headed to Downtown Disney and so I wasn't overly concerned with afternoon crowds. I forgot to mention that on our way to our room the night before we had stopped to grab a box of donuts. We both figured we could snack on them or have them for a quick breakfast. So we were lazy and ate our donuts while we got dressed.
We got in line and waited with a surprisingly growing number of people. I think I was a little shocked to see so many people picked the same day as us to go to Downtown Disney. I guess I was more expecting it to be an empty bus taking us there but it wasn't. I don't know what it is about Downtown Disney but I think that unless you come by water way you get a bit of the outside world when you go there. I think the area surrounding it is just less Disney like to me. But it is what it is. So we drop people off at Typhoon Lagoon and Brandon and I discuss that this is the water park we're going to. See despite numerous trips to the world, I've never been to one of the water parks.
GASP SHOCK HORROR Well I lie a little here, I've been to a Disney water park before, just neither of these biggies. My family stayed in the Fort Wildnerness cabins a handful of times, they suited our family of 5 when we were teens. Honestly I love being there as it reminds me a little bit of my favorite vacation place close to home but I also love feeling like I'm camping. I have so many great memories at the resort and I sure my family would say the same. One year we went to River Country which was essentially part of the Fort Wilderness property. And oh the fun my family had there! There was one slide the you went down and there was a little drop between the end of the slide and the pool. Man I loved that thing, my brother, sister and myself went on again and again. It was small but I adored that little water park.
But back to the present day, River Country free, Disney. Brandon and I discussed the water parks as most of the bus emptied out. I laugh even now to think that most of the people on our bus that day were going to the water park(despite the cloud cover) and when we went to the water park most people were going to Downtown Disney. Oh well. So Brandon and I made the little mistake of getting off the bus at the marketplace instead of at the West Side. We walked and walked and walked. Okay it wasn't really that much walking but it was hot and it felt like we walked forever. The first thing we did was hit the Planet Hollywood gift shop to look around. (I forgot to bring my little slip for a free pin from their gift shop, I'll kick myself later.) We both thought it was cute but nothing that really said spend money here. We looked around outside at the things they have on display such as the Jenny from Forest Gump. Now I know this restaurant gets pretty bad reviews but I would eat at any of them again. (We didn't eat there on this trip but I've been to that one before and one in Minnesota.) Go with the simple food here, it's a safe bet. P.S. note on Planet Hollywood, I prefer Hard Rock Cafe to Planet Hollywood any day!
We decided to skip the stores for now and head right to Disney Quest, this was our main reason for heading this way. We were hearded in with all the folks who had appeared out of no where at the same time as us. (It was like a ghost town on the West Side, there were so few people.) They hearded us and some young families into the magic elevator for our ride to action. For those who haven't been I'll just mention that it is not your normal elevator. Genie from Aladdin is in charge of bringing you to your destination. (Okay so it's a normal elevator just gussied up to be fun for kids.) Now during this elevator ride I wanted to say about sixty different things to Brandon but didn't because the whole group of people in the elevator seemed not to want to talk at all, I had no desire to be the one person talking.
Let me pause my story, yet again, to tell you what I learned about elevators during my years in college. I never picked the third or fourth floor of the dorm to live on, my freshmen year I was the 12th floor out of 13. My friends and I started to discover a whole bizzare system to riding the elevator. People didn't like it when you took the elevator to floor 2 or 3, can't you walk the one or two flights of stairs? Those taking it to those floors always felt they paid to live there so they were entitled to ride. (I used to take the stairs from the basement to my room on the 12th floor on laundry days because the elevator took to long to get to the basement. Man that was a workout.) We also noticed that being the person stuck in the middle of the elevator was the worst position to be in, everyone looked at you and you were stuck not knowing which way to turn. There were also those rides, and I was on a fair share of them, when the entire elevator was silent. Of course these were college days and kids would just make some comment about the akward silence then we'd all laugh and discuss weird silences or command eachother to say something.
But this wasn't one of those elevator trips, this one on my way to disney quest was one where no on said a word. When we finally got off the elevator I felt like I was released from some weird silence I was being held under. I just start to spurt out all the comments I had wanted to make in the elevator. Ah well. We started in the Create Zone, I'm not sure why but that was our first stop. We hit the living easle first and played around a bit. I guess I should confess now that this "game" made me want to scream. The idea is that you select things to put in the background of your choice and then you press animate and they move. I suppose that I'm used to more control over my computer animation(I love to play with paint shop pro on my home computer) and so this drove me nuts. I tried three pictures and gave up. Very mature, I know. We also took turns making songs and then went over to take our turns creating our toys like Sid has in Toy Story. There were a number of free stations but we shared one and took our turns as to not take up more space then needed. We had fun but didn't buy any of the things we created.
Next we hit the explore zone. I should mention I'm not even sure of which order the floors go in, we just walked up and down the stairs all morning. The layout of this place is more then a little confusing to me even still.
First we tried Aladdin's Magic Carpet rides. It took a little effort to get the head piece on but it was cool once I did. I hadn't done virtual reality stuff in a long time and it was so cool. EXCEPT! I had no clue what I was doing the entire time I was playing the game. I didn't know if I was working with or against the people around. Brandon tried to explain it after but really I still didn't get it. Maybe I should have listened better to what he said or the girl working skipped giving us all the instructions. I guess if we decide to go back to Disney Quest I'll have to try again. But the Virtual Jungle Cruise was fun and had me laughing the entire time. Brandon kept telling me not to stop paddling. (Every time I started laughing more I'd rest my paddle.)
We decided at this point to skip the Pirates game and go play some of the actual arcade games. We did this for awhile and had lots of fun. This was what would be introduction to video games and would end up causing Brandon more money then he'd probably expect to spend. (I loved the video games and started talking about how much I missed video games. So for my birthday in November, a month after the trip, he got me a Nintendo DS. The hand held Nintendo system, which I love!) We happened upon the Wonderland Cafe and I decided that "we"(by which I mean I) needed the large piece of chocolate cake they had on display. So Brandon and I got it to split and I thought it was good, although not amazing. I loved the oversized furniture and the feel of that area. In a perfect world I get to sit in huge over sized chairs and drink hot chocolate with whip cream out of extremely large mugs while reading whatever book has my attention at that moment. We did take the time to sit at one of the computers and send out some of the cute emails they let you send there. But Brandon wanted to see what else they had to offer.
We hit the rest of the big rides which aren't really worth detailing each and every one. Although they were fun they weren't out of this world amazing to me. I will say this, I was horrible at Invasion! An Alien Encounter and loved Buzz Lightyear's AstroBlaster but it's only good when there are a number of people playing.
Before we left I begged Brandon to let me do CyberSpace Mountain and really I didn't need to be because he was all for me doing it. I wasn't sure what to expect when they said you got to creat your own roller coaster and ride it. There are these things at most arcades where you can virtual "ride" a rollercoaster but really it's not even close to the real thing. You just sit there while you bump along. So I followed the instructions to make my coaster while the little kid next to me explained that you'd find out how thrilling your coaster was. He kept telling me things and I acted like I knew exactly what he was talking about. I finished my coaster and brought my ticket to the person in charge of putting you on your ride. Well next thing I know they're taking my belongings from me and telling me to empty my pockets. They lock my things up tight and tell me to put the key on my wrist. Now I'm really curious.
So the strap me into this big machine that looks like a vehicle out of Star Wars and I'm given a short instruction on different things. I'm thinking this will be pretty cool, maybe it rocks more then the thing I've been on before. So my coaster starts and I'm tilting to the side, I'm going up hills and down dips. Next thing I know I'm being spun upside down and right side up again. Yes, they actually will spin you if you put loops on your ride. To say the least I love this thing and wish I could have one in my house. Brandon had no interest in it and I wish he would have gone. If there are two in your group you can both design a coaster then you can both ride each ride, you do one person's then the others. I think despite his fear of normal coasters Brandon would like this because there's no actual heights involved, it's all virtual. You can buy a video of your ride but I decided it wasn't worth it because I was all alone on the ride. I would definitely try this again.
We decided that was it for us and Disney Quest. We headed out and decided we'd definitely spend money to do that again. We decided to poke in the stores along the way to the Marketplace. We were both just curious to see what the stores were. We skipped the Virgin store but hit almost all the others. Magnetron is fun because I enjoy seeing all the different magnets and wonder what people do with some of them. Then we hit Starabilias for our favorite game of, if I were extremely rich which celebrity/movie/music would I want memorabilia for. I definitely tend to want things from classic rock musicians like Aerosmith, Janis Joplin and the like. My movie wants range. Brandon tends to find all the older horror movies such as the Freddy movies. We both are geeks who love the sci fi things. So after about 20 minutes we pull ourselves away and decide to make our way over to the marketplace.
I'm sorry this part was so boring, I think Disney Quest was tons of fun but it's hard to write about excitement because it wasn't a lot of crazy stuff happening. But it will pick back up in the next part, I promise.
Coming this afternoon?: Part 19
irates, princesses and a surprise.
