Saratoga-a-Go-Go 10/16-10/23

[DVCTiff]

Cast: Me (38), trip planner extraordinaire, new to WDW by way of DL.
Chris (34), hubby of one year and very good sport.

Saturday 10/16 - After months of going caffeine-free, I drank a Diet Pepsi the night before we left. Very bad move. I was WIDE awake until 3 am and we had to get up at 7. I really shouldn’t have even driven to the airport, but Chris wasn’t that confident about his own driving skills yet (readers’ note: my 34 DH just got his driver’s license this summer for the first time in his life. Yep, you heard right) so I was our best hope . Given my condition, that was a very sad statement. I was pretty sure any minute I was going to see Mickeys marching across the road and wake up to Chris screaming and grabbing the wheel. Lucky for us, we got to La Guardia safe and sound and had to park in the $24/day parking b/c the $10/day long-term was full. Out of two trips, the cheaper parking has been full both times. I have no idea who is privileged enough to park there. Maybe you have show up at night. I have no idea.

Our flight on Song was pretty great ($124 R/T pp) with the tv monitors and snack selection. I thought the decor was very cute and the banter clever. I even liked the fact that you could choose to buy food if you wanted to and didn’t have to deal with typical airline food. We spent $5 on an Odwalla bar and some trail mix. We spent a little extra time on the ground so our trip seemed a little long, but overall a good experience. I would definitely fly them again.

We arrived a little after 1 pm and our plan was to split up with Chris getting the luggage and me getting the rental car. Great, good plan, break. Fortunately, there was no line at the National desk so I secured our car quickly and then went to wait for Chris to come down the escalator or off the elevator. No problem, right? The plan was for him to come to me. I was not to move. Fine, I was right there. Watching, waiting. So now it’s 1:45 and I definitely see people from our flight coming down to rent their cars (and now there’s the line that I avoided. HA). Where’s Chris? I’m thinking I’ll wait 10 more minutes and then go up - against my better judgment, mind you, because I know the minute I go up, he’ll come down. Now it’s 2:00 (okay, I did go upstairs to look but just for a second!) and we could have been outta here a half hour ago. I go over to the National desk, which I thought had been in my sight the entire time (except, of course, when I went upstairs for that split second - dammit), to ask if they had another desk on this level and when they asked me why, I explained and they said “Oh your husband was here 5 minutes ago. We told him you rented the car 20 minutes ago and sent him out to the garage.” Like, what, I was going to drive off without him AND the luggage? Like, where in the plan was “Meet me in the garage!?!” I finally found him coming back towards the terminal looking frantic. We agreed right there to just drop it and not blame each other or this trip was going to be off to a very bad start. Kiss, make up, case closed.


I have to mention the one weird thing as we were choosing our rental car - I was looking at color, condition, etc. when we realized that one car had a huge crow standing on its roof. Neither one of us had to say anything. We just knew we were NOT taking that car. Spooky.

So, yay, we’re off and no one’s talking about the unnecessary 30 minute delay. Happy schmappy. The weather is absolutely GORGEOUS. Not a cloud in the sky. It’s outrageously perfect. Hooray for us. We head to Winn-Dixie where Chris starts to spend his vacation money on a donation to the Boy Scouts who are parked in front selling popcorn. They don’t care that I packed popcorn, and Chris doesn’t either until I convince everybody that we’ll just make a donation and they can keep their popcorn. (readers’ note: this will be an overriding theme in my trip report - my husband is too nice and I’m a little too self-serving, or at least compared to him. I’m actually a very nice person, but he’s nicer. I’ve learned to live with it). Of course, I brought our Winn-Dixie card that we got on our honeymoon, and I’m sure we saved money but I didn’t look. Probably about the same amount we gave the Boy Scouts so we’ll call it even. With beer, Diet Pepsi, pretzels and yogurt secured, we were off to check in to our home resort: Saratoga Springs!

stay tuned ....

 

[DVCTiff]

10/16 still .....I cannot tell you how much I LOVE hearing “Welcome Home” and this time was the best because we were staying at our home resort for the very first time. In May, we rented points at OKW before ours were active, but this was just different. I was a little nervous about checking in because on two (outta 2) trips we’ve gotten not-so-great first-floor rooms, but this time I had made a specific room request based on a Dis member’s trip report. I knew there was little chance that we’d actually get that room, but I felt that we were at least getting a better shot than if I had made no request. Season was helping us (do you think Disney renames people? I’ve often wondered) and she was very nice. I could tell she was not really working off of any particular information so I finally said (as if this was going to make her job so much easier), “I actually requested a specific room, if that’s any help.” She checked and that room was occupied, but then she said the magic words, “Let me see if I can find anything nearby.” And she did, Room 1232, which was FABULOUS! It’s in the last building towards DTD, second floor, with a great view of DTD. That first night - and only that night because we never stayed up that late again - we watched the fireworks from our balcony. Hurray Season!

Before heading over to 1232 (like R2D2), we ordered a Chicken Artichoke flatbread from Artist Palette to share in the room. I have to say that Artist Palette really works for us. I don’t know if it’s a matter of us conforming to them or it just being a good match, but we loved it. Mostly, I think, because it was quick, casual, and easy. Everything we got there was delicious - especially this flatbread. Big yum! Anyway, after checking out the great view from our room, I was delighted to see that we’d been blessed by that mythical creature - the towel animal! I really never thought I’d see one with my own eyes so this was very exciting. I was pretty sure it was a donkey, although later I realized that it may have been a horse, in honor of the SSR theming (I’m kinda slow sometimes). I only figured that out after we toured the model rooms and there was a similar one in there, except that it had a bridle on it. I’m still calling ours a donkey. We took good care of him and kept putting the head back on every time it rolled off. It’s harder than it looks!

It was a very pleasant walk from our room to DTD, so we headed over there to purchase our AP’s. This was our first time buying them since we’re coming back in May. Big milestone for us, I figured. We checked out the new “pet” store over there (Animal Tails?) and decided we’d come back later to make our beloved Cady a Mickey name tag ($10 - oof). We bought our AP’s from a nice Japanese girl in Guest Relations. I was a little nervous because I was having a hard time understanding her (all my fault, I assure you) and here I was spending like $800. I was putting a Disney rewards card toward the passes and the slip wasn’t itemized and I couldn’t understand her and I hadn’t brought my calculator, but it seems to have all worked out okay. Fortunately, Chris can speak a little Japanese so they got along great while I was being the neurotic American. With AP’s in hand, we did a little window shopping then headed back to the room to get ready for dinner at Whispering Canyon.

It was a sensational evening, weather-wise, and the sun was just starting to set as we entered the Lodge. The crowd at WC was HUGE. Thank goodness I’d made a PS or there would have been no way. The wait to just tell them we had a PS was almost 10 mins and then it was about 20 until we got our table. All in all, nuthin’ compared to the hour plus wait some people had. We were seated out of the main dining room at a great table right in front of the fireplace (readers' note: look high and low for the Hidden Mickey). I was so excited, I clapped my hands (a silly habit of mine) to which a CM yelled out in response, “Geez Lady, it’s like you ain’t never seen fire before!” and then she proceded to go on and on to everyone around about it. Of course, I was prepared and thought it was hysterical, but Chris does not like any attention. I was beginning to worry if this was a big mistake but he soon got in the spirit. I could tell though that there might be folks who don’t get it and really would not appreciate being treated like that. They wouldn’t understand that it’s actually a spoof of Disney’s impeccable service. Even I should have known better when I asked our server (Lazy Susan was her name) what time Wishes was. “Lady...what do you think I am? I’m not a book you can just flip through and get every piece of information!” Then she got a big kick of asking every CM around her who, in turn, got great joy from shrugging their shoulders and saying “Heck if I know.” But, of course, she did find out for me, because if she didn’t then it really wouldn’t have been so funny, now would it? Chris had the pork chop, I had the roasted chicken (both delicious) and we drank Northwest Sunsets (very yummy - I had one, Chris had two, probably to dull the embarrassement) and our bill was $58.82, before tip. I think we did get some sort of discount, since our receipt says Modified, but I think the bill was not so bad, by Disney standards, and we got a lot of delicious food. I would go there again but be careful about who I bring.

After dinner, we headed out to the dock to catch the boat over to Magic Kingdom. The sunset was glorious. We arrived at MK just in time to catch some of the Spectromagic parade. I had slated it in for Thursday but quite happy that we were catching it unexpectedly now. What a great parade. I loved it! Definitely not to be missed. (reader’s note: parades were to be a main feature of this trip since we’d never stopped to see any of them before. Chris amused me until the 4th day and then put his foot down - NO MORE PARADES! Boo, hiss). From there we headed to Tomorrowland where we rode Buzz Lightyear for the first time. Chris kicked my butt, something like 410,000 to 12,000. Loved it, bought the photo. I can’t remember what time we left, but we made it back to our resort in time to see the DTD fireworks from our room. Very cool though short program in comparison to the rest of Disney’s fireworks. That was fine since I couldn’t stay awake the rest of the week anyway.

stay tuned ...

 

[DVCTiff]

We began our first whole day at WDW with breakfast at Artist Palette - Chris had wanted to try the French Toast casserole ever since we visited in May. It did not disappoint. I had the Mickey Waffle with bacon. Bill: $15.31 with milk and an orange juice. Today was an Epcot day and then we’d finish off the evening with MNSSHP. My original plan was just to do what we’d never done in Future World and then go back to rest before the party. We actually got a little further along than that. We did HISTA, which proved my fear that I wasn’t going to be able to handle the snake portion of the program ... and curses on Kodak with their sappy film that brought tears to everyone’s eyes! I can’t believe I’m such a sucker for squishy sentimentality. Anyway, we emerged to find a huge turkey vulture perched atop the pavilion. What is it about this trip that brought out the creepy birds? (Readers’ note: On our AK Backstage Safari tour, I asked if the vulture was an escapee and for those of you who didn’t know, like me, this vulture is native to FL and is quite a nuisance in AK where they’re currently squatting and ruining the authenticity since they are NOT native to Africa. There’s your native vulture lesson of the day)

Since our goal, for most of this entire trip, was to do stuff we’d never done, it was off to Innoventions and Ellen’s Energy Adventure (I wanted to do the Wonders of Life pavilion but it was closed. ). In Innoventions, we did the video email and I’m not sure it really worked. Plus we felt like total dorks. I’d have to be drunk to do that again. Chris saw it on his computer but I’ve never seen it. I wish they made it easier to send to multiple recipients. Anyhoo, it was about lunchtime when we headed over to WS. I’d decided we would try Morocco and what a great choice that was (thanks DIS, again)! Now I have to say that on our honeymoon last year, I was full about mid-week and just kept eating anyway. I swore that would never happen again so I planned to split a lot more meals. Chris could always get an extra side or something, although we soon realized that there was always plenty of food in one Disney meal for the both of us. That said, we ordered the chicken wrap while Chris tried the white wine and I had a Diet Coke ($14.86 total). SUPER YUM! The wrap was hot - a complete surprise that triggered a Hot Sandwich addiction, never knew I had one until now. Anyway, this wrap was so delicious and came with two small containers of salad, a couscous and a lentil salad. Yes, I was a little sorry that we’d split it but at least I wasn’t too stuffed to walk the rest of the way around WS. My undoing was the hard cider I had in the US section. I have to admit I was a little buzzed riding Maelstrom and then, as we were waiting endlessly for the doors to the film to open, I couldn’t understand a word the guy was saying and we were pretty sure we were being shipped off to Norway as cheap troll-carving labor. I still feel bad about it, but we cruised right through the theater out the other side and headed to the bakery. I was so relieved that we weren’t on a Luftansa flight that I thoroughly enjoyed my no-sugar-added chocolate mousse. But that was it, no more food or drink for a while. The mousse and cider put me over the gastronomic edge ... at least for a few hours.

We headed back to SSR to enjoy a little nap by the quite pool (Chris said it was a little too chlorine-y. I didn't go in) and then it was time to get ready for Mickey's Not-So Scary Halloween party (or as our shirts read: MNNSHP. Oh dear)!

stay tuned ...

 

[pumba]

and ate really good..........Thanks for posting your trip ...

 

[DVCTiff]

Thanks Pumba. There's plenty more, though I'm going to try to speed things up a bit after this entry.

October 17th - We wanted to start MNSSHP kinda low-key so our plan was to go over to DTD and get dinner at Earl of Sandwich. Little did I know that this was just one more step into my hot sandwich obsession! We LOVE EoS! I had the All American and Chris had the Florentine...two bags of chips and an iced tea later the bill was a mere $14.17. We were there early (5:30) and the wait was minimal, but there were plenty of people there. The secret is out, for sure. We ate our sandwiches back in our room and changed for the party. I had a hard time convincing Chris that the best plan of action was to take the bus over to MK (since he’s gotten that bright shiny new license, there’s no stopping him), but he finally decided to trust me. We arrived at MK around 7:30 and pretty much walked right in after taking a good look at the exterior Halloween overlay. What fun! I loved the whole mood of it. We headed toward Liberty Square to catch the storytelling of the HH, get our photo taken, and watch the parade. After the photo, we sat on the stone wall across from LTT, but Chris said he was getting bitten by something so we quickly moved to a new spot. I thought this was a great parade, and the Haunted Mansion dancers were awesome. Unfortunately, they got decapitated in our photos. Sad.

As Chris’ reward for tolerating the parade, we headed over to Tomorrowland and rode Astro Orbiter and TTA, then moved on to Philharmagic, Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain. The lines were pretty long at Pooh and Peter Pan so we passed, and then we got tricked out of Toon Town by the promise of candy along the Treat Trail. I did get my photo taken with the White Rabbit though, which was very cool, and saw Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee. We also fit Haunted Mansion into the evening somewhere, but I can’t remember when. We watched the fireworks from the bridge to Tomorrowland and got a big kick out of the witch flying over our heads. I think that was Chris’ favorite part. I really enjoyed seeing everyone in costume - my favorite being a 6-foot Donald Duck daddy with his kids. So cute. Chris said he’d dress up for our kid(s) some day, so you heard it here. I’m going to need you as my witnesses. We would have gotten more rides in except that Chris insisted that he hit all the Trick-or-Treat stations. It’s good to have goals. Anyway, Splash was our last ride as I took a major dousing in the face and decided to call it a night. We did honor our anniversary by kissing for the Splash photo, and by 11:30 we were headed for the bus. Even so, the first SSR bus was full and just pulling away, but we got on the next one. By the looks of the lines for the other resorts, people were going to be waiting a long time to get home. We were very grateful for our half-empty SSR bus, and I was most impressed by all the exhausted parents who were being very patient with their kids who were in all stages of cranky/hyped-up/half-asleep. It was certainly a night to remember.

 

[MNSusan]

Great report! Thanks for posting.

 

[tinawv]

Enjoying your trip reports, and looking forward to the next one.

 

[DVCTiff]

Thanks for the encouragement - this is taking longer that I thought ....

Monday had originally been scheduled as an Epcot WS day, but since we felt we’d sorta done it already, we decided to head off Disney property (Oooooooohhhh). Thus we found our way to Gatorland! Now Chris and I are suckers for cheesy, retro tourist attractions, and Gatorland did not disappoint - if anything it was not cheesy enough, but surprisingly very well done. Chris confessed that he thought there’d be like three fat old gators that they’d be prodding with a stick, so he was really blown away. I was initially bummed that I’d left my AAA card in the room because we missed out on a 20% discount, but I quickly shook it off. Anyway, right as we got there, they started the “Gator Jumping” show where they string fryer chickens (dead and plucked) out over the gator pool and everyone cheers until the gators jump up and grab the chickens off the line. A little gruesome, yes, but strangely fascinating all the same. Then the handlers, big burly guys, put the chickens on their fists, pretended to duke it out with each other (okay, this was kinda gross, chicken boxing gloves) and then let the gators jump and eat the chickens off their hands. Yikes!

From there we checked out all the animals (everything from turtles to turkeys) and walked through the extensive gator environment where we’ve never seen so many gators - over a hundred, easily. It was really a sight to see, and we highly recommend the trip (only about 15 mins from WDW, on Orange Blossom Trail off of 417). We also fed the lorikeets, which was a little scary. We were the first feeders of the day so they were pretty aggressive. We bought little cups of nectar for $2 and then hesistantly stepped into the bird room. I pretty much stood like the statue from Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and screamed while the birds swarmed me and climbed all over me. It’s pretty scary when they’re flying right at you and there’s flapping everywhere. Now I know what Tippi Hedren felt like, except these birds were prettier. I gotta hand it to Chris - he took photos with one hand and fed the birds with the other. One bird even pooped on his arm, and he didn’t even flinch. Must be the Marine training.

After a great trip to the gift shop (we got a cool alligator antenna topper,a floaty pen, and awesome t-shirts for me and my best friend), we realized we needed a new card for our camera and remembered that we’d passed a Super Target on Orange Blossom Trail. Now I have to admit that I was almost as excited to visit Super Target as I was to visit Gatorland! The highlight was a side trip to Atlantic Bread Company for lunch. I’d never heard of the place, but, guess what, they serve hot sandwiches! They serve other things too (pasta, salads, cold sandwiches, bakery items), but Chris and I both got panini-style sandwiches - turkey club for him and chicken pesto for me (they came with chips) - plus two drinks, and the total was $15.08. Not too shabby. The sandwiches were very very good, and I was lamenting for hours how sad it was that we don’t have anything like that at home. A quick trip through Uber-Tarjay cheered me up (a little).

stay tuned ...

 

[DVCTiff]

10/18 continued ...

Monday evening we had PS’s at Boma - one of our favorite places since we tried it on our trip last May. Our plan was to spend the rest of the afternoon at AK and then head straight over for dinner. Since we’d already eaten lunch, we cruised directly over to AK and headed in. I can’t remember how I even noticed it, but when I got out of the car I was startled to find a giant rash on my leg. Wait - that wasn’t a rash - it was some sort of tribal tattoo. No. What the hell was it? Suddenly I realized that the Target bag had been pressed against my calf in the car and all the red circles had transfered onto my leg! They ran all the way up my calf in bright red! I was so mortified. Chris thought it was cool and a nice touch for AK expecially, but I needed to get it off. Apparently, the bug spray I’d used worked as some sort of transfer medium (for all you crafters out there). It didn’t particularly want to come off, but I scrubbed and was soon restored to as normal as I get. Now I wished we’d taken a pic because it was pretty funny.

After I’d removed my Target tattoo (sign of my peeps), we hit ITTBAB for the very first time. I’d say it’s the best of the 3-D shows by far. Not all the same tricks. Again, this was one of those things I’d been too scared to go on before. I was a big brave girl this trip. From there, I tricked Chris into going to Festival of the Lion King which practically brought me to tears I thought it was so good - and I’ve seen Lion King on Broadway twice! I was very impressed that everyone did their own singing when they could have easily dubbed it in. Nice touch. (Readers’ note: the park was pretty crowded and then we realized that it had had EMH that morning. A rookie move on my part. Normally I would never hit a park that had EMH that day) Next on our list of things of First Time Rides was Primeval Whirl. Had a blast though I was not big on sharing a car, and the wait was about five times as long as the ride. What can you do?

About now, the parade was starting, and, post-FOTLK, Chris wasn’t going to do a parade so we snuck backwards along the parade route (thus seeing the parade, but not really watching it) and jumped on the Safari. Yes, it runs during the parade and NO ONE was in line. Nice! I’d guess it was about 4:20 and this turned out to be a great time to see the animals. They were everywhere! At one point we had to stop because something (not a Tommy but something bigger) was just standing in our way. I’d never been so close! The baby elephants were out - so cute. It was the best safari ever, and, by the time we got off, we still had time to walk through Pangani Forest. We knew everyone else was clearing out of the park so we decided to hang back a little (though our dinner PS was at 5:30). Along the walk, we stopped at the hippo pool, hoping that they would come over. I was standing up and Chris was crouched down, with the camera, looking through the murky water. He couldn’t see a thing, but suddenly the hippo came over and opened his mouth ALL THE WAY. It was like his jaw unhinged! I was so stunned that I couldn’t yank Chris up fast enough for a photo and we missed it. It was an amazing moment. I’m just sad Chris didn’t see it.

We finally mosied out of the park and headed over to Boma, missing the shortcut from AK to AKL (that road on the right, right?). No problem, we waited about ten minutes to be seated, and Chris was pretending that he wasn’t watching the Yankee/Red Sox play-off game in the bar. I can’t remember which game this was, but his theory was “If I don’t watch, the Yankees will win.” In case I haven’t mentioned it, this was our second October trip, the first being our honeymoon, in which the Yankees/Red Sox play-offs figure prominently. After this, I will never plan a trip during play-offs OR the World Series. Lesson learned. Boma was excellent and we thoroughly enjoyed every moment, though I had a hard time pacing myself. Last time we were here, I was doing Atkins so I didn’t try as many things (though I still hit the dessert table pretty hard). This time I tried lots of different foods, had the Cauliflower Curry Soup with some sort of Shrimp Ball (sorry I can’t make that sound more appetizing - it was good) as well as the Lamb Pot Pie. Delicious. They didn’t have my favorite salad (Jicama and grapefruit) but still lots of yummy things. I still think the best desserts are the pineapple cheesecake and the brownie. The Zebra Dome just doesn’t really float my boat. I apologize to all you Domeheads out there, but I guess that just means more for you! Yay!

There would be no heading over to MGM to ride ToT, as I did last time in May. We were stuffed! Chris was still a little distracted by the game (checking the score on his handheld every 5 minutes) so I decided to kill two birds with one stone. I really wanted to see the Coronado Springs resort, and I figured we’d watch the rest of the game there. The sun was just setting as we got there. What a stunning view out by the lake on the path to the pool! This resort is GORGEOUS. Yes, it did have a different vibe with all the convention goers, but we liked it. The bar, Francisco’s, was pretty crowded, but we took a seat once Chris had safely assessed the Yankees to Red Sox ratio. We learned last year that WDW is swarming with Red Sox fans. We drank, we watched, we cheered and booed. The funniest thing was there was a guy behind us on his cell phone (he was obviously there on business) talking to his wife back home and I heard him say “No honey, the Yankees didn't just win the World Series. You must be watching ESPN Classics.” I turned around because I thought it was so funny, and he saw me looking. When he got off the phone, he came over and told us what his wife had said. I thought that was so cute that here she was at home, trying to get into the whole thing and have something to talk to him about, and she was watching an old World Series game! I said he had to give her an A for effort. It’s so something I would do. Unfortunately, this current year, it was not looking good for the Yankees so we soon headed home for some much-needed rest.

Stay tuned ...

 

[Minniespal]

Great reports ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[DVCTiff]

10/19 - Warning: the following are the confessions of a Disney Drama Queen. Now I know in the great big world, our day was a walk in the park (pun intended), but it started out VERY stressful for me. I will elaborate ... this morning we had the Keys to the Kingdom Tour scheduled for 9:30 (be there by 9:15, please). Sounds like a snap. We’d just eat breakfast in the room and then head over by car. (Readers’ note: by now we’d accumulated quite a stash in our room beyond what we’d picked up at Winn-Dixie...mickey pretzels, two bags of chips from Atlanta Bread, rice krispie treats from DTD, MNSSHP candy. But I digest, I mean, digress) Only once it was too late did we realize that we’d never driven to MK before, only taken the bus, and I possibly hadn’t given us enough time to get from T&T. I never realized, this is so embarrassing to admit since I own every guidebook I could get my hands on, that T&T was the only parking for MK. I don’t know what I was thinking since I’d never had to face this situation before. Anyway, by now my heartrate was starting to rise and my palms were getting kinda sweaty. 9:10. We should be fine, I told myself. Look! We’re in the front row to catch the tram to the monorail. No prob. So the tram comes and when it stops, the tram connector is dead ahead of us. That moment of hesitation between left or right cost us bigtime. Of course, I got on the tram because I was determined (don’t worry, I didn’t push anyone down), but Chris is just so damn nice that he let two girls go ahead of him. That was our undoing. He tried to be the 6th person in the row, but Tram Girl said No way. Meanwhile, I watch some latecomer find a spot up ahead, and I told Tram Girl we were going to be late for a tour, but she said she couldn’t help. I was so irritated, but I had no choice but to get off the tram and wait for the next one. Now it’s 9:20. I could have killed Chris for being so darn nice but that would just have confirmed my evilness. Ooh, was I steaming. I told him in no uncertain terms would we be missing the next tram due to his good manners and genial nature. He knew I was serious and dug deep within himself to wherever selfishness and self-preservation hide in a kind soul such as his. I told you he was a sport.

We got to Town Hall at 9:29 and had no trouble finding our nametags as they were the only ones left. No time for coffee or chit chat, we’re on our way. We had a super tour guide named Mitch who was the personification of Disney Magic. It’s a very informative and entertaining tour. Also, it gave us a chance to relax a little since it moved at a nice pace, certainly slower than we normally do a park. By the time we were strolling down Main Street with the smells of popcorn and fresh baked goods in the air, I could feel all the morning’s anxiety and irritation wash away (and something about our own nametags cheered me up immensely). We enjoyed the lunch at Columbia Harbor House (we both had tuna sandwiches) and got to sit with our guide, which made us feel very special. He’s a DVC member too so we talked a little about that, and I told him that my best friend was an entertainer at California Adventure, blah blah blah.

The rest of the afternoon flew by and we found ourselves done with the tour a little before 3:00. I kinda wanted to go back to Fantasyland to ride Peter Pan and Pooh, but Chris had had enough. Instead, I got a Dole Whip and Chris went off to inspect the Swiss Family Robinson tree house (he claims he was getting ideas for our own unruly backyard). I’d been dying to have my first Dole Whip, and I have to say it did not disappoint. I was happily enjoying my Dole moment when suddenly I got a whiff of smoke. Now I have to tell you how much I hate cigarette smoke, but I hate rule breakers even more. So here’s this guy standing up against the Swiss Family fence holding his cigarette on the other side! I was furious. He shot me a nasty look, perhaps in response to my nasty look since I can’t be certain what my face did when I realized what he was doing, and he kinda scared me. I decided the nice Swiss Family girl probably wouldn’t do anything if I told her and soon he left. What a knob.

Our afternoon plan was to go fishing at Old Man Island at the Port Orleans Riverside resort. We drove over there only to find that the fishing hole closed at 3:00! Man, was I slipping. Chris really couldn’t have cared less and I was just mad that I’d made such rookie mistakes, but I let it go. It’s JUST vacation, for God’s sake. We ended up resting in our room for a little while and then went over to see the SSR models. We’re planning to get a Grand Villa for the “kids” (Chris’ siblings ranging in age from 15 to 33, and our niece and nephew) in 2006 and wanted to check it out. Somehow we got talking with another couple our age, Jen and Dennis, who have 400+ DVC points (I was soooooo envious) and it turned out that they live near Chris’ parents in Virginia, they’re in the same field that Chris is in, AND Dennis and Chris were on the same deployment in the military. They finally had to kick us out of the models we’d been talking for so long. I was a little worried about the time but we still had plenty of time to hit the Food & Wine Festival in Epcot. We got in a little before 8:00 and there were absolutely NO lines. That’s about the only way I will do the Festival, frankly, so I was giddy. I was even giddier after the ice wine! Here’s what we ate and what we spent:
ice wine (Canada) $4.50 (ouch)
salmon (Canada) $3.25
shrimp roll (FL) $2.00
Spicy Shrimp (FL) $3.75
Coco Palada Wine (FL) $3.00 not great, too sweet
Key West Ale (FL) $4.00
chicken taco (MX) $3.00
Chicken Sha Cha (China) $3.50
Akadama Plum Wine $2.00
Corn Chowder (US) $2.50
Takara Plum Wine (Jap) $3.00

With the sounds of Taylor Dayne as our background music, we strolled and ate and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The lack of lines made it easy breezy, but the food was also very good and the price per plate was reasonable. We were going to hit ESPN Zone on our way out to watch the game (I’d given up our PS at Blue Zoo - I said Citricos before, that's tomorrow night. Oops. - b/c we just weren’t in the mood for fancy), but it had already started and there was no way anybody was going to be leaving for the next four hours. Instead we ordered corn dogs to go from the stand right there and stood in the pouring rain waiting. I have to admit it was very romantic. I’m a goof, I know. Maybe it was the plum wine, but it felt very nostalgic and romantic getting corndogs on the Boardwalk. I loved it. However, the mood was broken when we got back to SSR and realized we’d spilled ketchup all over the backseat of our rental car! Chris was perturbed but WAY more perturned at me because as he was worrying about it, I kept saying “Lock the car, lock the car, lock the car.” I have no idea why I kept saying it except that maybe I was a little buzzed and I thought he hadn’t heard me. Anyway, he responded with some not-so-nice words, which I probably deserved, and then we hustled inside. I was happy to go clean the car while he watched the game but he insisted that it wasn’t safe for me to be out there - in a DISNEY parking lot - so he did it. What a guy. I hardly deserve him.

stay tuned ...

 

[SueOKW]

great report so far!! I can't wait for my trip now.. you are really helping me get psyched!
sue

ps - the tour at MK was worth it or not?

 

[kathymc]

really enjoying your reports -looking forward to more

 

[DVCTiff]

Sue - The KTTK tour was totally worth it. It enhanced our appreciation of Walt and his world so much. My husband just talked it up to friends of ours last night. That said, I would never let any member of my family take it BEFORE they'd really soaked in MK. It's your familiarity (or what you think you know) contrasted with the day-to-day operations that's fascinating. It's also not for kids. Why ruin the magic for them?

Plus we used our Disney Visa discount.

 

[DVCTiff]

Wednesday was our MGM day. I have to say that this was an almost perfect day. You’ll see. We started the day riding RnR, which is my favorite ride and the whole reason we’ve been putting off trying for a baby until now. (My mom, who will figure prominently in next May’s trip report, said, “Oh for God’s sake, I jumped off the roof of the garage into the swimming pool when I was pregnant with you, and you turned out fine!” It’s amazing I’d gone 38 years without ever hearing that story.) In any case, I wasn’t going to take any chances. And no, I did not throw my birth control pills off the ride somewhere, though I wish I’d thought of it before right now. After RnR, we got FP’s for ToT (which Chris has never been on, having skipped it last May claiming that Boma made him too full, but I think he was scared). While we waited for our FP time, we mosied over to Indiana Jones, which we’d never seen. Good show. Then back to ToT, which Chris liked, especially after hearing that it had been some guy’s senior thesis in college before Disney scooped him up to be an Imagineer. True story. Though it was tough, we managed to not purchase the Tower of Terror movie starring Steve Guttenberg. Nor did we purchase the photo, strange for us. Twilight Zone even.

Since we’d never done Millionaire, we headed that way until we saw people apparently standing in line for nothing. Now if you see people standing in line for nothing at DisneyWorld, you know it’s gotta be good. Oh yippee, we were going to have our picture taken with Mike and Sully from Monsters Inc. This is what’s so great about Disney, they take the photo but they also let the CM take one with our camera. It’s as if they’re putting the money right back in our pockets. No, of course we didn’t buy their photo (though I would have if it’d been great).

We sucked at Millionaire, and I thought you didn’t have to push buttons once someone got in the hot seat, but it was fun and I’m glad we did it. Now it was time for lunch, and we had a PS at Sci-fi. I’d warned Chris, “Better stick to the burgers.” We were seated pretty quickly in the center row of our car, but suddenly that squealing brake noise EEEEERRRTTTT was going through my head, because I had said something then Chris got mad and I had no idea what just happened. Now before you decide that my husband is a big jerk, let me say that he puts up with sooooo much of my control-freak cr*p that a little outburst now and then is understandable. Apparently, this was a misunderstanding about where I was telling him to look in the bag for the Lactaid and suddenly he was mad (I was saying “It’s in a bag”, meaning a baggie within the bag, and he was mad that I was saying it even when he was looking IN THE BAG. Shades of “Lock the car” all over again. Whatever, except that it upset me because I was so caught off guard that now I was trying not to cry. Thank God it’s dark in there. Of course, Chris was fine two seconds after it happened. I quickly decided to drown my sorrows in a vanilla milkshake. (Readers' note: Part of Chris' problem was the close proximity of the other people in our car. I think it freaked him out)

We both ordered the All-American Burger ($10.95 - YIKES) and I added mushrooms to mine (cha-ching) and wanted onion rings instead of french fries (cha-ching). For those of you watching your pennies, it costs about a dollar less to order onion rings instead of fries over ordering a side of onion rings. The kitchen screwed up and gave me fries AND onion rings. Now normally that would be about as exciting as winning the Publisher’s Clearinghouse Sweepstakes except that I knew I wasn’t going to be able to make a dent. My goal, this trip, was to not be grossly full, unlike our honeymoon when I was full by mid-week but kept eating anyway. The burger was absolutely delicious and HUGE, so I managed to eat about 3/4 of it, a few fries, three onion rings and half my milkshake. I thought we were going to need the jaws of life to get me out of there. Our bill was $33, not so bad really. The eerie thing about that place is that it’s so quiet. I guess because everyone’s watching the screen, but it was just very unexpected. Even the kids were quiet. Spooky.

We’re not really ones to ride a ride over and over on the same day, and it was very hot out so we decided to head back to the room and rest up. I took a teensy burger-digesting nap while Chris did laundry (for FREE - YAY DVC). At some point we came to the decision to cancel our dinner ressies at Citricos because a) we were so full still from lunch, and b) the Yankees had lost 2 games in a row and Chris just couldn't face the plethora of Red Sox fans he was sure were out there waiting to mock him. We went to the Members Update in the theater, which was very informative, and we got free window stickers and some people won prizes. The cutest thing was a group of friends in front of us, probably in their late 60’s, who said they came to WDW at least nine times a year. The women were giggly and having such a good time. I think one of their husbands won a pen. Proof that WDW keeps you young at heart (and doles out free stuff once in a blue moon).

Afterwards, we went to High Rock pool, had a few drinks and went down the slide, which is a BLAST. Chris played in the arcade for a while, and I read until it clouded over and threatened rain. Then we ordered the vegetable flatbread from AP and took it back to our room (good, but not as good as the chicken one). Chris watched the Yankees lose again, and I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

Stay tuned ..

 

[PryncessChrysty]

I'm enjoying your trip report! Can't wait to read more...

 

[Annie&Hallie'sMom]

I am really enjoying your report.

And I love Sci Fi too. The burgers are to die for!

 

[scotthart]

Enjoying the report, keep it coming!

 

[DVCTiff]

10/21/04 - As everyone knows, the Yankees lost, thus sending the Red Sox to the World Series. I’m not sure how I slept through that considering Chris was probably very, um, verbal towards the end. I was just happy it was over. Now on to the rest of our vacation without these silly distractions.

We spent a lovely, leisurely morning at the Fishing Hole on Old Man Island at the Port Orleans-Riverside resort (since I’d blown it, time-wise, a few days prior). It’s super cheap (you pay by the half hour, if I recall), but the fish have gotten wise. We stayed for an hour and half (zzzzzzzzzz) and Chris didn’t get more than a nibble. Yet when you threw a worm in, WHAM, the fish would grab it so fast you’d hardly see ‘em. I had to drag Chris away because the longer he wasn’t catching anything, the more determined he got. Parents were bringing their kids down and it seemed to be a great activity for them.

From there we headed to PO-French Quarter for breakfast. As you can see, we like to resort hop and see how each one is set up/decorated, etc. I was very excited because I’d never had beignets before (I’ve had two trips to New Orleans thwarted). They were quite yummy, and I thought the food court was fun. Chris had something like The King’s Breakfast, with eggs, biscuit, bacon, sausage, blah blah. We had a nice talk with the man who was cleaning up. He was from Boston but didn’t rub it in. We walked around the pool (cute slide), took photos with the alligator statues, then hauled our beignet butts over to Blizzard Beach.

I guess we got to BB a little before noon, and it was a beautiful day. I quickly realized that it was more crowded than I’ve ever seen it, and I soon found out why. Apparently there were numerous DreamFlight groups there that day. Not that it was any more full than any other day, but the fact that they toured en masse made it harder to get around. I’ve done a little research in the meantime to promote love in my heart for the folks with whom I shared my day: Dreamflight is a registered UK charity whose purpose is to take seriously ill children and physically disabled children on their holiday of a lifetime to Disneyworld in Florida. Dreamflight believes in the importance of bringing some fun and enjoyment into the lives of children whose illnesses and treatments have brought pain, distress and disruption to their lives. Dreamflight aims to select children with a cross-section of illnesses and conditions for this annual holiday.

Now I’d be pretty black-hearted to wish all those poor children out of my way. I just wish I’d been warned. We would have come back another day and gotten more out of our sixty some-odd dollars. We rode Run-Off Rapids a couple of times (our favorite) and then headed up to Teamboat Springs but the line was CRAZY long. There was no way, so we headed back down and ended up at the top of Run-off Rapids again where we grabbed a tube (big no no) and rode down. We also rode the Downhill Double Dipper, which I think is very scary. There was a family behind us whose daughter was just about at the height limit and at first the CM wasn’t going to let her go, and then said, “Stand up really tall at the other rides or they won’t let you down” and off she went double dipping. Good for her, I guess. I would never do it at her age, and isn’t there a height requirement for a reason? Like you’ll go flying out of the chute if you’re so-tall and wind up hanging from a palm tree? That’s how I read it.

Two and a half hours there was all we could take. There was nowhere to sit down even, so we left. A little bit of a disappointment, but a chance to count our blessings that we were happy and healthy and hoping none of those childhood diseases were communicable. We went back to the room and decided to spend the afternoon shopping at DTD. We love that we can just walk over there in a flash. We split the Earl’s Club at Earl of Sandwich - boy, am I gonna miss my hot sandwiches - and then did a little damage in the shops. Among other things, I bought our nephew an Incredibles electric lollipop spinner (not the official name, I’m sure. What do you call these things?). I’ve been playing with it so much I’m going to have to replace the batteries before I put it in the mail. It’s the one where Mr. Incredible is lifting a slab of rock over his head. I just love it. After that, we headed back to get rest and get ready for dinner.

Transportation this evening was a bit of a puzzle since we were eating dinner at Kimonos at the Swan and then heading to MK. I’d called to ask if our DVC pass allowed us to park at the Swan and our front desk didn’t know so they transfered me. Hmmmm, seems like something they should know. The Swan said "Yes, you can park here, but can’t leave your car to go to any of the parks." Fine since that really didn’t make sense for us anyway. What we ended up doing was taking the bus to MGM, the boat to the Swan, a bus to MK and then a bus home. Brilliant. Kimonos was very nice, and we had some very good sushi: California Rolls, shrimp tempera rolls, salmon around spicy tuna for Chris, and edamame. I also had a yummy drink that was surprisingly clear but tasted all fruity (it had peach schnapps and a pineapple liqueur and something else). We had some confusion over the bill where we used our DVC discount but then Chris said, “We’re all set” (he meant, "I put money in there) so she never came back with change and we either left too much tip or not enough. I’m assuming if it were not enough, she would have been back. The peach schnapps was going to my brain and I couldn’t do the math.

Anyhoo, off we went to MK hoping to see Spectro again (No go. Chris’ exact words, “We’re going to watch the same parade AGAIN?”) but instead headed to Pooh and Peter Pan, which I think he took as revenge for parade veto. Super long waits for both and we didn’t grab FP’s. Dumb, dumb, dumb. To give us some credit, I’m not even sure PP was still giving FP’s when we first got there and they certainly weren’t once we got off Pooh. Chris really wanted to ride Space Mountain so we headed over there even though I could hear my chiropractor’s disapproval echoing in my head. The wait said 45 minutes and in reality it was 15. I now hate Space Mountain. It literally hurt. Ow ow ow was all I could say. I guess I’m too old. Old cranky lady in a neck brace. Not exactly what my hubby bargained for. We rode Space Ranger Spin again (Loved it, bought the photo AGAIN) and though I started out 10,000 ahead of Chris, he soon caught up and kicked my butt. Are you supposed to keep pushing or just hold the button down? Our second photo is almost as hilarious as the first, with the amusing addition of Chris’ sunburn. One will end up on our photo wall and one will go to my mother for Christmas. Perfect.

Wishes was going on while I was photo-purchasing. Silly old me thought I was at MNSSHP again and that I could come back after the fireworks to pick it up but the lady said, “Honey, we’ll be closed.” Oh yeaahhhh. So I waited and then we moved inches at a time to exit the park. At Casey’s, we crossed over to do some shopping while everyone else left. Bought a shirt but not enough time as we still inched our way to the bus stop. We just missed one and waited a while for the next but still got home before 10. Not too shabby. Again, the blessing of the SSR busses - for now.

We're almost done....stay tuned ....

 

[DVCTiff]

10/22/04 - Our last full day in the World. I could feel the sadness creeping in, but we would be back! We awoke early to get to Animal Kingdom for our Backstage Safari tour. The tour was great, but I’d booked it on an EMH day so the park was pretty crowded afterwards. Not such a big deal since we’d been in on this trip already, but something to avoid in the future. Anyway, if you have animal lovers with you, this is a terrific tour.

We’d planned on staying in AK for lunch but nothing looked good so we headed over to the Boardwalk for Chicken Dingers at ESPN (I did have my first Mickey bar - now I know what the fuss is all about). I’ve been craving these (dingers) since our honeymoon a year before and they did not disappoint. I think I could even go hotter next time! I asked our server if he’s been working nights this week (the play-offs) and he said he hadn’t but he'd heard it’d been crazy! They’d called the cops one night because a female Red Sox fan had hurled her yard-arm beer glass at a Yankees fan. And that’s when the Red Sox were winning!!! Yikes. I think we were all glad that the games were behind us now.

From there we headed in to Epcot to buy a friend a gift in “England.” Lovely little shopping trip before heading back to the room to rest and pack before dinner tonight at Ohana’s.

We drove over to the Poly around 6 and walked around a little before going in to dinner. I just love the Poly and am always so amazed at how you really feel transported to Hawaii. It’s just so well done with the music and the plantings and the architecture. I was a little dispapointed to find that you could no longer purchase a CD of the music. My stepfather plays the ukelele and I was going to get it for him for Christmas. In any case, we were feeling so relaxed and we hadn’t even had a drink yet!

We were seated within 10 minutes of getting our beeper thingy and had a wonderful server named Wanda. I thought this was a great meal and my only complaint was that it was just too much food for two people. I felt so guilty wasting it though I ate till I was stuffed. We didn’t even touch the salad (who wants to make room for salad???) and left lots on our appetizer plate. I had one piece of each meat and four shrimp and couldn’t even move. It’s probably better for a bigger group, but I was really glad we tried it. We took an after-dinner stroll on the path over the Grand Floridian where we saw Cinderella. What a beautiful resort this is and we really enjoyed the walk (or waddle) over. We shopped for a second or two but came up empty-handed. We then watched the Electric Water Pageant from the Poly beach ( a bit of a disappointment - you’d think they’d add to it or yank it altogether) and then cuddled under a beach canopy to watch the special MNSSHP fireworks. I like watching the fireworks from this far away better than from in the park, but that’s just me. This was such a great way to spend our last night. Part of me wanted to go to PI and milk out every last Disney drop, but we decided it would be better to go back to the room and finish packing. It’s amazing how stuff just multiplies when you’re having fun!

Back at SSR, we packed and cleaned and ate Mickey Krispie treats. Our trip home was uneventful (except for Chris almost killing us on the freeway) and we arrived back in New York to autumn’s peak. It took a little attitude adjustment to appreciate the leaves where palm trees had been just a few hours before. I was a little sad, but just kept telling myself that we’d be back to the World, not only next May but many times in the future.

Thanks for reading. Enjoy your very own trip!