Fitswimmer
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- Joined
- May 30, 2006
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Just back from my first visit HOME!! We had a most excellent trip! This was my second time taking my parents on vacation and it's a neat feeling.
Sunday(11/26)-drove down from The Villages (about 90 minutes) and went to check in. Got loads of "Welcome Home's" from the gate to the desk. Check in went smoothly, left the bags at the resort and headed for EPCOT! First stop-Soarin' for Fast Passes. Then, off to ride Nemo at the Living Seas-cute, but really more for the little ones. Skipped Turtle Talk-lines were too long and we had plans! Tried out the Ellen Adventure in Energy, we hadn't ridden that since it had changed and were pleasantly surprised!. After Ellen, took a walk around the showcase and watched the 3 Kings in Mexico. If you've never been to EPCOT around the holidays, you're in for a treat. Each country presents a holiday tradition and you can really learn a lot. This year I learned about the origin of the poinsettia as a holiday flower! After a visit to China and the gift shop, it's off on the Friendship boat to ride Soarin'. The only problem with that ride is that it's way too short!!!
After Soarin' it was back across the lagoon to Germany for our ADR's. I'd never eaten there before and the food is GREAT. It's buffet style and you sit in tables of 6, if your group is smaller than that, you have others join you. Nice opportunity to meet new folks, we ate with a very nice German couple. I learned about Octoberfest Beer!! YUM. Cute Christmas show too. After dinner and a little Christmas ornament shopping in Germany, it was time to queue up for the Candelight Processional. Our narrator was David Robinson from the San Antonio Spurs and he did a fantastic job. It's my third time seeing the show, I really love it. It really gets you in the mood for Christmas.
Then, we're off to the bridge to wait for Illuminations Christmas Show-WOW!! They use twice as many shells for the Christmas show according to our boat captain and it certainly shows.
After all that, we finally headed back to SSR to our room. We were in 4721, a 2 bedroom in the Paddock section right behind the bus stop. We went out to bell services and found the bag storage area open and no cast members to be seen. Went back inside and reported the problem to the manager, and he took care of it immediately and sent our bags to the room. The villa was spotless, the only very minor issue was the sound on the TV in the LR-a little fuzzy. Beds are so comfortable-sleep comes real easy....
Monday (11/27) Dad wants to ride Everest, so we're off to Animal Kingdom. We had a light breakfast in the room, no ADR's set for Monday so we're just picking up as we go. The bus situation is not very good, we seemed to spend a LOT of time waiting for busses, more on that later. Finally our bus came and we headed for AK. Right to Everest, standby was 30 minutes so we decided to just get in line. Met a terrific kid, his name was Travis and he was just tall enough to ride. Dad and I would have been in the front seat, but we just couldn't resist and gave it up to Travis and his Dad. What an excellent ride! Dad spent the rest of the trip telling everyone how great it was and that they should ride it! The theming on the line is great, Travis was telling us all about the Yeti and how we couldn't close our eyes or we'd miss him! (he was right) I would call it BTMR with a kick. After that, we headed to the Nemo show, which is very good, I thought seeing the puppeteers would be distracting, but it really isn't. We spent a nice day around the park, did the walking tour to see the hippos, rode the Whirl ride in a rainshower, bought ponchos which stopped the rain, and had lunch at Flame Tree-great ribs! Found a great place to watch the Jingle Jungle Parade and met some folks from South Jersey. The parade is great, I'd never seen one over there and I love what they do with the puppets. They involved a few families and that was really nice too. After the parade, we headed back to SSR for a break. We walked over to the Artists Palette for flatbread "pizza" and salads to bring back and just hung out for a little while. Long wait for the bus again to go to MGM to see the Osborne lights-they DANCE this year which is a nice addition. Lots of hidden Mickeys to be found-I'm just glad I don't have to pay their electric bill! We could have stayed for extra magic hours, but we really just wanted to do a little browsing. Mom found a great golf shirt for Dad-he'll act surprised on Christmas morning. After we got back from there, I headed over to Downtown to do some shopping. More LONG bus waiting..I sat for over a half hour at the resort, then another half hour at Downtown waiting to go back. I must have just hit them all wrong.
Tuesday (11/28) Happy Birthday to ME!! Nothing beats waking up in WDW on your birthday-no matter which birthday it is! Breakfast in the room again, and off to WAIT for the bus. We waited over 45 minutes for the MK bus, and by the time we left the resort it was standing room only. The driver had to radio for someone to pick up two ECV guests that were at the last stop because there just wasn't room. Going to MK never gets old, the first glimpse of the castle, the music, the smell of popcorn and the holiday decorations really say "Disney" to me. Got my birthday pin at City Hall, now they write your name on it! We also saw 1st visit pins and Happy Anniversary pins, so make sure to get those! We walked onto everything-no lines at all. Pirates was our first stop, gotta see Captain Jack. He looks great!! Then off to the Mountain range. Wow, did I get wet on Splash! I can't remember getting so drenched before, it was like I was on Kali River!!! BTMRR helped dry us off a little, but we were wet for hours!! We did some Pin shopping. I don't trade, but I do buy one for each resort I visit and some special ones that I really like. The Empress Lily is back in service, so we took a ride on that hoping to dry off a little more in the sun. After that we headed for the Haunted Mansion which IMHO really needs an update. It's unchanged since 1972 when I first saw it. Still fun, but it could be better now. Walking through Fantasyland, even the Peter Pan line was short, which is unheard of. Saw Mickey's Philharmagic which is still lots of fun. Spent some time shopping and then had my birthday lunch at Crystal Palace. Winnie the Pooh is my favorite, and I got a hug from him for my birthday-PLUS a cupcake with a candle, Mike our waiter sang Happy Birthday and gave me a card signed by all the characters!! Very magical. We watched the parade from the window, we couldn't hear the music but we saw it. The cool thing was the fact that while Pooh and friends were passing in the parade they were NOWHERE to be seen in the Palace. Nice attention to detail by the cast. Did some more shopping for Christmas and went to the Walt and Mickey statue to wait for the castle show and the fireworks. We had a rain shower that cancelled one show, but we got the second one in. The new show goes back to the "Disney" format-good guys are happy, then bad guys come in, then good guys save the day by working together and relying on their dreams. Hung out for Wishes, which is still a wonderful show. It was a Christmas Party night, but we're going on Dec 21, so we headed out with the rest of the mob.
Wednesday (12/29)-time to go back to the other home. Used the advance airline check in and Magic Express which takes away a LOT of the airport stress. All you have to do is go through security, everything else is done. A word of warning-be at the bus stop 15 minutes before the bus is due. The 7:30 bus pulled out about 5 minutes early and I had to wait for the 8:00. No big deal, but it's not something that they stress.
Now it's time to get my ADR's for my next trip!!
Sunday(11/26)-drove down from The Villages (about 90 minutes) and went to check in. Got loads of "Welcome Home's" from the gate to the desk. Check in went smoothly, left the bags at the resort and headed for EPCOT! First stop-Soarin' for Fast Passes. Then, off to ride Nemo at the Living Seas-cute, but really more for the little ones. Skipped Turtle Talk-lines were too long and we had plans! Tried out the Ellen Adventure in Energy, we hadn't ridden that since it had changed and were pleasantly surprised!. After Ellen, took a walk around the showcase and watched the 3 Kings in Mexico. If you've never been to EPCOT around the holidays, you're in for a treat. Each country presents a holiday tradition and you can really learn a lot. This year I learned about the origin of the poinsettia as a holiday flower! After a visit to China and the gift shop, it's off on the Friendship boat to ride Soarin'. The only problem with that ride is that it's way too short!!!
After Soarin' it was back across the lagoon to Germany for our ADR's. I'd never eaten there before and the food is GREAT. It's buffet style and you sit in tables of 6, if your group is smaller than that, you have others join you. Nice opportunity to meet new folks, we ate with a very nice German couple. I learned about Octoberfest Beer!! YUM. Cute Christmas show too. After dinner and a little Christmas ornament shopping in Germany, it was time to queue up for the Candelight Processional. Our narrator was David Robinson from the San Antonio Spurs and he did a fantastic job. It's my third time seeing the show, I really love it. It really gets you in the mood for Christmas.
Then, we're off to the bridge to wait for Illuminations Christmas Show-WOW!! They use twice as many shells for the Christmas show according to our boat captain and it certainly shows.
After all that, we finally headed back to SSR to our room. We were in 4721, a 2 bedroom in the Paddock section right behind the bus stop. We went out to bell services and found the bag storage area open and no cast members to be seen. Went back inside and reported the problem to the manager, and he took care of it immediately and sent our bags to the room. The villa was spotless, the only very minor issue was the sound on the TV in the LR-a little fuzzy. Beds are so comfortable-sleep comes real easy....
Monday (11/27) Dad wants to ride Everest, so we're off to Animal Kingdom. We had a light breakfast in the room, no ADR's set for Monday so we're just picking up as we go. The bus situation is not very good, we seemed to spend a LOT of time waiting for busses, more on that later. Finally our bus came and we headed for AK. Right to Everest, standby was 30 minutes so we decided to just get in line. Met a terrific kid, his name was Travis and he was just tall enough to ride. Dad and I would have been in the front seat, but we just couldn't resist and gave it up to Travis and his Dad. What an excellent ride! Dad spent the rest of the trip telling everyone how great it was and that they should ride it! The theming on the line is great, Travis was telling us all about the Yeti and how we couldn't close our eyes or we'd miss him! (he was right) I would call it BTMR with a kick. After that, we headed to the Nemo show, which is very good, I thought seeing the puppeteers would be distracting, but it really isn't. We spent a nice day around the park, did the walking tour to see the hippos, rode the Whirl ride in a rainshower, bought ponchos which stopped the rain, and had lunch at Flame Tree-great ribs! Found a great place to watch the Jingle Jungle Parade and met some folks from South Jersey. The parade is great, I'd never seen one over there and I love what they do with the puppets. They involved a few families and that was really nice too. After the parade, we headed back to SSR for a break. We walked over to the Artists Palette for flatbread "pizza" and salads to bring back and just hung out for a little while. Long wait for the bus again to go to MGM to see the Osborne lights-they DANCE this year which is a nice addition. Lots of hidden Mickeys to be found-I'm just glad I don't have to pay their electric bill! We could have stayed for extra magic hours, but we really just wanted to do a little browsing. Mom found a great golf shirt for Dad-he'll act surprised on Christmas morning. After we got back from there, I headed over to Downtown to do some shopping. More LONG bus waiting..I sat for over a half hour at the resort, then another half hour at Downtown waiting to go back. I must have just hit them all wrong.
Tuesday (11/28) Happy Birthday to ME!! Nothing beats waking up in WDW on your birthday-no matter which birthday it is! Breakfast in the room again, and off to WAIT for the bus. We waited over 45 minutes for the MK bus, and by the time we left the resort it was standing room only. The driver had to radio for someone to pick up two ECV guests that were at the last stop because there just wasn't room. Going to MK never gets old, the first glimpse of the castle, the music, the smell of popcorn and the holiday decorations really say "Disney" to me. Got my birthday pin at City Hall, now they write your name on it! We also saw 1st visit pins and Happy Anniversary pins, so make sure to get those! We walked onto everything-no lines at all. Pirates was our first stop, gotta see Captain Jack. He looks great!! Then off to the Mountain range. Wow, did I get wet on Splash! I can't remember getting so drenched before, it was like I was on Kali River!!! BTMRR helped dry us off a little, but we were wet for hours!! We did some Pin shopping. I don't trade, but I do buy one for each resort I visit and some special ones that I really like. The Empress Lily is back in service, so we took a ride on that hoping to dry off a little more in the sun. After that we headed for the Haunted Mansion which IMHO really needs an update. It's unchanged since 1972 when I first saw it. Still fun, but it could be better now. Walking through Fantasyland, even the Peter Pan line was short, which is unheard of. Saw Mickey's Philharmagic which is still lots of fun. Spent some time shopping and then had my birthday lunch at Crystal Palace. Winnie the Pooh is my favorite, and I got a hug from him for my birthday-PLUS a cupcake with a candle, Mike our waiter sang Happy Birthday and gave me a card signed by all the characters!! Very magical. We watched the parade from the window, we couldn't hear the music but we saw it. The cool thing was the fact that while Pooh and friends were passing in the parade they were NOWHERE to be seen in the Palace. Nice attention to detail by the cast. Did some more shopping for Christmas and went to the Walt and Mickey statue to wait for the castle show and the fireworks. We had a rain shower that cancelled one show, but we got the second one in. The new show goes back to the "Disney" format-good guys are happy, then bad guys come in, then good guys save the day by working together and relying on their dreams. Hung out for Wishes, which is still a wonderful show. It was a Christmas Party night, but we're going on Dec 21, so we headed out with the rest of the mob.
Wednesday (12/29)-time to go back to the other home. Used the advance airline check in and Magic Express which takes away a LOT of the airport stress. All you have to do is go through security, everything else is done. A word of warning-be at the bus stop 15 minutes before the bus is due. The 7:30 bus pulled out about 5 minutes early and I had to wait for the 8:00. No big deal, but it's not something that they stress.
Now it's time to get my ADR's for my next trip!!
