Star Wars Opening Weekend...Was the force with us?

[OhioDisneyLover]

Hi and Welcome to my TR!

Cast ot Characters

Me – 48, Mickey Lover big time! OCD Disney Planner
DH – 38, Loves Disney, appreciates my OCD Planning
DB – 33 – First time visitor, Star Wars Nut

Background
We have been trying to get DB to join our family vacations. Who turns down Disney right? Um, yeah, he does. One day he surprised us and said that he’d like to go. What….you WANT TO GO TO DISNEY??? At that time we really did not have it in our budget since we were already planning a trip in Sept 2009 but I talked to DH and we figured it may be “now or never” so he said that I should “see what I could find.”

Airline – used miles – SCORE!

Rental Car – used AP discount – DOUBLE SCORE!

Room – um, no score. All of the resorts were either booked or more than we wanted to spend. I suggested trying a Value . We had stayed at ASMo before. DH was not thriled but I got us a room at POP for a reasonable price. Then……here comes the score….They relased AP rates and I got the room fo $64 a night!

Woo Hoo! We were GOING TO DISNEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next I worked on a draft itinerary that looked like this:

May 23 - Arrival
DHS directly from airport
Check in at POP after 4
MK for Spectro and Wishes

May 24
Early ADR at Kona
MK
Back to DHS for Fantasmic package at BD

May 25
DTD for shopping
EPCOT
ADR at Chefs de France
Illuminations

May 26
ADT at Tusker
DAK until time to go to airport

So, what do you think happened? Was it a magical vacation? Did we love Pop or hate it? Did we stick to it or did we get rained out? What did DB think of Disney? Will he go back???? Stick around and see!!!!

I took over 1,200 pictures and the intention is to use as many as I can in this TR.

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

DH and I took a cab to the airport bright and early on Saturday morning for our flight to MCO. For some reason we did not have to pay for our bags but hey, I wasn't complaining.

DH swears that the seats have somehow gotten smaller on the planes since last September. I told him no, we just got wider!

We arrive at MCO early and found my brother. He flew into concourse A and we were in B so we had to figure out WHICH escalator he was waiting for us at. Once we were all together and got our luggage it was time to go and get the car. DH checked in on line so one would think this would be a simple task, right? Um, no........not with my DH. You see, he spends more time selecting a rental car than it takes to drive to WDW from the freaking airport. So, after going from one to the other to the other, etc. he finally decides on one. So let's play a little game. What kind of car did we get? Can you tell from the dashboard?

We got on to the road and around 5 minutes later we hear this really strange noise. And yes, it was coming from our car. You know, the one that took 30 minutes to select! We pulled over to the side of the road and DB jumped out to see what it was. There was some metal thingy stuck in the wheel thingy (yeah, I know zero about cars) so he pulled it out and off we went......only to run into rain......the first of MANY rain storms. So people when we got near the old welcome arch, this is what I saw!

Nice, isn't it? But ... who cares.....we're at WDW!

We made our way to DHS. By the time we parked the car (DH is handicapped so we used the pass) the rain had stopped. DB had to get his hopper pass and we had to turn our AP vouchers into AP's. Of course, the Disney nazi (that would be me) was going insane because the Star Wars parade was suppose to start at 11:45 and it was 11:30. I took this picture for anyone interested in pricing.

It took until after 12:10 to finally get into the park .... and we missed the parade.

DH took this while I delt with the slow poke CM....OMG, it was terrible...The CM was moving so dang slow. And nice face on the dude in front of the sign? Dude, if you're reading....sorry, but this was the only shot we could get!

I also took a shot of the new banners for 2009.

We made our way into DHS and we saw this. Can you say SEA OF PEOPLE!!!!!!

DH had this shirt on which apparently people thought was funny. I think it's stupid but a lot of people stopped him to comment.

Next up....which way did we go? Did we make a run for Star Wars stuff? Did we decide on TSMM instead? Stay tuned......

 

[Myhappythought5]

DH had this shirt on which apparently people thought was funny. I think it's stupid but a lot of people stopped him to comment.

......

This is shirt my DH would love!!!

 

[inkedupmomma]

HI! I am here and subbed.. took me a minute or two.. to figure out that you were doing a new tr and not adding it to the sept ptr..der. ok.. i do not know the dashboard.. I was hoping I would! and holy crap, that rain looked suck ****! kinda cool pic though! looking forward to reading more and seeing these pics!

 

[AlohaPolynesian]

YAY I found you!! I don't know anything about cars either and I have no idea what kind you got! It was a bummer about the rain - we were definitely not prepared. I'd rather be at WDW in the rain than at home in the rain though! Can't wait to hear more!! I was SO surprised that I actually really liked Pop so I can't wait to hear your thoughts.

 

[inkedupmomma]

John's guess is : PT Cruiser

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

This is shirt my DH would love!!!

I guess it must be a guy thing. DH thought it was the funniest thing and he had to have the shirt.

HI! I am here and subbed.. took me a minute or two.. to figure out that you were doing a new tr and not adding it to the sept ptr..der. ok.. i do not know the dashboard.. I was hoping I would! and holy crap, that rain looked suck ****! kinda cool pic though! looking forward to reading more and seeing these pics!

I decided to do this one separately since it was DB's first trip and all. When I told him I was doing a TR he looked at me like I had two heads. In fact, I kept stopping to take certain pictures and he really thought I was nuts. The best had to be though when I demanded to take food pics. He really thought I was insane then.

YAY I found you!! I don't know anything about cars either and I have no idea what kind you got! It was a bummer about the rain - we were definitely not prepared. I'd rather be at WDW in the rain than at home in the rain though! Can't wait to hear more!! I was SO surprised that I actually really liked Pop so I can't wait to hear your thoughts.

Wasn't the rain incredible? I have never seen anything like it. You're right though, WDW in the rain is so much better than being home in the rain! I'll be posting our thoughts on Pop here soon. I was surprised by our reaction as well.

John's guess is : PT Cruiser

Nope, not a PT Cruiser!

 

[Dr_Finkelstein]

Hi Sophia!

Great start! I have no clue about US cars so I have no idea (you know Grumpy and I's reaction to our hire car already! )

with the rain, but as you say, at least it was raining on the WDW sign!

Shame you missed the parade, but can't wait to see the rest of the photos!

Di x

 

[lisalonglash]

Woohooo, I found your new trippie!! Great start! I'm sorry it was raining when you arrived Looking forward to more!

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

Hi Sophia!

Great start! I have no clue about US cars so I have no idea (you know Grumpy and I's reaction to our hire car already! )

with the rain, but as you say, at least it was raining on the WDW sign!

Shame you missed the parade, but can't wait to see the rest of the photos!

Di x

Hi Di,

Thanks for joining my TR. I will be posting an update tonight with more pictures.

Woohooo, I found your new trippie!! Great start! I'm sorry it was raining when you arrived Looking forward to more!

Hi there! Thanks for joining. Rain seemed to be the trend for the weekend but I'd still rather be at WDW than home in the rain!!!

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

So it was obvious by the sea of humanity going left to Star Tours that we probably would be better off not going that way! DH wanted to get the special Star Wars Weekend AP holder pin so we headed to the pin station inside the hat. Well bad move. They told us that all Star Wars Weekend merchandise was at Wicket's Warehouse. Dang it.

We decided to see what the wait was for TSMM. It said 70 minutes and the FP return was for later that evening. We knew that we were going to MK later so we decided to hang out in line and see how long it would actually take to get through the line. Here is DB in line. DH went to get drinks so the two of us hung out waiting on him.

Turns out the entire queue wasn't open meaning that the line wasn't as long as we thought. Check this out!

Mr. Potato Head was entertaining all of us...especially this one older guy who thought everything was super duper funny.

More random shots of the queue.

DH and DB:

We made it through and grabbed our 3D glasses before heading up the steps. Just a little further.......

I rode alone and DH and DB rode together. It's such a competition with those two. Here is my score....yeah, I suck at this!!!!!!!!

I don't know how DH and DB did and who did better but I learne today that DB has found me here on the DIS.....he's stalking so maybe he will create a user ID and post here who had the higher score!

We were getting hungry so we decided to go to Studio Catering Company. I really wanted a pulled pork sammie. As we walked ober there we passed Wickets Warehouse so naturally, we decided to go inside. I noticed that they did not have nearly the same amount of merchandise that they did the last time we were at SWW. DB wanted to get a talking Yoda but they didn't have it. We ended up spending like $150 on frickin pins if you can believe it. We also got the throw for $15 bucks. I have a zillion of them but I knew that DH would like this one. Here are a couple of pics:

And check this out! I love how they incorporate Mickey into EVERYTHING!

Ok, onward to food. I was STARVING by this point!!!!!! DB and I stood in line while DH stalked everyone to see if we could get a seat. It was freaking PACKED in there.

Yummy, pulled pork.........

We decided that our next stop would be Muppets. As we were leaving we saw these guys.......

And then we saw this guy! I have to say, he TOTALLY FREAKS ME OUT! Last time we were at SWW the hair on the back of my neck stood up when I got close to Vadar. Don't know why but that dude totally creeps me out..big time. I was thankful that we did not get too close. Thank God for zoom lenses......

I really wanted DB to see the Muppets.

When he was a kid he would make us watch every single episode on tv I swear I have seen them all 100 times.

DH likes the two old dudes in the balcony. He laughs at their stupid jokes every time we are there.

DB loved Beaker when he was little. I really wanted to see his reaction to the 3D film and I swear, he was laughing. Not that I think he'd admit it. lol

After we left Muppets we headed over to the store. DB got a Beaker t-shirt and a Beaker key chain. I hit the motherload! Last year I eyeballed this hoodie for the entire 9 days that we were there in September. I kept telling myself I would get it before we left. And yeah, they didn't have it anywhere when we were getting ready to leave. DH went to several resorts to check all the shops. I was sh** out of luck and mad as he** that I didn't buy it when I first saw it. Well, there it was, in all it's glory, at the Muppet shop! Yay me!!! I got it and I didn't even care that it was 50 some odd dollars. Yay!!!!!!!!!!

Next up was Tatooine Traders. We did not ride Star Tours. That ride kicks my a** every single time and I am sore for a week! The shop was PACKED and frankly, it felt like a herd of cattle. I sort of wanted to get our pictures done but I didn't dare ask DB and DH. I figured they would tell me I was nuts.

As we were leaving the shop the Pixar Parade was ending. I had not seen this parade yet so I wanted to stay and watch. It was cute.

As we were standing there the biggest bumble bee I have ever seen in my life landed on the lady in front of me. I didn't want to freak her out by telling her it was there but at the same time, I was scared to shoo it away too. By the time I got the nerve to tell her about it, it flew away. That sucker was HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!

After the parade we were trying to decide what to do next. We ended up at GMR. I went to the right in the hopes of getting the western side. Woo Hoo, we got it, but our "bad guy" was actually a girl and she was terrible. Like super duper craptastic bad. Here's a pic of our driver, or whatever you call those CM's.

By this time, we were all tired from being up since like 4 am so we decided to head to POP and check in. The Disney commando (that's me) had MK on the schedule for the evening so that we could see Wishes and Spectro but everyone needed a break. We headed to the car and then we were off to POP.

Did we get the 50's like I wanted? Did we get a ground floor like I wanted? What was the resort like? Did we love it? Hate it?

Stay tuned and find out............

 

[AlohaPolynesian]

OK, maybe Friday did not count as part of the Star Wars weekend because we did not see anything besides a Princess Leia (sp?) Minnie! But not that I cared or was looking. I just can't believe all the photos you got! How was TSM? I still haven't gone on it. The line was 120 minutes Friday and all of the FP's were gone by the time we got there! Glad you got your hoodie!!!! What is the western side of the GMR? I've only been on that thing like, twice. I can't wait to hear about Pop!!!!

 

[Synndy]

Subbing

My guess on the car... Chevy HHR?

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

OK, maybe Friday did not count as part of the Star Wars weekend because we did not see anything besides a Princess Leia (sp?) Minnie! But not that I cared or was looking. I just can't believe all the photos you got! How was TSM? I still haven't gone on it. The line was 120 minutes Friday and all of the FP's were gone by the time we got there! Glad you got your hoodie!!!! What is the western side of the GMR? I've only been on that thing like, twice. I can't wait to hear about Pop!!!!

We really liked TSMM. It's a lot of fun and the line goes really fast. Even my mom likes it and she's not much of a video gamer.

There is a western side and a gangster side of GMR. If you get the western side a "cowboy" is the bad guy and if you get the other side your bad guy is a "gangster' dressed in a suit, et. It's a nice break to be in the air conditioning for a while.

My thoughts on Pop are coming up next when I post tonight.

Subbing

My guess on the car... Chevy HHR?

Glad you found me! Nope, not an HHR.

 

[Dr_Finkelstein]

Hi Sophia!

Great update and photos again, it looks really busy but you still got a lot done! I loved the photo of the MH fire extinguisher!
Grumpy would love to go for SWW (as do we all! LOL!), but while the kids are still in school I don't think it's going to happen.
Your score at TSMM is as good as mine, nothing wrong with that!
Keep the updates coming! Anymore clues on the hire car? I'm hopeless with US cars, I hardly know any! Ummm, an Escalade? (sp?), an Explorer?

Di x

 

[inkedupmomma]

so how long was the actual wait for tsmm? also, what is the dang car you had??? i didn't know what to expect your bro to look like.. he's a combo of you and your sis, but very tough guy looking lol!

Also, I would like a pulled pork sammie right now lol

did you take pics of joe's new pins? that throw is awesome.. i shoulda sent you money to get me one!

 

[lisalonglash]

Great update TSM is fun, isn't it?! My score sucked, but I had a good time too It looks like you got some fun shopping in too! Just between us, I'm a little of Darth Vader too! What's the western side of GMR? I cannot wait to go on GMR and see the Muppets movie!! Your pictures are fantastic! I hope you got a room in the area you wanted

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

Hi Sophia!

Great update and photos again, it looks really busy but you still got a lot done! I loved the photo of the MH fire extinguisher!
Grumpy would love to go for SWW (as do we all! LOL!), but while the kids are still in school I don't think it's going to happen.
Your score at TSMM is as good as mine, nothing wrong with that!
Keep the updates coming! Anymore clues on the hire car? I'm hopeless with US cars, I hardly know any! Ummm, an Escalade? (sp?), an Explorer?

Di x

Di,

It was quite busy but we did manage to get a few things done. I think Joe and my brother would have killed me if I pushed them any harder during this trip!

As for a car clue.....

It's an American made car that has been around for years. There is also a city in the US with the same name.......

so how long was the actual wait for tsmm? also, what is the dang car you had??? i didn't know what to expect your bro to look like.. he's a combo of you and your sis, but very tough guy looking lol!

Also, I would like a pulled pork sammie right now lol

did you take pics of joe's new pins? that throw is awesome.. i shoulda sent you money to get me one!

The TSMM wait was probably around 35-40 minutes from what we can remember. I can't believe that they did not have the entire line open based on the crowd size and the heat. I'm sure people would have prefered to be inside.

Yep, I think my bro is a combo of my sister and I. My bro and my sis have the same dad but I think that my bro is actually a pretty even combo of both my mom and his dad. He is really tall though. I look like a shrimp standing next to him.

Joe wasn't convinced he wanted either of the throws but come on....$15 bucks! If I had known I would have gotten you one too.

Great update TSM is fun, isn't it?! My score sucked, but I had a good time too It looks like you got some fun shopping in too! Just between us, I'm a little of Darth Vader too! What's the western side of GMR? I cannot wait to go on GMR and see the Muppets movie!! Your pictures are fantastic! I hope you got a room in the area you wanted

Yeah, my score sucks at both Buzz and TSMM but I sure have fun playing! We are all shoppers so we had a great time browsing all of the stores. My bro wasn't thrilled about the masses of humanity inside World of Disney though. The place was jam packed!!!!!!!!!

We love GMR and Muppets. They are on our "must do" list. The pictures that I took were from our point and shoot camera. I decided not to lug the big bad one around. I only ended up using it for Spectro.

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

When we left off we were headed out of DHS and over to Pop. We wanted to take a break before we went to MK for the evening.

I was really hoping to get a room in the 50's. For some reason, I really love the 50's. I was born in the 60's but still, I wanted to stay in the 50's. On first glance when we pulled into Pop I thought "this isn't bad..."

We didn't wait in line for more than about 5 minutes before it was out turn to check in. The CM told me that the resort was really full. Oh no, bad sign...here it comes....no 50's for me. I really wanted a room on the ground floor becuase of DH's back and by the end of the day, he is a hurting puppy. Yeah, no such luck. We ended up in the 70's....right on the border of the 60's. We were in room 6313. The closest handicapped parking was in the 90's. The room we had was in the back of the resort and there are no parking lots back there. I asked if we could be moved and the CM said that maybe they could move us the next day. Forget that! Didn't want to go through the hassle.

We parked in the 90's and schlepped our crap to the room....on the 3rd freaking floor! No ground floor for you...... There was no freaking way I was going to carry my crap up the stairs so I went to the elevator. Since we were on a corner the stairs were by our room so the guys carried their stuff up which made me nervous with DH's back and all.

One word to describe the resort.....................................














CRAPTASTIC! I HATED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!! DH just made one statement..."if we do value again, I'll take All Star."

While I was not impressed with the resort at all, I have to say this. Our room was incredibly clean. I mean super, duper clean. More so than the deluxe resorts we have stayed in. I have to give them that.

Both beds made a bizzare noise when you sat on them. Almost like they were dry rotting inside or something. I can't explain it but it was a really funky noise. Here are a couple of pics of the room and what we could see from outside our front door.

By the elevator on the other side of our building..........

From the parking lot in the 90's.....

I unpacked as usual. DB decided to live out of his suitcase. Go figure. We, as DH would say, did some chillaxin' for a few before heading over to Everything Pop to check it out and grab some grubb before heading over to MK.

Next up...... The food court. How was it? Were there a lot of different items to select from? Did we like the food? Did we hate it? Also, what did we do at MK????????

 

[AlohaPolynesian]

WEIRD! I've definitely only been on the gangster side and didn't even know there was another option!! Western sounds more fun. I can't believe you didn't like Pop! Even me, a spoiled deluxe girl, loved it. It was good people watching, loved the music, clean grounds, clean room, pretty decent food court. I did NOT like All Star Sports but it is the only one I have stayed at out of those. I wanted 70's and they were full, you wanted 50's and they were full! We totally should've switched!! 50's are okay, 60's stuff just creeps me out so I requested the 70's b/c I for some reason am fascinated by that decade!!! I hope your trip got better!