Stop pushing the elevator button!! Done!! Complete!! Finished!!

[OhMari]

Did I listen to my own advice?

No!!

At least I got sick the day after I came home from Florida.

Was it nice and warm in Florida?

You will have to just read along and find out.


No kids,
just myself, with my dh,
but he had to attend his conference.
Many others were suppose to be joining me.

This is why I tried to make plans,
but threw most of my planning out the window.
Thank goodness for online ADR's,
you don't have to Call CRO anymore,
you can add, delete ADR's all to your hearts content-online.


Our plans were to be in Florida,
February 24-28, 2010.

Me-OhMari
My dh-
My dh-co-workers and their wives
My dh boss and his wife.

In December my dh gave me the post card for his convention.
Instead of April, they moved the convention to February.
I immediately went on line and put in a request for flights.

We pretty much got an afternoon flight on the 24th.
If I would of known, that my dh took the whole day off,
I would of been on the early morning flight,
but it worked out for the best. No one had to
finish my work for me and I could get everything
delivered to both parishes.


Name your favorite tv channel!!
Mine is the weather channel-the local on the 8's
gets a little annoying, but that channel is the best.
If you happened to be watching it the last couple of weeks,
you would notice, the Florida has been not living up
to it's slogan, "The Sunshine State".
The sun may have been out,
but it has been rainy, and darn right cold.
I think they even had a few days of snow showers.

By the middle of February, it was looking up a little.
The average temps for the last week in Feb. is suppose to be 76.
The predictions were suppose to be in the 70's,
but I noticed a change,
prediction temps were staying in the 50's and 60's,
no 70's.

It was better than Wisconsin.
Our temps were 32, and a brief dusting of snow.
When we left our little town,
the snow was accumulating pretty good.
I gritted my teeth and pulled all my bermuda shorts
out of my luggage and grabbed 2 pair of pants
that you could role up into capri's.
And I changed into jeans.

Before we left,
we had to go to one of the parishes
I work for to set up for the weekend Masses.
I jumped out of my dh truck into 2 feet of snow.
I never looked online to see if our flight was cancelled either.
Luckily my dh has to travel with his lap top and I quickly
looked up our flight and everything was still a go.

10 miles before Milwaukee, it was not snowing.

Since this was a business related trip, we "tried"
to park in the parking ramp at the airport.
Since MKE is trying to lure IL people to
fly out of MKE,
they allow all Illinois people to park for free.
I don't think I have ever seen MKE's parking ramp
full on every level.

So, with doing a bunch of circles on every floor,
we finally found a space-
I wanted to take a picture where we parked,
but dh insisted he would remember.

Checked in a 2:00,
made it through security by 2:30
and we loaded the plane by 3:00.

And, it started snowing.
Apparently the snowstorm made it's way south.
This was not just your dusting of snow.
This was caked on, baked on,
made to stick, a pile of ick.
We backed up, and the Captain came on and said,
"we are going to de-snow the plane."
Most times planes are de-iced,
we were de-snowed.

It only took 10 minutes, because they brought 2 machines,
one for each side, and they had the snow off the plane pretty fast,
and then they had us take off, so snow wouldn't accumulate again.


Airplane ride was uneventful.
We did have some wicked turbulance
coming into Florida.
I guess Florida had some Thunderstorms roll through the area,
and we must have hit some unstable air.

Me and my dh sat across from each other
in aisle seats.
He had a personfrom hell, in front of him,
that kept bashing his knees with her seat.

MCO had our luggage on the carousel,
by the time we got to the B side.
My dh checked into Enterprise while I got our luggage,
and we were on the road within 30 minutes.

My dh co-worker called and told us to come in the
back way to the Ritz.
Our road was pretty much shut down,
because it was next to Sea World.
I'm sure everyone heard the horrible news by now.
SeaWorld was one of my solo-days-
but that option got cancelled, because SeaWorld was shut for 2 days.

Here is where we stayed.
Great Lakes Ritz and the Marriott was on the other side.

For some reason,
the hotel reminds me of the Tower of Terror hotel.

 

[scottny]

I am here.

it does look Tower of Terror

 

[OhMari]

I am here.

Hey Scotty

 

[OhMari]

We made it to the entrance of the hotel,
and my dh co-worker was out front waiting for the bus,
to take them to the "Cuban Resturant."
We were all invited to a special resturant that evening with the
host of the convention.


At the Ritz,
you cannot park your own car,
or open your own door,
or unload your own luggage
or
"touch the elevator button".


You can fight the system and be jerks,
or just "man up" and pay up.

It was sort of sad
when I saw people
drop their car off or pick their car up and not tip.

I just saved up a $100 bucks,
went to the bank and got $5's and $10's
and just tipped with a smile on my face.

I saw plenty of WDW CM's VIP's picking up groups of
families and taking them to WDW. If you can afford
$300 an hour for a VIP CM, you can tip your valet $10
when you drop your car off and pick your car up.
(Remember, I am a guest,
I didn't pick the resort-and I love to people watch).

Back to checking in.
It was around 6:45 p.m. and we were told,
they would hold the bus for us and wait for us.
We were suppose to go out with the group,
putting on the convention and eat at
"Cuba Libre Restaurant & Rum Bar"
over on Internation Drive, just a few miles up the road.

I was tired, very jet lagged and just wanted
to crash for an hour.
We had an ADR at Cat's new resturant Kouzinna's,
on the Boardwalk at 9:00 p.m.

But, the group was like,
"no, no, no", "we will wait for you",
hurry up and go check in. The bus is
going to leave at 7:30, you have 45 minutes."

We managed to get checked in,
"not press the elevator button"
was shown to our room on the 6th floor,
unpack, take showers, and change and
we made it to the bus with 10 minutes to spare.

I still felt awful, usually I get jet-lagged going home,
not going somewhere. But I also had not been sleeping
to good the last couple of nights.

The resturant is beautiful inside.
I wish I would of taken more pictures,
but we were with a bunch of business men,
and me and "Lisa" were the only girls,
and I didn't want to be taking pictures.

The menu is a 5 course meal, and everything is very spicy.
Me and spicy don't do so well.
I had to get up once and walk to the bathroom.
I was literally choking, and I thought how dumb,
I could fall over in the bathroom and die and no one would know.
I had tears coming out of my eyes, It was like the food was caught in my throat.
I did some deep breathing, and the food went down, but I felt really awefull.


About 5 minutes later, I walked back to the table,
but I was done, and the main course hadn't even arrived yet
or dessert.
I just pushed my food around my plate and prayed no one noticed.
The guys all had enough to drink, so it was pretty easy to disguise,
but I was done. I was ready to take a cab back to our hotel.

Then we were all told, that the bus was going to a piano dueling bar up the road. Great I thought we were going to go to Jelly Rolls, but it was a different piano dueling bar. Then they said, "if you didn't want to go, the bus would take you back to the hotel." Thank goodness.
My dh, didn't care, he would of went if I wanted too,
but I had enough of pretending that I felt fine.
Wine, spicy food, alcohol, jet lag, just don't mix.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Signing on for more! That building DOES look like the Tower of Terror.

 

[sue and co]

Yep, just joining in.

 

[wdwgirl03]

I'm here too. Crazy how the Florida weather hasn't been that great lately.

 

[OhMari]

Signing on for more! That building DOES look like the Tower of Terror.

Thanks for reading. The Marriott next door looks more like it, but from a distance, with it's towers, I thought about it, when we were driving in, and I said to my dh, "wow, with the rain coming, it looks like we are driving to the Tower of Terror," he just smirked at me, and wondered why I called it the Tower of Terror. He doesn't know to much about WDW.

Yep, just joining in.

Welcome

I'm here too. Crazy how the Florida weather hasn't been that great lately.

Just watched my favorite channel this morning, and the Weather Channel, thinks Florida is finally making a turn, and getting out of the cool temperatures.

 

[Señor DonDuck]

Yikes, that was a scary incident with the food!

I did a double-take on that hotel. Also thought it was ToT.

 

[OhMari]

Yikes, that was a scary incident with the food!

I did a double-take on that hotel. Also thought it was ToT.

Welcome

 

[OhMari]

I'm waiting for my CD from WDW PhotoPass to arrive. I had 22 pictures, which wasn't to bad for 2 days. After I was done playing with borders and editing, I ended up wtih 48. I was just going to order a few prints, but I went with the CD.

In my room at the Beach Club, they had a special folder with a picture of Mickey and Minney and a PhotoPass Card that had 40% off of my total order. So I just went with the CD. Wow, I guess I haven't been paying attention to the price increase. The last time I got a CD, the price was $99, then I knew it increased to $125, but now the price is $145. That is crazy. I would of never have gotten it, if the price wasn't 40% off. Shipping was only $2.00.
If I would of went the other direction and went with prints, I was coming out about the same, because the shipping price rose, with almost every print.

Callie on left and her best friend,
picture is from our Cruise last Fall,
(really in Mexico)

My dd Callie came home last evening from college and is now,
officially on her Spring Break.
(just seems like she just went back to school from winter break)
She is leaving for Florida-Orlando Sunday with her roommates.
They are driving-
1100 miles one way.
GPS said 19 hours and 45 minutes.
GPS's don't take into account potty breaks, food stops, and traffic.
I told her to plan at least 24 hours, if not more.
4 girls in one vehicle,
2 possible 3 will do most of the driving.
So, can you include my dd in your prayers this weekend

Callie showed me the time share on the internet.
It is 2 miles west of the Animal Kingdom.

She is planning one day, with one of the other girls at the MK.
I thought I had $125 left on my Disney Gift Card.
When I called to see the balance -it was $86.
But enough to purchase a one day ticket and maybe lunch.
But, I tmade her raise her right hand
and promise to:
"wake up early."
"get to the Magic Kingdom by 8:00 a.m."
"so she can see the Opening of the Park"
"get to Dumbo" "or Die".
I tried stressing how important it is to be their at Park Opening during spring break.

So anyway, it's early morning, and I am doing her
so she can leave this evening to visit her brother and sister, in Milwaukee.
Her friends will be picking her up Sunday in Milwaukee and then
road tripping to Florida by car.
I told her AirTran has Student Stand by for $60 and I would pay for her airplane ticket.
But she wants to do the road-trip to Florida.


So, back to our evening.
We stayed on the bus and did not go to the Piano Bar.
I was really tired on the bus ride back,
but I was over tired and I knew I wasn't going to sleep.

When we finally returned to the Ritz--
I changed into my work-out clothes and
decided to run the steps.
Our hotel, didn't have your regular
"fire safety, hallway steps"
they had steps like in a cruise ship.
And 3 stories, were outside.
So I did 3 stories inside,
and 3 stores outside.
The outside steps are these grand steps that
are used for weddings, when the bride makes her way down to her ceremony.

I knew it would only take around 5 sets.
When I was finished, my stomache and head felt a lot better.
When I returned to the room,
my dh told me, the workout room was open 24 hrs.
Oh, well.
I still couldn't sleep, and I think I woke up on and off all night.
But I still woke up at 6:00 a.m. and got ready for
Disney's Hollywood Studios--ESPN weekend started today.

 

[Wis2InTink]

I am enjoying your latest trip report. We've stayed at Orange Lake C.C. with the grandkids twice, and it's just west of A.K. The access roads to WDW are almost empty. I'm sorry that the cheap airfare offer did not work. We all worry about those long drives.

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Great start so far. I don't think I've ever tried Cuban food. We have a ton of Tex-Mex here, but that's about it. The Ritz looked pretty cool. Looking forward to more.

 

[OhMari]

I am enjoying your latest trip report. We've stayed at Orange Lake C.C. with the grandkids twice, and it's just west of A.K. The access roads to WDW are almost empty. I'm sorry that the cheap airfare offer did not work. We all worry about those long drives.

Good to know. They plan on taking a taxi to the MK, if the complex doesn't offer bus service. The airline is my back-up plan. Believe me, with 4 kids (all in their 20's), you would not believe how I had to get transportation for them in various places, either to get somewhere, or to get home, when they didn't want to be, where they were.
So, I always make sure of back of plans.

Great start so far. I don't think I've ever tried Cuban food. We have a ton of Tex-Mex here, but that's about it. The Ritz looked pretty cool. Looking forward to more.

Cuban Food=hot & spicy, even in Margarita's.

Update next.

 

[OhMari]

Back in my last post, I mentioned I was up
by 6:00 a.m.
My dh looked at me,
and told me to wake him back up at 7:00 a.m.


So, I showered again,
because my hair looked like
"Wild Thing" and I got ready.
I actually unpacked my dh clothes and pressed& ironed
some pants and shirts that got wrinkled.
We actually made it out the door,
and were eating breakfast by 7:30 a.m.


The one thing I love about my dh conventions, and they allow family
to eat,
breakfast, snacks, lunch and dinner,
along with your spouse.


I called valet for our rental,
so it would be ready, when I wanted to leave.
Otherwise, you can wait up to 15 minutes.

My dh gave me "Betty" -his GPS system.
I knew the way.
But he was afraid I would get rerouted around SeaWorld,
and he didn't want me to get lost.
It was the following day, that the trainer at Sea World
died with the Orca Whale.
It was strange to actually be in the vicinity.
My plans were to go to Sea World on Friday,
but those plans were cancelled, because I was suppose
to be with the bosses wife and another wife that was suppose to be there.

One couple did not get out of Wisconsin.
They were suppose to come to Florida on the companies private jet,
but it was snowing so bad, that the plane got grounded in Green Bay.
So they didn't come down till the Saturday.
Still didn't know about the bosses wife yet.
But I guess I will find out on Friday.

My dh also asked me to be back around 4:00 p.m.
Something about Jupitor.
Hmmm, I was planning on returning,
but I also wanted to watch Fantasmic this evening.
There were 2 showings,
7:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
And Jupitor?
What are we suppose to do in Jupitor?
I didn't ask, because I knew things change fairly fast with my dh schedule.
Me, I was on my way to WDW!!!

The Ritz, is 2 miles from I4.
The first mile was fine,
the 2nd mile was directed traffic.
Every imaginable news station, was parked in every imangable crevice.
I even saw a "Good Morning America" sateliite truck.
Luckily, the police kept traffic flowing smoothly and I got through fairly fast.
Betty kept telling me to turn right,
"turn Right on International Parkway"
"turn Right on I4.

"What the heck".
I knew to get on I4 and go south the WDW.
Then Betty told me to get off on exit 68, which I did, because it is on the entrance to DTD, and I remember busses come in from this way to go to DTD. I also remember this is the back way to Epcot, Disney Studios and the MK.

Betty told me to take a right again.
I realized I was on a frontage road, headin along side I4.

My dh must have set the GPS for Universal Studios.

So, I got back on I4 and just took myself to Disney Studios.
Followed the signs to Epcot, which is exit 67, and I knew a sign would
eventually say Disney Studios.

It was around 8:30 and I pulled into the parking lot.
Did not try and cheat by parking at any resorts and
paid the $14 parking fee.
Which reminds me,
I'm trying to add up all my expenses.
Seems like I just sifted through money, without buying anything.
But I guess it was the small things like this that seemed to add up in the end.


I learned to take a picture of my surroundings and a picture of the vehicle I rent.
At the end of the day, my brain is tired, and I tend not to remember,
and it is always good to have,
"a back up plan."

I ended up in the first parking lot, next to the entrance of the park.
But had to drive all the way down to the front of the park entrance of Disney Studios, but then I had to turn back down an isle, and ended up almost back to the entrance of the park lot.
I was across from the boat docking,
where you can take the Ferry to the Boardwalk, Swan/Dolphin
Yacht/Beach Club or Epcot.

Double checked everything again, before I locked the door,
and headed into Disney Studios.

 

[luckylady]

Why do I get the feeling that you should have taken a picture of where you parked at the airport.I wish your DD a safe and fun drive to the world. Have a balast down there on break. My DD is just finishing her spring break, she came home and has been sick this whole week. Smart move to take a picture at HS of the car and parking area.Can't wait to read how your day there went and what you and the other ladies did when ya'll spent the day together.

 

[wdwgirl03]

Great pictures, that view of DHS is one of my favorite views in all of Disney World. I love how you can see all the buildings and signs on Hollywood Blvd.

My sister is on her spring break now too but she's not going anywhere. Hope your daughter has a great time with her friends.

 

[OhMari]

Why do I get the feeling that you should have taken a picture of where you parked at the airport.I wish your DD a safe and fun drive to the world. Have a balast down there on break. My DD is just finishing her spring break, she came home and has been sick this whole week. Smart move to take a picture at HS of the car and parking area.Can't wait to read how your day there went and what you and the other ladies did when ya'll spent the day together.

Not to get ahead of myself, but let's say I got the luggage and my dh went to get his truck. Will post the story at the end.

Great pictures, that view of DHS is one of my favorite views in all of Disney World. I love how you can see all the buildings and signs on Hollywood Blvd.

My sister is on her spring break now too but she's not going anywhere. Hope your daughter has a great time with her friends.

The girls came back from Milwaukee this morning and went to a seamstress in another little town, to have their brides maids dresses cut and hemmed. My god daughter-niece is getting married this summer and they are both in the wedding. My niece grew up across the street and she is like my dd and a sister to my kids. The girls just left again for Milwaukee. They were going to the St. Patricks Parade and if it was raining they were going to Urban Outfitters. The store kills me, when one of my sons were with us, he tried on a pair of pants and he couldn't get the pants past his knees. Everything in that store is geared towards the "slim" look. They all like to go in there and buy the sunglasses, books and anything else that is wierd.

 

[OhMari]

Am I there yet?

Yep, I had to do bag check,
for some reason they made me unzip every zipper
on my bagallini.
If you own a bagallini,
you know how many different zippers there are.

I only had my wallet,
camera and a water bottle.
I didn't want to carry the GPS system,
so I tucked it under my seat-10 lbs adds a lot of weight to your bag.

This past summer, when Disney announced
once again,
"a ticket price increase"
Mary from Mouse Ears sent out an e-mail
that UnderCover Tourist was going to have
some great bargains on random tickets.

I paid $220 for a 10 day, Water Parks and More ticket.
This included the tax.
Love UnderCover Tourist.
The only catch-I needed to make it a non-expiring ticket.
I learned on the DIS, that I needed to use the ticket first
in the park, and then upgrade it after the first use,
and I will be charged only the difference in price,
from what WDW charges for their ticket.
So right now the ticket is worth $295, I paid $220. So $75 savings from Disney's prices.
When I did my upgrade, I only had to pay the difference from $295, not $220.
I paid $157 at Guest Services to make one ticket non expiring.
Shoot our tickets are going to last us a really long time.
Plus we get 10 days to use at the Water Park,
Sports Complex, Disney Quest and it has 1 day of free golfing, not minerature, the real thing.
Anyway, this is how I spent my SunShine Rewards money.
I worked hard for a year and cashed out for $600 in Disney Gift Cards.

Yes, I know, I'm finally getting into the park.

I wanted to stop and start
"photopass", but there were too many people
walking into the park, and it ends up being
a picture with everyone else.

I didn't even have a "plan".
"Do I turn right and go to ToT?"
or "do I keep walking to Toy Story Mania."


This morning was the kick-off to ESPN weekend.
I sometimes listen to Mike and Mike in the morning
or watch, when I work out at the YMCA.
Our YMCA is under renovation and it is a pit hole right now.
There are only 2 tv's to watch, and if you forget your MP3 player,
you are stuck watching ESPN.
So, I was sort of excited to watch Mike and Mike-

Ya, they held my attention, probably as much as they do when
I am at the Y.

Did I mention, their was a breeze, and it was actually cold?
I'm glad I brought along my fleece head band.

I should of taken a picture with the CM's.
They all had on big grey/white/black plaid winter jackets on.
These jackets went below their knee caps.
I actually tried to find a friendly, smiling CM to take a picture with,
but no one seemed cheerful this morning.
Maybe it had to do with the temps of 38.
But hey, when I parked the car it was up to 48.
And the sun was shining, what more do you want.

I decided to go to Toy Story Mania.
wdwgirl03 commented on her Face Book, how
much fun she had with the video game Toy Story Mania,
for her Wii system, this Fall when it came out.
My kids bought it for me for Christmas.
So I was excited to compare the video against the real thing.

It was 9:15 a.m. and the line had a 10 minute wait.
I got in line, and just started to randomly take pictures.
People actually passed me, when I stopped to take pictures.
The ride was a walk-on.

These guys are not hanging outside. Sarah when you go in April, look and see if they hung them back up.

Does Mr. Potato Head always hold his ear? I can't remember.

And, I finally got on the ride and for my big whopping score.....

When I was finished, I got in line to get a Fast Pass, but the return time was 20 minutes away. So I just decided to get back in line and ride again.

When I was finished.
I had just a few goals I wanted to accomplish today.
Beauty and the Beast.
The Little Mermaid
The Artist Imagination Area

and to find The Umbrella.

It's nice to pick and choose a few things in the park vs. how commando I use to be. But it is also a little sad to be solo at WDW. Some Dis'ers will just do a special trip Solo, so they can do what they want when they want.
I really don't mind being solo,
but it is fun to be with someone and enjoy the Magic of WDW.

I ventured on, and snapped a picture of this fountain.
It's in honor of Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah's movie
Splash, I think?

The back of Disney Studios was like a Ghost Town. It was only 10 in the morning and Lights Motor Action only had 2 shows today and it didn't start till 11:30 and the Back Lot Studios Tour is under refurbishment. But I had a goal to find. I'm not into cliff hangers. And I actually walked almost walked right past it.

I was just taking my time looking at it, pressing the button to make it rain. Looking for a spot to set up my camera, so I could take a shot, with myself actually in the picture. But I couldn't find anything. I was a little sad, that I couldn't get find anything. But then 4 elderly couples and someone about my age came up to me, and asked if I wanted my picture taken. I could feel my face really turning red. And then one of the men said, "you have to sing" and then you will get your picture taken.
For some odd reason, I got tongue tied, and I just couldn't do it.
Finally all the men in the group started singing,
"I'm singing in the Rain"

This is what I love about WDW.
The random act of kindness of strangers and being sung to
under the Umbrella.

 

[Señor DonDuck]

Wow, good deal on the tickets. 10 minute wait for TSM, that's awesome.

Love the singing in the rain story.