TLinden16
Scotty and Ray at Jelly Rolls are the best!
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2002
- Messages
- 16,243
Day 1Thursday, October 09, 2008
I woke up long before sunrise to head into work for a half day before heading to Logan Airport for my 3:00 p.m. flight to Orlando. My good friend KristaTX was supposed to join me on this trip, but she injured her knee, and after much discussion and thought, she decided it would be better to stay home and let it heal since she has another trip planned in December.
I should know better than to go into work for a half day before a vacation. People go into a panic and expect that I can do three days of work in five hours, but I managed to get everything done, and I was out the door right on time at 1:00 p.m.
One of my friends drove me over to the airport. It was just a quick ride through a couple of leaky tunnels, and I was in terminal C dropping off my bag at Airtran (I had checked in online the day before). I grabbed a bite at the new restaurant owned by Boston Red Sox legend Jerry Remy. I ordered buffalo chicken tenders and fries. The food was very good, served hot and fresh, and the server was quick and attentive. Its definitely worth checked out if you have time before your flight in Terminal C.
This was my first time and last time flying Airtran. Nothing about Airtran was enjoyable from the time I booked my flight. They changed my flight four times in a month, and I wound up having to fly down a day early when they changed my flight from a 7:40 a.m. to a 3:00 p.m. I found dealing with Airtran staff to be very unpleasant pretty much every time I had to call or talk to one of them.
When I got on the plane, there was a baby sitting in my seat. There was a family of seven, and they asked if I would switch seats with them, so I did. Midway through the flight, grandma spilled her beer on me. Nothing like spending half of a 3 hour flight in capris dampened with beer. So cold and stinky, especially to someone who doesnt like beer at all. Nothing says, Thanks for doing our family a small favor like pouring beer on the person next to you.
The flight was a bit bumpy, but we landed in Orlando about 10 minutes early. After making a quick pit stop, I headed over to baggage claim to wait for my luggage. Since my flight arrived in Orlando at 6:00 p.m., I decided to get my own bags instead of tagging them for Magical Express. I know it can take several hours to get your luggage when you use Magical Express, and I didnt want to have to wait until 9:00 or 10:00 at night to get my bag.
Can I just stay that waiting for luggage stinks? It was close to a half an hour before my luggage came out. For those who think Magical Express takes too long, wait for luggage at MCO, and then rent a car to drive to MCO. I bet most times Magical Express will beat you.
Luggage in hand, I headed over to Magical Express. I was seated on a bus right away and only had to wait about 10 minutes for the bus to leave. I think Jeff Gordon was our driver. He was zooming down the highway on his way to Pop Century. When we got off the high way, he slowed down to a crawl. I think he realized that he had driven too fast because the movie they show during the ride still had a lot of time left in it. I arrived at Pop Century at about 7:10, an hour and twenty minutes after my flight landed, which wasnt too bad considering I had to get my own luggage.
There was a short line to check in at Pop Century, but the line seemed like a millisecond compared to the 3 and a half mile hike to get to my room. I was in room 8309 in the 90s building. I was about as far from the main building as you could get. My room overlooked a gigantic Rubix Cube, and the Walt Disney World archway that cars drive under when they enter Disney property (I never realized how close it was to a resort). The room was relatively clean, although a candy wrapper was left on one of the beds, and one of the hand towels looked a bit questionable.
When I arrived on my floor, there was a couple sitting out on chairs on the pathway outside their room. Im sure that its annoying not to be able to smoke in your room, but its just as annoying to have to walk by smokers smoking in an area that is non-smoking. Thanks to the considerate folks who go to the smoking area to smoke your cigarette. Youre a lot nicer than the folks down the hall from me.
After dropping my bags off, I took a bus over to Downtown Disney. I lucked out and got on a bus right as I stepped up to the stop, and was at Downtown Disney within 10 minutes. I rode the bus with the loud family. They were a group of about 10, and the spread themselves all over the bus. For the first half of the ride, they were shouting questions to each other. For the second half of the ride, the kids sang the chorus of a Hannah Montana song over and over and over again.
When I arrived at Downtown Disney, I went over to Guest Relations to pick up my annual pass, Mickeys Not So Scary Halloween Party ticket, and a Tables In Wonderland Card.
I then headed over to Wolfgang Pucks Express to grad some dinner. There was a long line to order food, but once I ordered, I was able to get a table right away. I ordered the barbeque chicken salad. The salad was excellent. The chicken was smothered with a tangy, but not too spicy barbeque sauce. It was tossed in a very tasty ranch dressing. This salad is one of my favorite meals on Disney property.
After dinner, I headed over to the World of Disney store. The store was very crowded, and the lines to buy stuff were 10 or more people deep. I wound up walking out of the store just a few minutes after walking in.
I also browsed around the Christmas shop for a bit. I noticed they had a new Goofy Christmas ornament. I have over 50 different Goofy ornaments, so I will definitely be adding that to my collection.
It started to rain pretty hard by the time I got out of the Christmas store. I didnt feel like walking around in the rain, so I headed back to Pop Century and relaxed before hitting the hay. I wanted to get a good nights sleep so I could for my first day in the parks.
I woke up long before sunrise to head into work for a half day before heading to Logan Airport for my 3:00 p.m. flight to Orlando. My good friend KristaTX was supposed to join me on this trip, but she injured her knee, and after much discussion and thought, she decided it would be better to stay home and let it heal since she has another trip planned in December.
I should know better than to go into work for a half day before a vacation. People go into a panic and expect that I can do three days of work in five hours, but I managed to get everything done, and I was out the door right on time at 1:00 p.m.
One of my friends drove me over to the airport. It was just a quick ride through a couple of leaky tunnels, and I was in terminal C dropping off my bag at Airtran (I had checked in online the day before). I grabbed a bite at the new restaurant owned by Boston Red Sox legend Jerry Remy. I ordered buffalo chicken tenders and fries. The food was very good, served hot and fresh, and the server was quick and attentive. Its definitely worth checked out if you have time before your flight in Terminal C.
This was my first time and last time flying Airtran. Nothing about Airtran was enjoyable from the time I booked my flight. They changed my flight four times in a month, and I wound up having to fly down a day early when they changed my flight from a 7:40 a.m. to a 3:00 p.m. I found dealing with Airtran staff to be very unpleasant pretty much every time I had to call or talk to one of them.
When I got on the plane, there was a baby sitting in my seat. There was a family of seven, and they asked if I would switch seats with them, so I did. Midway through the flight, grandma spilled her beer on me. Nothing like spending half of a 3 hour flight in capris dampened with beer. So cold and stinky, especially to someone who doesnt like beer at all. Nothing says, Thanks for doing our family a small favor like pouring beer on the person next to you.
The flight was a bit bumpy, but we landed in Orlando about 10 minutes early. After making a quick pit stop, I headed over to baggage claim to wait for my luggage. Since my flight arrived in Orlando at 6:00 p.m., I decided to get my own bags instead of tagging them for Magical Express. I know it can take several hours to get your luggage when you use Magical Express, and I didnt want to have to wait until 9:00 or 10:00 at night to get my bag.
Can I just stay that waiting for luggage stinks? It was close to a half an hour before my luggage came out. For those who think Magical Express takes too long, wait for luggage at MCO, and then rent a car to drive to MCO. I bet most times Magical Express will beat you.
Luggage in hand, I headed over to Magical Express. I was seated on a bus right away and only had to wait about 10 minutes for the bus to leave. I think Jeff Gordon was our driver. He was zooming down the highway on his way to Pop Century. When we got off the high way, he slowed down to a crawl. I think he realized that he had driven too fast because the movie they show during the ride still had a lot of time left in it. I arrived at Pop Century at about 7:10, an hour and twenty minutes after my flight landed, which wasnt too bad considering I had to get my own luggage.
There was a short line to check in at Pop Century, but the line seemed like a millisecond compared to the 3 and a half mile hike to get to my room. I was in room 8309 in the 90s building. I was about as far from the main building as you could get. My room overlooked a gigantic Rubix Cube, and the Walt Disney World archway that cars drive under when they enter Disney property (I never realized how close it was to a resort). The room was relatively clean, although a candy wrapper was left on one of the beds, and one of the hand towels looked a bit questionable.
When I arrived on my floor, there was a couple sitting out on chairs on the pathway outside their room. Im sure that its annoying not to be able to smoke in your room, but its just as annoying to have to walk by smokers smoking in an area that is non-smoking. Thanks to the considerate folks who go to the smoking area to smoke your cigarette. Youre a lot nicer than the folks down the hall from me.
After dropping my bags off, I took a bus over to Downtown Disney. I lucked out and got on a bus right as I stepped up to the stop, and was at Downtown Disney within 10 minutes. I rode the bus with the loud family. They were a group of about 10, and the spread themselves all over the bus. For the first half of the ride, they were shouting questions to each other. For the second half of the ride, the kids sang the chorus of a Hannah Montana song over and over and over again.
When I arrived at Downtown Disney, I went over to Guest Relations to pick up my annual pass, Mickeys Not So Scary Halloween Party ticket, and a Tables In Wonderland Card.
I then headed over to Wolfgang Pucks Express to grad some dinner. There was a long line to order food, but once I ordered, I was able to get a table right away. I ordered the barbeque chicken salad. The salad was excellent. The chicken was smothered with a tangy, but not too spicy barbeque sauce. It was tossed in a very tasty ranch dressing. This salad is one of my favorite meals on Disney property.
After dinner, I headed over to the World of Disney store. The store was very crowded, and the lines to buy stuff were 10 or more people deep. I wound up walking out of the store just a few minutes after walking in.
I also browsed around the Christmas shop for a bit. I noticed they had a new Goofy Christmas ornament. I have over 50 different Goofy ornaments, so I will definitely be adding that to my collection.
It started to rain pretty hard by the time I got out of the Christmas store. I didnt feel like walking around in the rain, so I headed back to Pop Century and relaxed before hitting the hay. I wanted to get a good nights sleep so I could for my first day in the parks.
(Minnie will second that, huh???)
