The Chronicles of Team Manic: A Trip Report 12 Years in the Making! PHOTOS ADDED 6-15

[N10CJT]

Well, my girlfriend and I are back from Disney. It was my first trip in 12 years, and her first in 15! We had an amazing time, it was 10 days of steady fun!

Now that I've recovered a bit (it took all weekend!), it's time for a trip report! I want to be thorough both to make it interesting to read and to help remind us in the future of how great a trip it was! So I'm doing it in installments. Please, everyone, join in with comments and questions, I'd love to make this a dialogue on top of a report!

I am going to be fair throughout. I plan to give credit where credit is due, and to criticize those instances where things were less than magical. I don't want to dwell too much on rude guests and other annoyances because I refused to let them ruin my trip while I was there and I'm certainly not going to let them do it now, but there will be mentions of particular encounters as the situation warrants. Don't let those descriptions convince you that we didn't have the time of our lives!

Okay, on to it. Let's set things up for now.....

The cast:
Team Manic:
Myself, 31, devastatingly handsome, unapproachably intelligent and agonizingly suave. And modest.....
My girlfriend, 26, a pretty redhead with a propensity for forgetting things of minor importance..... like a bathing suit. For a visit to Florida. Hardly worth noting.
Team Fun:
My mother, 67
My father, 71
My brother, 29
These teams were named during the trip, and their genesis will be revealed as we move along. Needless to say, we embraced the lunacy of our self-imposed moniker in large part because we in no way deserved it, and I chose an ironic name for my family due to several events to warrant it as such.

The scene:
The Beach Club! My girlfriend and I were invited to stay there by my parents, who were being partially compensated for their expenses by a client who was attending a convention in town. Thus, our stay was essentially free, including most of our meals. All we had to do was buy plane tickets and park tickets and handle expenses. Obviously we were very fortunate in this regard, though it meant sharing a room with my brother, who, well, snores like a freight train. If a freight train snores, that is, but you get the idea. A worthy exchange, to be sure, but it did create a certain level of exhaustion that hit hard at the end of the trip. Such are the travails of Team Manic.

My family, it should be noted, have NOT been away from Disney so long. My parents find business reasons to be there several times a year, and my brother often goes along to assist. This did create a serious divide between us at times, because unfortunately Disney World is something of an old hat to them. But it wasn't really that Jen and I tried to do everything while there.... it's just that when we go somewhere, we tend to fill every waking moment with something, even if that something is something relaxing. We swam a lot, for instance, while we were there, and spent time relaxing on the Boardwalk and on the beach and what not. You'll see....

Here's the briefest of outlines of core activites:
Day 1. Plane flight. Magical Express. Beach Club. Cape May. Magic Kingdom.
Day 2. Cape May. MGM. Brown Derby. Downtown Disney.
Day 3. Galley. Stormalong Bay. GPS fun! Thanksgiving at my sister's. Downtown Disney.
Day 4. EPCOT. Le Cellier.
Day 5. Spoodles. Animal Kingdom. Yaughtsman.
Day 6. Blizzard Beach. Team Fun named. California Grill.
Day 7. Kona Cafe. Monorail! EPCOT. Kona Cafe. Team Manic named. Magic Kingdom.
Day 8. Crystal Palace. Magic Kingdom. Resort hopping. Flying Fish. Illuminations.
Day 9. Animal Kingdom. Jiko.
Day 10. Chef Mickey's. Downtown Disney. Stormalong Bay goodbye! Beaches and Cream. Magical Express. Plane flight home. Bumpy landing....

Okay, enough set-up. My next post, coming soon, will be of day #1!

 

[dmwang9]

OK, I'm hooked. Can't wait for the next installment!

-- Dave

 

[IloveDMB]

Was it Team Manic vs. a Team Fun? Awaiting the story and your next installment. Thanks for sharing your trip!

 

[N10CJT]

Was it Team Manic vs. a Team Fun? Awaiting the story and your next installment. Thanks for sharing your trip!

Ha ha yeah, later on in the trip my girlfriend and I were joking about the score in the match-up! Team Fun, of course, didn't know that they were part of this competition, however.....

Thanks for your interest in our trip! Day #1 is coming up later today, when I get a chance to sit down and write it!

 

[DL55]

I'm in!
Myself, 31, devastatingly handsome, unapproachably intelligent and agonizingly suave. And modest. are we going to have to wear our boots?

 

[N10CJT]

I'm in!
Myself, 31, devastatingly handsome, unapproachably intelligent and agonizingly suave. And modest. are we going to have to wear our boots?

Hey, that's a personal fashion choice. I don't wear boots during the Saratoga race season, but a lot of people do, at least around the stables. Proceed as you see fit....

 

[N10CJT]

Well, first a brief D-Day minus one. The evening before we left, we needed to run out for supplies. On the way to the car, fireworks began going off over the treeline of Washington Park. It was really cool, they were right over our heads, and the reports were loud and immediate. I know it was to inaugurate the Christmas light displays in the park, but it was almost like a sendoff to Disney, and it really put us in the mood.

The day we left began inauspiciously. It was in the mid 20s, with a wintry mix of sleet and snow. But hey, this is part of why we were going to Florida, right? On to the airport!

Not so fast. The gate to the extended parking lot jammed with us second-to-next to enter. And instead of just handing us a ticket and lifting it by hand, of course the attendant had to call in maintenance! Well we sat there for a while, but finally got in, parked, and waited for our shuttle (in the cold!). And yes, the first one just drove right on by us. Was the trip doomed?

Okay, a bit of melodrama there, forgive me. We got into the terminal with time to spare, had a couple muffins, boarded using Southwest's absurd system (we had separate confirmation numbers so we were worried about being able to sit together), and off we went. I'm something of an anxious flyer, but overall the flight wasn't terrible. Some extended turbulance over the Great Smokey's, an airpocket over the Atlantic shore (yeah that was fun), and a less-than-graceful landing and we were in Orlando!

We changed out of our sweaters in the terminal, took the tram, and searched for the Magical Express counter. Once there, we had a great experience. I'm sure some people have negative experiences with the service, but I thought it was really smooth. There were almost too many people guiding us.... I mean, I think that if you point at the bus we need to get on, we can find our way without a personal escort! But over-service is a good thing, and we appreciated it.

Around 4.15 or 4.30 we arrived at the Beach Club. It was about 75 and sunny, we were very happy. We checked in and went to our room, which was on the 4th floor and had a balcony looking out on the Villas and beyond it, the EPCOT sphere! 10 steps to the elevator, which was right next to the door to the quiet pool and the way to EPCOT.... we were very happy.

My family, on the other hand...... not so much. Jen and I changed and took an idle stroll around the lake, and during that time my family arrived. They checked in and were given a room that was pretty much the opposite of what they booked. Apparently instead of two beds, it had one bed and a pull-out with a curtain down the center of the room, and it didn't overlook anything, much less the water-view they had booked. I wish I was there to see it, actually! How the woman at the desk handled it, however, I am happy I missed. Apparently she was pretty snotty and insinuated that they didn't have rooms like this and that my parents were lying, and that they were at fault for a booking error. Well obviously my mother lost it..... they stay at the Beach Club multiple times a year and are something of celebrities there (anyone who stops in there should ask Art about Pat from New York and the bottle of maple syrup he recieved, and many of the management personel and restaurant servers recognize them instantly), and as such, she didn't appreciate the way the girl reacted to the mishap.

I have to say, though, that after this, things were handled really well. They switched their room, and honestly it was better for Jen and I that we weren't adjoined. The next morning Art went to bat for them, and the manager, Philip, really did a good job by getting us concierge privilages for the duration of our stay. As he is from Buffalo, I got him to second my claims that there are superior hot dogs there (I did my doctoral work there), and things were pleasant once more.

Anyway, back to Tuesday. Jen and I and my father went over to Big River and had some beers. I think they serve them too cold (indeed, it's really cold in there, in general), but they are actually pretty tasty. It was strange to me that the bartender had to open his own wallet to break the cash needed for me to buy the beers (I prefered at times to pay cash in order to avoid the "Oh you don't have to pay us" moment later on, even though technically the entire trip was being registed on my AMEX card). But hey, a fine start to things.

At 8.00 we had dinner at Cape May. It was, well, underwhelming. My family chose it because of the convenience.... since they were driving in, saying that they would absolutely be there on time was iffy. But in the future, Jen and I will choose someplace else. The food wasn't great (though I did sort of expect this). One pot of mussels was pretty good, but the next was rubbery and unappetizing. The prime rib was okay, the ribs were not good. The broccolini was a disaster. Deserts were, however, pretty good.

But hey, so what! We're in Disney World! Jen and I had long before determined to go to the Magic Kingdom that night, as it was open until midnight. The as-yet-un-named Team Fun held a debate on whether to join us, and though my mother was a bit disgruntled about my father's desire to come along, we caught the bus and headed over.

In our rear-view Illuminations was going off, and as we drove towards the Magic Kingdom Wishes was in the sky. It was very exciting!

Going that night was a great decision! Okay, so fighting through the Main Street exodus was a nightmare. But then we went to Pirates of the Caribbean and the look on my girlfriend's face was priceless! She loved that ride as a kid, and phoned her mother to rub in that she was going on it now (I do not support said meanness!). And basically no wait? Outstanding!

I don't like the changes, however. Some of the new effects are cool, but overall the ride seems more disjointed than I remember it. Still, it was fun going on it!

After that, Splash Mountain! Now I hadn't been on it in 12 years, so it was like a completely new experience. I kept anticipating the big drop, and it really heightened the experience. We also were in a log with a great group of people, which definitely helps! And you all know how special the ride is at night. The castle was gorgeous, I really like the look of the lights on it. And yes, we got soaked. The jet of water at the beginning-- which I was in no way anticipating-- hit us dead on. Great fun!

Unfortunately Big Thunger Mountain had a long-ish line, so we couldn't ride that. Spectromagic was beginning, and I liked the way it looked from the bridge near Splash Mountain. Backlit by the castle with its holiday lights, it made for an impressive scene. My mother loves it and hadn't seen it in a while, so we watched some of it, but honestly as it passed by us I thought is was kind of weird. Ariel is totally sexed-up in a silver sparkling bra, and there are lit-up fairies prancing about and what not, and, well, I thought that if I was stoned it would have been really wild. In any case, my mother decided that after the parade she was going home, and so we decided to head off elsewhere. After some equivocation from my father, we all headed to the Haunted Mansion.....

Which was, of course, really fantastic, not to say really cool looking lit up at night. I liked some of the changes that I recognized from the last time I was there, and the classics remain. At the very moment that the stretching room went dark, I gave Jen a grab of the waist and she jumped! When does that ever work?!?!?! It set the mood for a really fun romp through the kitsch. But let's be honest, the real direction we were taking was towards Tomorrowland.....

....for....

....Space Mountain! So much fun! It's not as dark as it used to be, but I'm still over 6 feet tall and convinced that I'll be decapitated by the supports. My girlfriend didn't like the centrifuge effect at the bottom so much (though she really enjoyed the ride overall), and I must register my opinion that the ride was better when you sat on the floor of the car and held on for dear life, but it's still a favorite of mine!

After that, we walked onto Buzz Lightyear, which was fun despite my complete lack of skill. I beat my girlfriend by scoring 2,800 points, and I was feeling pretty good about my effort, until my brother came in with over 100,000. Okay, yeah, I pretty much suck at Buzz Lightyear, and am beyond redemption.

It was getting late, so we decided to head home. We stopped to admire the castle and take some pictures, and then headed out. It was a perfect evening, and one of many during the trip that I will remember for a long time. I hope everyone else gets to have similar experiences!

On to day #2!!!!!!!

 

[N10CJT]

My girlfriend is upset that I didn't give her any description in the opening post, so I've updated it.

My suspicion is that I'll be updating it again from time to time here on in.

 

[N10CJT]

And by the way, my girlfriend's travails with her swimsuit crisis will manifest in day #2! (Though her need for wood screws to keep fastened her head doesn't end there..... )

 

[N10CJT]

It's funny what you can forget in so short a time! I forgot our visit to the Haunted Mansion on night #1! What was I thinking?!?! The necessary adjustments have been made.....

 

[DL55]

I love posts with a sense of humor.
Wow, fireworks for your send off and seeing Illuminations fireworks and Wishes fireworks the same night. That would make my DH very happy.

 

[N10CJT]

I love posts with a sense of humor.
Wow, fireworks for your send off and seeing Illuminations fireworks and Wishes fireworks the same night. That would make my DH very happy.

Thanks DL, I try to have fun with everything I can! Glad you're into the humor.
By the way, the one thing I wasn't able to do during my trip was golf.... It was just too much money for a regular tee-time, and with the days so short, a twilight round didn't make sense (for $65 I want to make sure I'll be able to play more than 12 or 13 holes!). Oh well, there's always a future trip, right? For now, my Clevelands are hibernating.....
The next installment's coming as soon as I find time to write it!

 

[Starwater]

I love your writing style. Its very refreshing.

I'll be reading along!

 

[N10CJT]

I love your writing style. Its very refreshing.

I'll be reading along!

Thanks for the compliment, Starwater, I'm glad you're enjoying reading my report!
Thanks for reading it, I'm enjoying putting our experiences into words. Look for the next installment sometime tomorrow, I hope to fit in some time to talk about it!

 

[OhMari]

I take it you were to busy in your 20's to go to WDW with your parents. WDW probably made the commercial after they saw your parents having fun without kids.

Enjoying your report, any pictures?

 

[N10CJT]

I take it you were to busy in your 20's to go to WDW with your parents. WDW probably made the commercial after they saw your parents having fun without kids.

Enjoying your report, any pictures?

Well, busy and a number of other factors at various times. As for the holiday trip, until this year Thanksgiving was able to be celebrated at home, after which they left for Florida. Since my mother won't fly, that meant they drove every time from New York, so the earliest they'd be there was Saturday.... that doesn't really jive with an academic schedule!
As to the comment that my parents were ever seen having fun without kids, well that one made me laugh really, really hard! You have clearly not met my parents! My amusement in this regard should be clearer after a completed trip report, though you will never fully understand, I fear.....
Pictures will be posted eventually, but right now my girlfriend needs to find some time to upload them.....
On to the next installment....

 

[N10CJT]

We awoke on day #2 after awaking a half-dozen times on day #2. My brother's snoring was a stark contrast to my quiet bedroom at home, and both my girlfriend and myself struggled through it. Indeed, as the trip proceeded, the noise transformed in fascinating but nonetheless increasingly aggravating ways. It was like an alien organism growing to maturity and finding the proper tone and cadence by which it will eventually murder its human victims. It was really quite something. We are lucky to have escaped with only a minor case of sheer exhaustion......

On the first full day of a trip to Disney World, however, it was a minor concern once we were awake. We got ready (I had a swim and Jen went to the gym, then we showered and dressed) and went over to Cape May for a character breakfast! It was a lot of fun, and though the food wasn't spectacular, I found the eggs competent and the sausage plump and well cooked, and their fruit selection was pretty decent as well. My girlfriend was really excited to meet Chip and Dale (those ****, how they flirted with Jen!), and Goofy is always a favorite as well. The one negative was that as she snapped a picture of me with Minnie, the battery on her camera died! It was disappointing, because I had been joking about how Minnie was my old flame, and that on my last trip to Disney she had kissed me on my birthday. And Minnie was really great about it, too..... she made a special trip back over later on and made the sign for a picture to see if we could do another one, but alas, no luck there. Too bad!

Then the long wait in the lobby. Jen and I said that we wanted to go to MGM with the entire family (MGM had been slated by them for that first day), and my mother said that that was fine, we would head over presently. So we went to the room to gather our stuff while my mother talked with Art (as I said, they're now old friends). When we returned, ready to go, my mother was repeating over and over to Art about how she had been treated the day before. I thought it was fair for her to talk about whatever she liked, and Art seemed genuinely concerned (and later went to bat for her), but the delay was a little aggravating because we were consistently being told that we'd be leaving shortly. Well, it took over an hour from that time before we actually got our start, and that only punctuated by repeated references to Jen and I (and my brother) as children who were getting antsy. Well, yeah mom! 12 years? 15 years? I mean, really, we love the gingerbread carousel in the lobby (it really is nice, and filled the lobby with a wonderful aroma), but come on now, we're ready for some Disney fun and would have been happy to meet up with you if you had told us to go on ahead!

And the funniest thing about it..... after we finally got going, my mother says to us, "You could have gone on ahead, it was no big deal!" Okay, I'll leave that one alone, and just leave it up to your own idle speculation what would have happened if we bailed on my mother after she told us she'd only be a few minutes, on the first day of the trip no less...... yeah......

Finally, though, we headed to the lighthouse and caught the boat to MGM. It was, in a word, packed, and for a moment I thought I was in my own personal hell with the eardrum piercing madness of the High School Musical show at the dead center of the park. But hey, crowds are no big deal in my book, there are plenty of ways to have fun regardless of them, and the Musical show couldn't go on all day! (Could it? Please tell me it couldn't.) I suggested we head over to Rock 'n' Roller Coaster or Tower of Terror and get FastPasses. I had never used a FastPass at that point, but I knew those would be packed because of my pre-trip research. My mother, however, insisted that the only strategy was to head immediately to Lights, Motors, Action for FastPasses, and so we went with that idea. It turned out to be meaningless.... a cast member actually stood outside the stadium with a pile of FastPasses and handed them out, and once we were inside later on, it was apparent that even those weren't necessary and in fact only lengthened the time we spent sitting on the most uncomfortable benches in Walt Disney World. As it turned out, right after getting our FastPasses there, we walked over to Tower of Terror and got FastPasses for that ride (Rock 'n' Roller Coaster was sold out of them and had a line extending to the entrance of Tower of Terror, so I put any hope of riding that on that day out of my head!), then ambled back over for the stunt show.

I thought it was a really cool show, and it was a nice way to start our day. I'm not sure I'd do it again simply because of how uncomfortable it was sitting through it and how much of a nightmare the crowds were immediately after it, however. We'll see.

Everyone was headed towards the Backstage Tour, so we went the other way, and walked into Muppet Vision 3D. What a wonderful surprise! It was a great show, and I really loved the satire of Sam the Eagle's celebration of all countries but mostly America, it was a brilliant take on patriotic excess. We left in a really great mood, with catchphrases banked for future use!

After the Muppets, we decided to see how the line for Star Tours was. It said 30 minutes, so we joined the queue and once more were pleased to find the line more like 20. It was fun.... not my favorite, but Jen really liked it, and the post-ride theming is wonderful (really, they should cover the ceiling, because if they did I believe a number of kids would actually believe that they'd flown onto a spacecraft).

We decided to double back and check out the Backstage Tour, which is one of my father's favorites. The line was not bad at all, and we were into the PT boat area in no time. That show was made funny by the girls chosen to participate, because as the Zeros were bearing down on their boat they for some reason began to twirl about in a dance. A fascinating artistic interpretation. Another great element to the show was the female host's muted responses to her over-the-top male counterpart's idiotic voices and jokes.... you could tell that she had dealt with this for some time, and was nearing the end of her rope. But frankly, I was sick of Michael Bay by this point, and was glad to be rid of his monotone voice and the unavoidable reminders of his god-awful film about Pearl Harbor, and so I was happy to move on. Well in the props room I found my first hidden Mickey, which was very exciting! And Catastrophe Canyon was impressive (particularly since I was sitting on the near side), though part of the fun was counterbalanced by the powerful sun, which unfortunately for us turned out to be in precisely the right position to annoy us throughout the show. The only saving grace was the way it lit up the cascades of water, which was very cool.

In any case, the rest of the tour is, well, a little boring. Here's a plane, here's a spaceship, here's a motorcycle, there are some women sewing. Eh.

After we were done with the tour, we decided to get something to drink, so after Jen and I annoyed my family for a time by screwing around in one of the gift shops, we headed to what we thought was going to be an ice cream shop (my mother's assurances). Well I was preparing before this for whatever liquid might cool my thirst (which wasn't ever bad because we carried water with us), but after hearing of the ice cream shop I started thinking about a milkshake. So when it wasn't a parlor that we reached but was instead a standard snack shack, I still went ahead and ordered one, resigned to a not-great but still drinkable milkshake. What I got was a cup of soft-serve, to the amusement of my companions. Oh well!

Time for Tower of Terror! I was really looking forward to this, and began to get excited and nervous. My girlfriend maintained her insistence that she was NOT going on it, but we convinced her to walk the queue and take the chicken-out exit, which I had been told was themed as well. At first she was happy that she did.... the theming for the ride is the best in all of Disney, in my opinion, and the cast members really play it up. But once we left the briefing room, Jen couldn't see a sign or anything for the chicken-out exit, and she bagan to panic. It was amusing to me because come on Jen, it's not like Disney is going to sick the Tower of Terror Gestapo on you and strap you into a ride you don't want to go on! But in fairness to her, she was a little freaked out, so I just assured her that she could tell a cast member that she wasn't going on it..... which she did, at which time she was shown to a separate elevator. She says that after taking it down, another cast member says "We're so sorry you chose to cancel your reservation at the Hollywood Tower Hotel, but you are always welcome back anytime you want," and she enjoyed it. I, on the other hand, loved the ride. I don't really like elevators all that much and the fear of falling in one is one of those stupid things that gets my adrenaline going, so after the up and down of the ride my body was tingling. It was amazing, and way too much fun!

My girlfriend must have been peaking because of her near-miss with the Tower, because when her cousin called her in the gift shop and the phone lost the signal, she lost it a bit. Just go outside, Jen\ No that's not it\ Okay, whatever...... (I will now restrain from saying what action allowed the phone to work.) Anyway, Jen bought a mug for her friend, whose mug from her honeymoon trip was broken months earlier, and we headed away from the Tower. A little hungry, we had Mickey Bars, which though frozen like a rock were fun to eat, and headed back towards the Great Movie Ride to see if we could ride it before dinner.

In a screw-your-head-in moment, Jen found that she had left her water bottle in the Tower gift shop, but to her credit, after a moment of irrationality, she decided to let it go and check back in later. Obviously, when we came back after dinner, it was gone. No big deal.

The Movie Ride was okay, though I don't necessarily see the appeal. Honestly, the thing I remember most from it was a father running across a crowded square to shove his way into line, leaving a 4, maybe 5 year old boy swamped by equally obsessed tourists as dad reached back his hand without actually looking back. Way to go, buddy, father-of-the-year stuff!

Dinner, however, was very memorable. We went to the Brown Derby, and it was fantastic. Titi, our server, was incredibly personable and solidly efficient, and we enjoyed having her. Upon her prompting, we had the Mulligatawny soup, though having had the "Soup Nazi's" version back before he was the Soup Nazi (up until his closing I did like going over to the shop), I still maintain to Titi that his was better (though actually not my favorite of his soups, to be sure). Still, very tasty. My girlfriend really liked her Grouper, and I agreed that the asparagus was good (my mother, on the other hand, likes vegetable cooked until they're mush, so she disagreed). My pan-seared duck and venison sausage was fantastic, and I enjoyed every bite. My martini was good. And my dessert, the Bananas Foster White Chocolate Tower, was very tasty. All in all, a fine experience. I have no reservations about going back.

As a sidenote, a group is building a Brown Derby recreation here in Albany! Perhaps it will become a favorite of ours!

After dinner, Jen and I were originally thinking about going to Animal Kingdom for the extra magic hours there, but we changed our mind. Instead we checked to see if Rock 'n' Roller Coaster was a possibility (nope!), checked for her water bottle (nope!), and decided to head out. Instead of piling into the boat, we walked over to the Boardwalk to catch a bus to Downtown Disney. It was really nice, and I encourage everyone to try it. You get such wonderful views of MGM at night, and you can take your time the whole way, it's definitely worth it.

Now the idea for Downtown Disney was to find my girlfriend a new swimsuit so we could go back to the resort and have a swim. Which, if you know women, is sooooooooooooo easy! Walk in walk out, right? So what if Jen is even more finicky about swimsuits than the average woman, it still can't be that tough!

Well, obviously it was a long, drawn out experience that unfortunately for me was not the first of its kind. During the summer, Jen forgot her swimsuit for our trip to New York, and we popped into several stores all over Long Island before she finally determined to simply wear my shorts and a shirt instead. This was not an option at Disney. So we had fun in Summer Sands! I'll spare you the details, but Jen finally settled on a black tankini with subdued Mickeys on it.... she looks cute in it, but refuses to think so for, well, reasons I'll spare you. Unfortunately, we ran into a rude cast member in that store. At one point, having narrowed it down to two suits, Jen called me into the dressing room for my input, and I neglected to lock the door. Well, barging in comes this guy! He sees us (Jen, thankfully, was dressed), turns, and very rudely yells "Lock your door!" Now if he had apologized for entering, we would have apologized for not locking the door, so to turn it entirely on us was not acceptable. Besides, in waiting for Jen, I had SEEN him knock on doors before entering and knew it was protocol. All in all, it wasn't appropriate, and both of us were annoyed. Frankly, if I wasn't tired of being there I would have gotten on him for it, but I wanted to swim! So we left.....

Well by the time we got back to the hotel, Stormalong Bay was closed. I was disappointed, but frankly should have checked out the times myself. Instead I had asked a Mousekeeper in the hall what the hours on the big pool were, and she had told me that as adults we could swim anytime. She must have been confused and thought we meant the Beach Club pool, which was right outside the window at the time we asked her. And because we thought we had all night, we had poked around Downtown Disney before buying Jen's suit. Oh, well, lessons learned.

So we finished the night swimming in the quiet pool and enjoying the abandoned hot tub. It was very pleasant and relaxing, and all in all the end to a really nice day.

Thanksgiving, however, would prove to be somewhat less enjoyable. Though now that it's past, many of its events do seem quite comical. GPS fun and the first hints of the formation of Team Fun, plus the first of its favorite phrases, "Stop having fun!" all in my next installment!

(That's what network execs call a teaser. )

 

[DL55]

Your TR is hilarious.
Two words for a peaceful sleep : ear plugs (I don't go anywhere without them)
Does your girlfriend always forgets her bathing suit?

 

[N10CJT]

Your TR is hilarious.
Two words for a peaceful sleep : ear plugs (I don't go anywhere without them)
Does your girlfriend always forgets her bathing suit?

Thanks again for the compliments, DL!
Yes, we should have had earplugs. I wish I had my earplugs! I simply left them at home not thinking it was going to be an issue. Ugh, what was I thinking?
And about my girlfriend..... well, I suppose it's possible that she doesn't always forget her suit. But empirical evidence seems to suggest that she does. In the two trips this year where she was sure to need it, she forgot it. So until I see some evidence to the contrary, I'm going with "yes" as the answer to your inquiry, much as she may claim otherwise.....

 

[N10CJT]

As of right now, there is a tentative plan in place to return next year! It's sort of hard to think about a trip 350 days away, but it is pleasant news.....