The "Happy Birthday to Me!" trip report

[maxiesmom]

Hi everyone! Having been a board member, and an avid trip-report reader for a while now, I thought I would try my hand at my first trip report. I want to share with you the highs and lows of my family's recent trip to my very favorite vacation spot! My most sincere hope is that you enjoy it, and don't run away from your computer screaming and thinking "What freaks that Maxiesmom and her family are!"

So here I go------

CAST (in order of appearance)

Me--Kim, otherwise know to family as Chucky. Don't ask.
Dad--Jerry, otherwise known as Dad or Grandpa.
Mom--Chris, also known as Memaw.
Sister--Bobbi, know as she whom we must keep happy at all cost. She is my older sister, which makes her the boss(y). Hi sis! Luv ya!
Brother in law--Kevin. Gets talked into a Disney trip every other year or so. Does not understand our need to either be planning a trip or to be at Disney.
He is also a gem of a guy who proabably didn't realize when he married my sis that he was also getting another person to share his vacations with (me).
Brandon--My 15 yr old nephew.
Bethany--11 yr old niece. The middle child. In every way.
Kailey--6 yr old niece. Also answers to princess, and not just at Disney World. A smaller version of my sis.

Day 1

Dad and I have a very early flight to catch, 6:30 am to be precise. So the morning started at the unheard of time of 3:55 am. Yuck! But I need time to get ready, we need about 25 minutes to get to the airport, and I have no clue how busy our little local airport will be at that hour. And I would rather be early than late, so I'm up! I also manage to gag down a few crackers for breakfast. I'm not the world's best flyer and my stomach is a little nervous. But I know better than to be tired, stressed out, and have an empty stomach, so between dry toast and crackers, I choose crackers.

Dad is busy trying to sneak our luggage into the car so that our Lab Emma doesn't see. Emma does not like it when any of her people leave her, so he is putting suitcases in the car whenever she is out back in our yard. Like she won't notice that we are both missing for a few days. Mom is dropping us off at the airport and enjoying a few days of peace and quiet. Or as she says "the ability to eat what I want and be able to watch what I want on tv."

We get to the airport with plenty of time left. After checking in our luggage we enjoy one last dose of Starbucks before going thru security. It amazes me that with all of the signs posted, and with a video playing while you are in the security line, how many people have drinks in their hands. You can hear the agent telling people they have to get rid of their coffee and show them theirr little baggie of liquid items, and some people have a look of cluelessness on their faces. Hello people! Have you been under a rock for a while? Get with the program! Like I have a free hand for coffee anyways. I have to take off my sweater-coat, hold onto my baggie, take off my shoes, take my camera out and put it in a bin, and turn and tell my dad to take his watch off. It is like some twisted game show, where the prize is a trip on a plane. Yippee we won! And we are off for our connecting flight to Detroit.

The flight to Detroit is fine. It only lasts 20 minutes. You go up, you go down. That is it. There is no cruising altitude, no time for trips to the bathroom. We land at Detroit and decide it is time for breakfast. We find a nice place with a view of the landing strip. We call mom, grandma, and sis to tell them we are in Detroit. We are a close family. We check in all the time when we vacation. Another thing my brother-in-law didn't know when he married sis. That he would be expected to report in any time he was more than 2 hours away from home.

Our flight to Orlando is posted as 10 minutes late, but they board us on time, so all is good. Or is it? They load the plane and then inform us that they have an error message on one of the computers. Hopefully it will take only 15 minutes or so to fix. An hour and a half later we take off. And that hour and a half was spent listening to the lady in front of us yell at her kids the whole time. They were maybe 7 years old. They wouldn't sit still, they fought over the seats, they fought over if the window shade should be up or down. And her solution? Feed them candy! They would turn and look at us over the seats, and they had chocolate running down their faces. Then they would scream "Poopy!!" Then she would yell at them, and feed them more candy. Maybe it is just me, but if you have excited children who won't hold still, is the best solution to feed them candy? But we survive our flight and the little kid in front of us who decides that he does not need his seatbelt on during landing survives as well. So the next step is to find our way to the ME bus.

ME is great on our way to Disney World! We walk right up to the counter, check in, walk to our line, and are lead right on to the bus. We wait maybe 15 minutes and are off! First stop, Wilderness Lodge (not us). Looks too much like Michigan. Next stop, the Contemporary (not us either, drat!) We like the Contemporary, and I had tried to change our first 2 nights to the Contemporary, but they were full. Oh well, we would just have to survive at our resort. Next stop, the Poly (yay us!!) See what I mean about "surviving". We have 2 nights at the Poly, 6 at the Beach Club Villas and I am so excited! We are in Disney World! We are checking into the Poly! For now, all is right in my world. We are given first floor Tokelau. I have no sense of direction at all, and we end up having to walk around a little before we find the right building. Sorry dad, I'm clueless, but you should know better than to follow me! We dump our stuff in our room, I load up my fanny-pack, and we are off to Epcot!!!

This is getting pretty long, to be continued!!

 

[OhMari]

Great Start.

I laughed, at first I thought you lived in Wyoming, and then I couldn't understand why it only took 20 minutes, and I looked back and saw you lived in Wyoming MI.

 

[VanniGirl]

Looking forward to hearing the rest.

 

[pumba]

its fun to have a great group to go with too.......I love epcot ..anxious for your next report...

We are going to do ME for the first time in December......hope it works as well for us

 

[maxiesmom]

Day 1, Part 2

As we leave our lovely room, it hits me. Literally. It is hot! It is the kind of hot that surrounds you, that fills up your lungs with every breath you take. Lucky us to arrive when Orlando is setting temperature records. And it is humid. Between the heat and the humidity, I feel body-slammed. October sure doesn't feel like this in Michigan! I complain for 2 seconds, and realize I am an idiot. I came to Florida to be warm, and on my first day I am complaining about it. Snap out of it!

I need to activate my AP (which the check in desk never did ask to see) and pick up Mnsshp tickets, so we head over to the TTC. We intended to take the monorail. So we look at the cute little signs that are all over the Poly for direction. We follow the arrow. Even with my poor sense of direction, I feel that something is amiss. I think we are going in the wrong direction. Soon we figure out that we are on the walking path to the TTC, but it is no biggy. I am quickly adjusting to vacation mode. No worries, no freaking out about anything. Just a short stoll to the TTC and I have my AP and my Mnsshp tickets in hand. Now we just need to hop the monorail and head over to Epcot.

The plan for tonight is to stroll around Epcot. No ADRs, just wander around the World Showcase and sample whatever looks good at the food booths. First we head over to see Figmant. I am still not sure why they ever decided to redo this ride. Every time I ride, I think of all of the missed oportunities they had to make this ride more entertaining. There are so many blank spots, and it seems like it was kind of thrown together. Still, it is cute, and the air is cranked up, so we ride. By the time we are done I need something to drink. So I grab a coke for me, and a lemonade for dad, from a food cart. We do a little souvineer browsing in Mousegears. I love this store! I could spend hours in here shopping, and I enjoy the little click/clack noise. But no buying today, just some picking-out. We then head over to the World Showcase.

We head over the bridge, and I ask dad "Left or right?" He picks left, so we start our stroll. We make it as far as the Aregentina food booth before I decide it is time to start snacking. Dad and I share the beef with potatoes, and agree that it is yummy. We go to Mexice and ride El Rio de Tiempo. Dad asks why we don't have an ADR. I would have make one had I known you were interested. I had dinner with my sis there a few years back, and really liked it. In fact, I ate so much I almost fell asleep the first time we sat down for a break. Sorry, no ADR tonight, but we still have the whole showcase to go. We stop at Norway, and share the meatball with potatoes. Dad likes it more than I do. There is actually quite a line for Malestrom, so we skip it. As we walk we also have some shrimp from Australia (it is ok) and I get some Rosa Regale from Italy. Wow is that good! Nothing else at the food boths looks appealing to us, so we wander over to get some fish and chips from England. We end up sharing our table with a couple of very nice ladies and one of their sons. Dad has a great time chatting with people. He can make friends with anyone. So he is enjoying himself, and I am kicked back relaxing in my chair. Uh oh, I am a little too relaxed. I start to think that maybe that glass of wine was not such a good idea. I have been up sense 4 am, I am tired, hot, and now I have alcohol in my system. Not smart on my part. I am sleepy, and it is only 6 p.m. How on earth will I make Illuminations? Sorry to make you leave your new friends dad, but I have to move or it will be all over.

We make it about 20 feet before we hear the Beatles. Following our ears, we head down the end of the little road and stand and watch them sing. They are quite good. I think it is great to look around and see how many people are enjoying the music, young people and older people. Too soon their set is over and we must mozy on. We stop and peak in the shops. But still don't buy anything. Dad would like to do the movies, but they are the one thing I can't do. For some reason they make me motion sick. I can do roller coasters. I can even do the teacups with someone spinning them like a mad person and not have any problems. But for some reason, those movies make me dizzy!

We arrive back at the front of World Showcase, look at each other, and go "What now?" I really would like to stay and see Illuminations, but it is only a little after 7, and we are tired. And as I look around, I see that people are already saving spots for the fireworks. Are you kidding me? No way can I sit for 2 hours and not fall asleep. Dad decides we should just wander around the front of Epcot. We stop at big pin kiosk in front of Spaceship Earth. My sisters 3 kids all love to trade pins, so I pick one up for each of them. As I am showing them to dad, he kind of looses his balance. He doesn't fall, he just kind of sways. Are you ok Dad? I'm fine, he says, I'm just tired. At this time, I realize I am loosing it. If he is so tired that he is swaying on his feet, we are leaving. Illuminations is not going anywhere. We can catch it another night. So we take the short walk back to the Poly, and head to our room.

Back at our room, dad decides to check in with the family. I'm tired but keyed up. You know what this room needs? Snacks. After dad finishes his phone calls we wander up for some goodies. Grab some chips, some coke, and some milk. And what do I see for sale? Rosa Regale. But I can't bring myself to spend the $20 on a tiny bottle, so I don't buy any. Munchies in hand we head back to our room. Going outside on our patio, I can hear some kind of announcement, but can't quite make it out. Then I remember. We can see the water pagent from the beach! I grab my dad and we head to the beach. There is something quite special about waching the water pagent from the Poly beach. Maybe it is the castle in the background. Maybe it is because of the sand between my toes. But it is a very cool way to end your day. We head back to our room(again) and put on our pajamas. A short while later we hear Boom Boom. Fireworks!! Oh well, there is no way I am going out there with my jammies on, and I think my dad has had enough of me dragging him around for one day. So we skip running back to the beach. Plus, we can always see them tomorrow night, right?

 

[pumba]

the first night is always the worse for us too......we get up at two thirty am to leave for three and arrive at the airport for four and our plan leaves at six....why oh why do we do this year after year...
thanks for your report ......it is great so far