The "I Didn't Get To That" But Still The Best Trip Ever! **Final Thoughts 1/27/09**

[KatGarcia]

It was very sad to say goodbye and Kat was kind enough to give me a parting gift. I told her I was headed to DTD to get me a Lime Green Mickey Head keychain thingy. And she took the one off her bag and gave it to me. It's been on my keychain ever since Kat.

That sounded like a nice relaxing time Kat. Very nice hotel/time share too.

Yeah, there's not that much in City Walk to see and OMG the walk is neverending.

I didn't know non-guests could take the boats to the US hotels. Good to know... I would love to stay at one of their resorts but every time I check the prices they're outrageous

I forgot about the mickey head key chain thing!!! I'm touched you have it on your keys! No one stopped us on the boats for any reason so I guess it's open season.

The Hard Rock does look very nice, I however have my heart set on the Portofino.

I will take whatever hotel is the cheapest as far as US goes, but Hard Rock was nice. lol.

Great updates, Kat. I, too, would have been a little anxious with no "plan", especially with a larger group of people. Groups can be hard to get moving and making decisions.

The hotel sounds lovely!

It was a weird change to go with the flow, even tho secretly I was searching for organized things to do.

Universal charges to park at the hotels too, even if you are staying there That is the only thing annoying me about our August trip. It's like $20 a day or something like that!

Westgate is like a mile from my parents. I didn't know that's where you were going after WDW. I would have told my mom to come check up on you all

You have to pay to park at the hotels? Thats just excessive. But I suppose it evens out with the cheapness of the tickets and what not.

great updates and pics.

I have to get over to US.

I love Dippin' Dots. So sad when they closed there store on 54th and 9th.

I never knew there was a store in the city?! Shhh don't tell KC. He is always trying to go to Maddam Tussad's in Times Square because they have Dippin' Dots in their cafe area. LOL.

Thanks for the info on US. I might take the girls there "someday". Maybe after the HP stuff is up and going? I always fell like I'm "cheating" on Walt if I contemplate going somewhere else.

I really only wanna see the Potter stuff, however I';m sure KC will liek the more fast paced rides and the comic booky stuff in US. Me I'll just be happy we didn't pay much as I don't really do thrill rides.

Great updates, ladies!

So cool you got to see the rainbow, too! Wasn't it amazing? We were in DTD eating ice cream from Ghirasmelli's.

Where was I when this happened...hmmmmmm.

Morning Kat!!

Evening!

Don't worry, we won't tell Mickey! The Hard Rock hotel looks like a great place!

It really was pretty spiffy.

 

[KatGarcia]

I hadn’t been to DTD the whole time I was there, at night. So We had plans to hit all the clubs for a little bit and meet up with Crystal (wdw_Polyprincess) at AC later. I wanted to get pics of everything since it won’t be open next time I’m there.

We got there around 8:45 or so. We each got the multi club ticket and were on our way. First stop was…

We plopped down on some cubes in the back area for a while and relaxed. It wasn’t busy at all but it was early and a Tuesday night! I think we listened to a few songs and were on our way. I just wanted to say I had been to all the clubs for a bit, ya know.

Next up was…

The guys got some drinks there just so we had something to do because it was empty and we weren’t gonna dance. We pulled up a table and stools and relaxed a bit. When the drinks were done we headed over to our next club…

KC & I had been here on our honeymoon in 05 but that’s the last time. The next show was lining up but it didn’t start until about 9:45 and we were meeting Crystal at 10pm so I let the guys go into the show and I went to AC to wait for Crystal and hang out.

Here’s my pictorial ode to the Adventurers Club.

I went into the Mask Room for the show since it was starting. I got a Kungaloosh on my way too. I love those things. So the Mask room and show….

Then I went back upstairs and met up with the guys…

It was the only club that had people in it….

Crystal showed up at some point and we chatted and made our way to the library so we’d get good seats for the Hoopla. A show I had never seen. The maid show went on while we were chatting too, I think. Her bud, Katie was there too! The guys got Kungalooshes (is that a word???lol) and I had a drink called a Hoopla. I can’t remember what was in it, but it was good!
Man was I sorry I had never seen a Hoopla- it was awesome!!! We had a great table in the middle and had a blast at the show.

After the show Crystal was headed out because she had work the next day and we still had to drive back to the hotel. It was really fun to go to AC one last time and to see Crystal, who has become a good friend over the past year and bunch of trips. Thanks for that, DIS boards. And goodbye Adventurers Club, I’ll def miss you.

We left WDW property around 1am and ended up chatting for a while and hit the hay around 3am.

Next up- the very last leg of this crazy vacation!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Everytime I think about the AC being closed, it makes me sad. Your photos reminded me of why I always wanted to make sure I went there (we went once in 1995 and just never made it there again) . Now it's gone. Sniff, sniff.

You took awesome photos while you were there!!! Maybe I will make my own Kungaloosh and pretend!

 

[PopArtGal]

Sad to say I have never been to any Pleasure Island clubs

 

[Blueyed Girl]

I'm havin' so much fun looking at the pics. So exciting because it looks like you guys are having a BLAST! That chicken Ricky looks REALLY GOOD!! now i'm hungry.

I'm hoping we can do US sometime in the near future. I've wanted to do it for so long. We were trying to wait for ds to be a little older. I can't take it anymore! I want to go see!!

 

[cmp1111]

Aw, I never went to the clubs, but you're making me a little sad for them.

I'm glad you had a good night!

 

[KatGarcia]

We slept late this morning. We ended up watching movies on cable all morning while I was texting my friend, L. She and her fam were going to come up to Orlando from Tampa, spend the night and then the next day head back home with us in tow, to take us to the Tampa airport, where we were leaving from…get all that? Well that’s not what happened anyway!

Her hubby didn’t wanna come up for some reason so just she and her daughter came. They were undecided on staying over. KC & I felt bad leaving Ricky along in the hotel, even tho he said he didn’t care, and planned to stay until Saturday before going home to Miami. Still he let us stay in the hotel with us and we didn’t wanna run out on him.

Sometime that morning/afternoon KC made us all some breakfast with all the leftover cheese and eggs and stuff. Men can always make good eggs. And KC was excited to cook because the kitchen is my domain at home.

L & H arrived around 2pm and we all went for a relaxing swim. When we came back to the room H wanted to go in the hot tub so we filled it with cool water and let her play in it for a while. We went to Friendly’s for dinner.
I snapped this one on the way into Friendly’s and it’s one of my fav pics…ever!

We all got ice cream for dessert, of course. I had a banana split. Yum. I hadn’t had one of those in years! We all went back to the time share and tried to figure out what to do. Ricky assured us it was ok if we left, so to make L’s hubby happy we headed out around 9:30 that evening. The drive was like nothing since it was so late. As soon as we got there M took KC to see his studio and all his toys. They are both into anime and stuff like that so it was man time. H went to bed and L & I got to chat on the couch for a while with the kitties.

She showed me her Stitch collection….she has a few.

My buddy for the evening…I pet her and she was a pal for life…

We all went to bed around 1am since M had to work the next day. We crashed on the couches and passed out.

Next up…the last day!!!

Straight tot the next Installment: HERE!!!

 

[KatGarcia]

The day we head home.

We got up around 9am. L was up early and took M & H to work and school. She brought us coffee and bagels for breakfast from dunkin. We got dressed and decided to check out the mall for a while. It was a nice mall. We bought some Lindt truffles for later. KC loves these and there was a good sale going on. KC bought Bioshock for his 360 and threw it into our carry on. We also discovered Teavana. KC got an oolong tea drink and it was some yummy stuff!!!

We picked up M from work during his lunch break to go have some lunch with us since we’d be gone before he was done for the day. We went to a place they love to go to….

It really was crazy! LOL. It was Chinese and Japanese food and a TON of sushi! It was like 12 bucks each for lunch and the food was GOOD! We ate our fill of sushi! They even had a chocolate fountain on the dessert buffet.

We dropped M back at work and headed to get H at school. She was thrilled to see us, she didn’t realize she’s see us before we left. We headed back to their apartment for a while and relaxed. Eventually it was time for us to actually go home, so to the airport we went.

H got all teary. Darn her, she made me cry. I love that kid. I tell ya I am so lucky to have found a friend who means that much to me and to love her family just as much!

Our flight was on time! We had some smoothie shake type things and headed onto the plane. Uneventful flight, which is always good. We watched movies on KC’s Archos and it killed the time perfectly. We landed back in NY at 9:30pm. We were home about half hour later.

This guy was very excited to see us and help us unpack…

So excited he passed out…

Up next /last my final thoughts.

Final Thoughts HERE.

 

[cmp1111]

Sounds like a couple of nice relaxing days... glad your flight home was peaceful!

 

[DisneyJo]

All your hard work and I can't see it Back tomorrow

 

[scottny]

great final updates and pics.

sad it over.

glad you had some time with your friend before you left.



Thanks for the note about Dippin' Dots in Times Square, I might swing by there and get some.

 

[jcc0621]

Great trip Kat. Can't wait until we can do it again!

 

[PrincessV]

First aplogies... I had to forfeit some quoting in the name of catching up.

I was playing pirates with the kiddos at some point.

Leo had so much fun with you!

And yes I ate the Wiener Salad… and I liked it!

At some point the other table of Fockers was headed out and I got Tracy’s unfinished Pear Martini.

I never knew this! Or did I??!

The sake bar!!!

I miss the cute cups, I was gonna collect ‘em and make a set.

I have a few floating around - I'll hang on to them and pass them to you next time we catch up!

Here’s my pictorial ode to the Adventurers Club.

Thank you for that! I hadn't been there in years, but still so sad to see it go.

 

[KatGarcia]

Everytime I think about the AC being closed, it makes me sad. Your photos reminded me of why I always wanted to make sure I went there (we went once in 1995 and just never made it there again) . Now it's gone. Sniff, sniff.

You took awesome photos while you were there!!! Maybe I will make my own Kungaloosh and pretend!

It really was a fun place to hang out!

Sad to say I have never been to any Pleasure Island clubs

Oh man! Mostly AC and the comedy club were my favs, but they all had their own charm.

I'm havin' so much fun looking at the pics. So exciting because it looks like you guys are having a BLAST! That chicken Ricky looks REALLY GOOD!! now i'm hungry.

I'm hoping we can do US sometime in the near future. I've wanted to do it for so long. We were trying to wait for ds to be a little older. I can't take it anymore! I want to go see!!

Yep Ricky is a decent cook, i'll give him that! LOL. It was nice to not have to cook while I was there.

Aw, I never went to the clubs, but you're making me a little sad for them.

I'm glad you had a good night!

I was happy to be back on property again, US just didn't do ti for me. LOL.

Sounds like a couple of nice relaxing days... glad your flight home was peaceful!

I love an uneventful flight home....the winding down at the end of a crazy wdw vacation was a great idea!

All your hard work and I can't see it Back tomorrow

FIGURES!

great final updates and pics.

sad it over.

glad you had some time with your friend before you left.


Thanks for the note about Dippin' Dots in Times Square, I might swing by there and get some.

Maybe we'll have to meet up for some DD's LOL.

Great trip Kat. Can't wait until we can do it again!

Me too! I'll prob see you in philly first tho!

First aplogies... I had to forfeit some quoting in the name of catching up.


Leo had so much fun with you!



I never knew this! Or did I??!


I have a few floating around - I'll hang on to them and pass them to you next time we catch up!


Thank you for that! I hadn't been there in years, but still so sad to see it go.

I would love the little sake cups, thanks!! Just another excuse to meet up again!

One more update coming at ya......

 

[KatGarcia]

Being Solo.

This was my very first solo trip. I loved every minute of it. I never thought I would like to travel alone. I have before but since being married it wasn’t a thought. But this was really truly great. I recommend it to any Disney lover. It makes you really get to see things you never would have before. And in WDW no one makes you feel bad for dining alone, or riding alone.

The Fockers

I was blessed to meet such a wonderful groups of people online that I got to meet in person. Truly great memories, truly great people. Every single one of them and their wonderful husbands and kids and families. I will treasure this trip above all others because of all the faces I got to put to names of my friends. All the meets made it like I wasn’t even traveling solo. It’s really nice to know at any given trip to WDW you can run into friends. I can not wait until August 2010 to do it all again, and have more time with my online buds!

My roomies, Z & Yani.

I’m so glad we got along so well. Our ways of touring flowed together seamlessly. I really had a great time chatting with you guys, getting to know you, and sharing the fun at WDW. It was like we knew each other, not that we’d just met. I never thought we wouldn’t get along but there was that 10% fear of it, ya know, but it was unfounded by a long shot. I look forward to meeting up with you again in WDW! ((HUGS))

Staying in Orlando after WDW.

I think it was exactly what’s needed after a week of running around WDW all day every day. It was nice to not have plans (GASP!) and play it by ear. It was relaxing and helped us wind down before going home. It made the transition after vacation a lot easier. It was also great to spend time with Ricky, who we don’t see since he moved back to Miami.

Overall it was a great trip. August heat be darned. Faye be darned. It was all worth it. Thanks all for reading along with me and sharing in this most special trip. It's one I cherish above others for sure.

But guess what?? We have been to WDW since this trip!!! I am going to start a TR for that now since I wrote out notes and everything. And as the fockers said “if you write it they will read” so I’m gonna do it! Reliving my trips just makes them that much better.

Again, thanks for reading.

Head over to the next TR RIGHT HERE!!!

 

[KatGarcia]

Here's the official post count as of now....Any lurkers come on out and tell me what ya thought of this here TR!

englishrose47 62
jcc0621 35
LurrrvtheDuck 29
scottny 29
Charleston Princess 26
DisneyJo 26
Lifelong_Dreamer 24
lazydoxy66 22
PrincessV 22
Goofyluver 22
jordanyosh 18
cmp1111 17
kimisabella 17
PrincessAlways 16
Disneyland_Mama 16
puggymom 16
askelton 16
MomofCKJ 15
2xcited2sleep 13
teruterubouzu 11
Muffinygood 11
rachel3 10
Native NYer 10
Tanya90210 9
Philadisney 8
ILuvCrush 8
Hedy 7
MadiMouse 7
princessjv 6
PopArtGal 6
addictedtothemouse 5
Tat2ddisneymom 5
carrieannie 4
Blueyed Girl 4
Beana9802 4
Parla 4
Mickey'sMainMami 4
blue_river 3
MRYPPNS 3
nts4wdw 3
ncsjodi 3
SwansLoveDisney 3
anbouk 3
AZMickeyfans 3
Nicole786 3
ibdamamma 3
TheDISneyFamily 3
mla1977 2
Mom2Lindsey 2
hlrababy 2
kykatt2 2
marsh0013 2
MeMom 2
sharkB8HooHaHa 2
WDW Poly Princess 1
iluveeyore 1
troobabiee7 1
Cinderelly5507 1
musclemouse 1
mrsksomeday 1
Miss Manday 1
1Princess1Prince2006 1
Mrs. The King 1
ilovefh 1
Nancy for Disney 1

 

[mla1977]

Really! I only posted twice? Hmm... must remedy that for the next one. I need to hit 2000 posts before my 2 year anniversary here!

 

[LurrrvtheDuck]

Awwww I never got to go into AC or the comedy warehouse!
I really wanted to go into AC. The rain stopped us from going there on day 1.

So glad you got to spend time with L & H .

Final thoughts always get me all . I'm so glad we got along too and glad to have experienced Disney with another DISer!

Can't wait 'til 2010!!!

Here's the official post count as of now....Any lurkers come on out and tell me what ya thought of this here TR!

englishrose47 62
jcc0621 35
LurrrvtheDuck 29

OMG I actually cracked top 3 in a report for once!!! Of course Janet beat me. LY/MI Janet

 

[PrincessAlways]

Thanks for taking us along on your great TR!!!! I enjoyed reading along!

 

[Disneyland_Mama]

Thanks for writing your TR, Kat. I loved the pics of the AC, I'd never been and now I'm sorry it's gone.

It was awesome meeting you and I'm looking forward to 2010!!