The Long Awaited, Much Anticipated Trip To WDW: Part 1, In Which We Arrive In FL

[Annie&Hallie'sMom]

Starring:
Me: Most folks call me Beth, some call me Liz and when I’m in serious trouble I’m Elizabeth. Disney-holic. Been planning this trip for what seems like eons.

SDS: Dearest husband and best friend. Disney-holic.

Co-Starring:
M&A: Good friends from the other side of the pond. DVC owners at the OKW Resort. If they had not invited us to stay with them, this trip would not be happening.

Our day begins at 3:56 AM. Well, my day begins then, SDS didn’t get up for at least another 5-10 minutes. Sleep didn’t come easy the night before. How could it? We were at last returning to WDW (after a 2 year absence – ok, 2 years, 2 months and 18 days…but who’s counting?). I tried to drift off around 10, only to wake around 11:40 and ended up watching some of Letterman before trying sleep again.

But who cares about sleep? I need to get up and get going. Wash and dry that hair, get dressed, pack away those last minute goodies.

I actually do the logical thing when it comes to dressing – going in layers. Its mighty cold in NJ and hopefully it will be mighty warm in FL. So I wear a t-shirt and jeans with a Mickey fleece pull over and a semi-warm jacket (with Mickey gloves in the pocket). All this for the ride to the airport.

My dad has agreed to take us to the airport. My parents live next door to us (part time – long story) and mom said if I don’t see a light on by 5 AM to call. I wait till a few minutes after 5. Seems dad is up, but he didn’t want to turn on any lights to wake up mom (who is of course, awake, and if she hadn’t been before she certainly was now that I called).

We hit the road by 5:15. Light traffic, but there still is traffic on Rt 78 as it leads into the airport. We pull right up to Song/Delta at Terminal B, unload our bags and immediately a skycap is there to help us out. We just give him our name and destination and once we show him our IDs we’re on our way with our carry ons. (Ok, a tip was included for the sky cap too). We breeze through security (perhaps it was too much of a breeze. I had expected and hoped for more from Newark Liberty Airport) and head through Terminal B to gate 44.

The gate is pretty quiet at 5:50 in the morning, but I have come prepared with 2 good books (at least I hoped they were good books) and SDS has his reading material as well, although this doesn’t prevent him from wandering off to the area gift shop where he picks up another novel.

We sit back, read and wait. I have to say that Song has the cutest little screens with fun information. Like when the flight will leave, what type of plane you will be on and all sorts of funny reminders (like to use the restroom before boarding the plane). These “bits” are done humorously with old movie clips (similar to what you might see at the Sci Fi Dine In at MGM).

The plane boards on time. The flight is not full, but we still end up sitting next to some nice man (though I have to wonder how he got to his seat before us – we were the first ones in line for boarding of Zone 3). He probably should have moved to the back of the plane where he could have stretched out. And where he wouldn’t have had to deal with me and my frequent jaunts to the lavatory. You see there’s something about knowing that I’m getting on a plane and am going to be strapped in for a certain amount of time that gets my bladder in a snit. No matter how many times I go before the flight (and believe me, I spend a lot of time going to and from the ladies room in the airport terminals), the minute we board and put on those seat belts…well it’s like those annoying commercials on TV – gotta go, gotta go, gotta go! But of course you can’t. And so I sit there in agony, waiting for us to finally take off and for that silly little seat belt light to go off so that I can bolt to the back of the plane.

So we board and we pull back from the gate on time (7:30), but of course there is the huge line of planes waiting to take off (and the bathroom is calling my name). We finally tear down the runway and head for the skies. I count the minutes until the seat belt light goes off and then bolt for the back of the plane when it does (crawling over the man beside me).

The flight is uneventful. SDS buys a $3 bagel which he claims was pretty good (for $3 it should be!). I make 2 bathroom trips (and apologize to the man sitting next to me who claims to understand having traveled a lot in his lifetime with his wife and daughter). Song did seem pretty friendly. There was no real joking or singing as I had heard about, but I had nothing to complain about, especially as we landed on time.

We wait till the plane has mostly cleared out before getting up and getting our luggage from the overhead (I stowed everything except for my book and my notebook so that I could log all these thrilling details). We disembark. We are in Orlando! Hallelujah!

While SDS takes a bathroom break, I head for the pay phones and use my calling card to tell M&A that we have arrived. After plenty of commercials (sigh, I PAID for this?) and the pushing of many buttons and entering of many numbers (is it just coincidence that my calling card’s extraordinarily long pin # began with 407, the area code for Orlando?), I reach the OKW resort and M&A’s room. They say they will head out in a few minutes to pick us.

We get on the monorail to head to the main building. What a joy to hear that wonderful voice welcoming us to Orlando (the same voice that reminds us to please stand clear of the doors in WDW)! It’s the simple things in life that make me happy (ok, no really – but being here even the simple things seem extraordinary).

We make our way to the baggage carousel. And you won’t believe this. Our bags are the first ones off the plane! And they come out together! When has this EVER happened?

While still inside, I strip off my jacket and pull over fleece, stuff them in my carry on (after taking out my Tinkerbell tote that I will use throughout the rest of my trip. It’s not as easy to carry as a fanny pack or a back pack, but it’s got Tink on it and since I hadn’t bought it at a Disney store it was pretty unique – just like me). We head outside to wait for M&A.

We had to wait for at least ½ an hour. Understandable since they had to make their way to the airport and we had gotten our luggage much quicker than anyone could have ever expected. The minutes tick by excruciatingly slow. I am so anxious to get to WDW property, I am worse than a child waiting for Christmas morning.

M&A finally pull up in their rented silver Pontiac Grand Prix. (It’s only been about 30 minutes, but it was definitely an eternity to me). Hugs all around and we quickly load up and pull away. Get to me WDW!

Well it’s not that easy. We were all talking and we missed the exit. Actually, I knew we were passing the exit, but I thought M knew something I didn’t. She didn’t. But no matter, we managed to get back on track and on to WDW property (but we probably wasted 5 precious Disney minutes! ARUGH! Every second at WDW counts! Let’s go, let’s go!!!).

We arrive at OKW before noon. They are staying in building 25 which is not too far from the Hospitality House. The one-bedroom is very nice. There’s just one small problem. There is only one entrance to the bathroom – and it’s through the master bedroom. It’s not as bad as it sounds ad the bedroom kind of has an entranceway before you actually get into the bedroom proper. Making a right from this entrance way brings you to an open area with large Jacuzzi tub and sink area (this whole area is bigger than my bathroom at home). Then there is a doorway which leads to the toilet, shower stall and sink/vanity (again this area is larger than my bathroom at home – heck the huge shower stall is practically larger than my bathroom at home).

We put down our bags and change into more appropriate attire. Its is pretty warm out, so I throw on my brand new white shorts (80% off at Kohl’s) and blue sleeveless button down with Pooh on it (Kmart still has the adult stuff). We take a tour of the apartment and enjoy the view from the back deck. M&A tell us that you can catch Epcot fireworks from there at night.

Enough chit chat, I’m ready to get out there and hit a park. M gives us room keys (with no charge privileges – she’s one smart cookie!). I am so happy to see Tink is on them! This is a good sign. Figuring there would be a smaller crowd at AK, that’s where we head. Plus I also like the pizza at Pizzafari and figured that would be a good quick meal (and the pre-made pizza wouldn’t be dangerous for me – I am the Queen of allergies which means I have to be exceedingly careful of what I eat and as you’ll see for the rest of the trip we did carefully orchestrated sit down meals which included consultations and conversations with restaurants chefs).

Hoofed it over to the Hospitality House and patiently waited for the bus to AK (ok, so maybe I wasn’t so patient). Once the bus arrives and we make it to AK, I bolt for the entrance. There are plenty of people milling about as there are tons of characters out and my favorite tree, Wes Palm, is out there flirting as well. Life is good. All we have to do is activate our APs and we can go.

There are only 2 windows open, but no one around. So I head to the one at the right. All I want to do is activate those passes, go inside and get some food. After all it is nearly 12:30, I’ve been up since 3:56 and I haven’t eaten anything all day (and the Sprite I had on the plane – which the flight attendant claimed was ginger ale – is long gone). The cast member was very slow and the seconds are ticking away. She slowly types. She does this, she does that. Minutes are passing. I’m really getting antsy (and I really need food – I get no so nice when I don’t have food in my – like a cranky child). FINALLY, she hands us our passes and we find our friends (who have conquered all the characters and taken plenty of pictures) and start to head in.

It is then that we notice that our passes, which we have just activated, are set to expire on 12/4/03. That’s today! Back to the window, but now there is a line. There’s another window open just to the right with no line. I go up and explain that we had just gotten our passes and the woman next to her had made a mistake. She curtly tells me she can’t help me and that I have to go back to the original window. Magical moment – NOT!

So we get on line and wait and wait and wait. Just as we get to the window, the woman goes to close up! WHOA Nellie! You just screwed up our passes and you’re going to close the window on us! No way! She admits her mistake and takes another 15 minutes trying to rectify it. She apologizes, but I am really not in the mood to hear it. I have now wasted another half an hour and I just want to go in the park, eat and enjoy.

Finally we are given correct passes. It’s now after 1 and I need to eat! So we head to Pizzafari and get food. Which is exactly what I needed. And then a little magic occurs in the guise of Jean originally from VT, the cast member who was cleaning up the area we were in. She was very friendly (and very Disney) asking where we were from and just generally talking with us. She had a lanyard, and M, being a pinaholic checked them out and made a trade. I saw she had a Tink pin and since I had brought about a dozen cheapo pins from the Character Warehouse when they were at the Jersey Gardens Mall, I traded a CA Adventure for the Tink. I also made sure that Jean knew that we had not been having a magical stay thus far, but she had been so nice that she had changed all that.

With a little bit of food, I am ready to go. We head back to Africa for the Safari. There are plenty of animals out and about this afternoon (excluding the lions) and SDS is taking advantage of the digital camera we borrowed from my brother (an old model, but I’m not complaining…it meant more photos). He got some great shots – especially of some ostriches that were practically in our faces.

After our Safari, M continues on her mission to find pins, pins and more pins. In between her trading and purchasing, we make our way over to Dinoland. This is the first time we’ve seen it since the Chester & Hester addition. To put it politely, not my cup of tea. Reminds me of Seaside Heights, not Walt Disney World. We had intended to do Dinosaur, but there was quite a wait and we didn’t want to do Fastpasses for later. So we enter the land of Chester and Hester and try out the Primeval Whirl. (Triceratops Spin looked a little lame for me). It didn’t look so bad and I’ve never done a mouse coaster before. The line wasn’t too bad and the 4 of us squeezed into a car. It was interesting to say the least. I probably wouldn’t do this one again, but I gave it a whirl (pun intended) and M kept saying if I could handle this I could certainly handle Mission: Space. (It was her mission to get me on the ride before the end of our vacation. She knew with 4 of us we would be a complete team. SDS really wanted to do it because as a kid he’d had dreams of being an astronaut, but I was a little hesitant. I wanted to try it, but I am prone to motion sickness).

Deciding we’d had enough of the carnival of Dinosaurs, we head over to Camp Mickey Minnie. It’s character time. Minnie & Mickey are out with short lines, so we get some photos (Goofy might have been out too…I can’t recall, and if he was I made a big mistake not getting a photo with him. I really wanted a photo with Santa Goofy and it didn’t happen during the trip). We also got photos with Lilo & Stitch in their holiday/Hawaiian finery. This was my first time “meeting” Lilo & Stitch and something I really wanted to do since I LOVE the movie. We hung out/rested in Camp Minnie Mickey for a while, trying to decide if we should stay for the parade or not. While we were deciding I took some photos of the cool trees they had decorated. There was one that represented each character. Very cool in my book.

We decided to stay for the parade (since it was coming soon). We got a pretty good spot near the exit, where the parade circles around. SDS sat on a bench back from us, which meant he got no photos, but did get a good view. I was trying to snap photos left and right (I had the “regular” camera so I won’t see my results until I return to Shoprite to pick them up. I have a feeling that my photo expenditures may cost more than my weekly groceries – even with it being the weekend before the holidays!). I thought the parade was great, and sort of reminiscence of ToN. Loved the animal puppetry and the way they moved. (Since M was standing right next to me with her digital camera, if my photos do not come out well, I will at least be able to get a couple of cds of her photos). I was definitely Jammin’ In The Jungle. I was so glad we stayed to see it!

We left the park immediately after the parade and headed back to OKW for a brief rest before heading out to dinner. I grabbed my Disneyland zip up sweatshirt (first time wearing it since it was purchased at the Character Warehouse in August. Was fine for that night, but when it got colder, I could have used a warmer sweatshirt. Has anyone else noticed how notoriously thin Disney wear can be?).

We headed out to the bus stop again for the long ride to MK. Once we were in MK we had to decide on our method of transportation to the Poly – monorail or boat. Well the ferry to the TTC was just loading up, so off we went. Gave us a great view of the Contemporary all lit up at night. Then from the TTC we walked through the grounds of the Poly to the Main Ceremonial building. Even though we walked fast (M is a power walker. I don’t know how A manages to keep up with her. SDS & I were always lagging behind and we weren’t poking around either) we were a few minutes late for our PS.

I was surprised at how busy the Kona Café was that evening. M said it was because MK was closing early (6 pm) – some people were looking for a place to eat, while others were hurrying to get a meal to get back for that evening’s MVMCP. We were quickly seated in the near right corner (as you are looking at the restaurant). I thought it was a bit out of the way at first, but later came to appreciate the spot, as it gave us more room and an opportunity to look out and see what was going on around the Poly.

Chef Seth came out to talk to me about my dietary restrictions. I have NEVER had any problems eating at the Kona, no matter what meal it is or what chef is on duty. So if anyone out there has allergies, I would highly recommend the Kona Café as they seem to really know what they are doing. I had a delicious piece of salmon and Chef Seth said he could make me a snow cone type dessert that would be served in a beach pail/sand bucket (it’s a kids dessert option, but I’m just a big kid any way – who isn’t?), but by the time the meal was over I didn’t think I could handle a dessert. So after admiring the large chocolate Stitch they had on display, we went to explore the shops of the Poly before getting on the monorail for the GF. We admired the decorations there (and I enjoyed the live orchestra playing holiday tunes). I love the Sandy Cove shop. If I had all the money in the world, I’d have rooms decorated with the GF pillows and other various goodies.

Having explored the GF, we made our way back to the monorail, bypassed the closed park, and hit the Contemporary (which is SDS’ favorite hotel – you get off the monorail and there is this smell that is unique to the resort and it just brings him back to the first time he was there as a child.). We head down to the concourse to do some shopping. Here there are even more things that I want to purchase. I really wanted to get SDS a golf shirt with the CR logo on it, but they have changed the logo on the apparel and neither SDS.  I did see some pins, an ornament (with Tinkerbell on it) and other assorted goodies (including a Tinkerbell apron) that I wanted, but managed to resist.

After resisting the temptation of the Contemporary shops (and I think they are some of the best resort shops around), we headed downstairs and at the holiday guest relations got our badges for tomorrow evening’s CP. There were no merchandise discounts this year as part of the CP package.  Bummer.

Rounding out our evening, we walked back to MK and caught the bus back to OKW. We all out off at the first stop (I had no idea how many stops there were until later in the trip when we decided to ride all the way around the resort). M&A headed back to the room, while SDS & I headed to the hospitality house to check out the Conch Flats General Store. Again we resisted temptation and found a pay phone to use the calling card to call our friend Ken. (There was no way we were going to incur the outrageous charges by calling from the room). Ken wasn’t in, so we wandered back to the room.

We joined M&A out on the back deck/porch to watch the fireworks from Epcot (Illuminations is ½ hour later at the end of the year due to the CP). After that, we took showers and climbed into our jammies, pulled out the sofa bed and hit the hay. But of course I couldn’t sleep. At least not right away. After one more trip to the bathroom (remember that tiny little bladder), I finally get some sleep…and have exceeding strange dreams…

Thus concludes the first day at Disney. Only 6 more fun filled days to go!

 

[IloveDMB]

Reminds me of Seaside Heights, not Walt Disney World.

I don't know how many other people will get this, but it sure made me laugh! I only live 20 minutes from their but stay far far away. I don't think that part is as bad as Seaside (or Sleezeside, as we like to call it), but it may be like Pt. Pleasant Beach,

 

[Mary Anne]

We get on the monorail to head to the main building. What a joy to hear that wonderful voice welcoming us to Orlando (the same voice that reminds us to please stand clear of the doors in WDW)! It’s the simple things in life that make me happy (ok, no really – but being here even the simple things seem extraordinary).

Hint, if life really gets bad, ride the #6 train in NYCity it has the same voice. Some mornings, I close my eyes and pretend I'm on the monorail.

 

[corky805]

A very good and busy day! Thanks for writing!

 

[Minniespal]

Thanx for sharing.