IvyandLace
Certified pixie dust user
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2000
- Messages
- 758
September 26, 2001
Schedule for the day: Epcot with plans to hit many of the special events around the World Showcase area; Mears pickup at 4:30pm; home around 11:00pm
One more time for the road
Since I woke up at 8:30am, it was time to implement Plan A Epcot! I packed up and was thankful for the extra duffel I packed to fill with all my loot! I checked out around 9:30am after checking with luggage service to make sure my bags would be stored until this afternoon. In the check-out process, I found out that they never charged my for the last night ahead of time which I thought they had. (Yes, I should have checked my bill upon checkin a little more carefully, but I still don't understand why they didn't charge me up front for all the nights at once. That makes the most sense to me.) I had a bit of trouble anyway since they had just charged my American Express for a pre-set total that I had faxed them permission to do since the card was in my husband's name. Anyway, for some reason, since I added on the extra night to the original reservation (even though I did this before I arrived), they told me at check-out "This is our usual policy-any nights that are added on to your original reservation don't get charged until that night's stay." ARGHHH! Even though I did splurge a lot this trip, I definitely was on a budget and told them that this was VERY inconvenient to me on the last day of my trip since I thought I had all major expenses out of the way. Basically my budget was shot and it wasn't a nice way to start my morning. They really should let you know this as I wasn't expecting the added charge since I thought I had already paid for it. Not everyone who vacations at Disney World has an unlimited budget or even a credit card at that. Okay major rant over. Really. **relaxation techniques implemented**
I finally decided that it wouldn't ruin my day any further so off to Epcot I went. I really like Epcot and was excited to do it at my own pace. I arrived ~10am and immediately saw a number of school groups here for the day. They were very well chaperoned which was nice to see. I started off with Cranium Command and The Making of Me after a quick trip through Innoventions East to send my DH an email postcard. (I would have liked to send a few more email postcards, but they only let you do one at a time and after my first, a school group came into the line bummer!) I saw the butterfly portion of Epcot without really meaning to! I then headed to China where, unfortunately, the movie wasn't open. I guess I'll do this some other tour!
I then meandered toward the American Adventure and found the posted times for the Voices of Liberty who I really wanted to hear. With one hour to go before the first "show", I decided to stick with my original plan to eat at Le Cellier, and I'm so glad that I did!! It had just opened so it was very quiet. I ordered the Cheddar cheese soup and practically gobbled up the pretzel breadstick they were great!! It was a wonderful meal for the low price of $5.00 plus tip! What a bargain! This would be great to do if you were going to be having a heavier dinner, methinks. I sat there for quite a while, munching on pretzel breadsticks and catching up in my journal. It was a great time to reflect.
I walked back through Canada-what a beautiful portrayal of the country!-to the UK where I stumbled upon a chance meeting with none other than "Mary Poe-pins" (insert English accent here!) I love her! Of course, a picture was in order. Already the day was looking up! Right cheery!
I walked 'round again to AA to catch the Drum and Fife Corp which was cool and touching. Then I walked back toward the UK to catch "Off Kilter." (I had heard so much about this group from "the Disney board" as I lovingly refer to the DIS. I'm sure MM and Pun'kin got tired of hearing me say, "On the disney board "! Such good sports!) Off Kilter was high energy, funny and just plain great! I wish I had the money to get the CD but "maybe next time"-see? I'm starting already! **giggle** I could have definitely stayed for another set, but I wanted to check out the British Invasion. I just love that little courtyard they play in, but I wasn't extremely impressed. Next up was Japan-I love the candy lady. She was pretty funny and very talented. She kept repeating all the animals she could make as well as something like "Free candy-cannot buy-for you, sir, blue dolphin-good choice-blue dolphin-yes, sir-candy, all I can make: bird, kitty, doggy, whale, shark, porky-pine " **giggle** It was very humorous.
It was now time for the Voices of Liberty, and they just blew me away! What a fantastic program! So moving and wonderful! You have to hear them! I only wished they could go on and on! It was approaching 3:15pm and although half of me wanted to through caution to the wind and skip over to MK for one last glimpse of the castle (and maybe a ride on Space Mountain thrown in!), my logical side-I DID just go see Cranium Command, you know!-made me bid goodbye to Epcot and take that last bus ride "home". I was, of course, dully sad. **silent sob** I spent $1.00 in the arcade on Ms. Pacman, and then it was time for Mears pickup. I had dinner prior to my flight from MCO-half turkey sandwich and soup and fries with water for $7.00 at Chili's. One note of interest and extreme frustration for me for a bit: They confiscated the tweezers I was carrying in my carryon (I had carried them in my carryon on my flights down and didn't have a problem)!! They made me go back in line-another wait of about 25 minutes!-at the check-in counter to get this .CHECK MY TWEEZERS. The lady at the counter asked me politely, "And what can I do to help you?" At this point all of my good humor was gone so I just held up my tweezer as the offenders they were and stated, "I need to check these please." They ended up putting them in this HUGE box and taping them to the bottom in an envelope. It was hilarious to the point of absurdity. All in all, my flights went fine, and I landed on time back in Fayetteville, NC ready to see my DH and my "boys" (cats) and to sleep in my bed once again.
Tip(s) of the day: Take time to check your bill carefully on check-in to avoid any unexpected problems on check-out; Off Kilter and the Voices of Liberty were definitely worth seeing and Le Cellier has the best pretzel bread ever; and, above all, don't forget to check those tweezers!
Schedule for the day: Epcot with plans to hit many of the special events around the World Showcase area; Mears pickup at 4:30pm; home around 11:00pm
One more time for the road
Since I woke up at 8:30am, it was time to implement Plan A Epcot! I packed up and was thankful for the extra duffel I packed to fill with all my loot! I checked out around 9:30am after checking with luggage service to make sure my bags would be stored until this afternoon. In the check-out process, I found out that they never charged my for the last night ahead of time which I thought they had. (Yes, I should have checked my bill upon checkin a little more carefully, but I still don't understand why they didn't charge me up front for all the nights at once. That makes the most sense to me.) I had a bit of trouble anyway since they had just charged my American Express for a pre-set total that I had faxed them permission to do since the card was in my husband's name. Anyway, for some reason, since I added on the extra night to the original reservation (even though I did this before I arrived), they told me at check-out "This is our usual policy-any nights that are added on to your original reservation don't get charged until that night's stay." ARGHHH! Even though I did splurge a lot this trip, I definitely was on a budget and told them that this was VERY inconvenient to me on the last day of my trip since I thought I had all major expenses out of the way. Basically my budget was shot and it wasn't a nice way to start my morning. They really should let you know this as I wasn't expecting the added charge since I thought I had already paid for it. Not everyone who vacations at Disney World has an unlimited budget or even a credit card at that. Okay major rant over. Really. **relaxation techniques implemented**
I finally decided that it wouldn't ruin my day any further so off to Epcot I went. I really like Epcot and was excited to do it at my own pace. I arrived ~10am and immediately saw a number of school groups here for the day. They were very well chaperoned which was nice to see. I started off with Cranium Command and The Making of Me after a quick trip through Innoventions East to send my DH an email postcard. (I would have liked to send a few more email postcards, but they only let you do one at a time and after my first, a school group came into the line bummer!) I saw the butterfly portion of Epcot without really meaning to! I then headed to China where, unfortunately, the movie wasn't open. I guess I'll do this some other tour!
I then meandered toward the American Adventure and found the posted times for the Voices of Liberty who I really wanted to hear. With one hour to go before the first "show", I decided to stick with my original plan to eat at Le Cellier, and I'm so glad that I did!! It had just opened so it was very quiet. I ordered the Cheddar cheese soup and practically gobbled up the pretzel breadstick they were great!! It was a wonderful meal for the low price of $5.00 plus tip! What a bargain! This would be great to do if you were going to be having a heavier dinner, methinks. I sat there for quite a while, munching on pretzel breadsticks and catching up in my journal. It was a great time to reflect.
I walked back through Canada-what a beautiful portrayal of the country!-to the UK where I stumbled upon a chance meeting with none other than "Mary Poe-pins" (insert English accent here!) I love her! Of course, a picture was in order. Already the day was looking up! Right cheery!
I walked 'round again to AA to catch the Drum and Fife Corp which was cool and touching. Then I walked back toward the UK to catch "Off Kilter." (I had heard so much about this group from "the Disney board" as I lovingly refer to the DIS. I'm sure MM and Pun'kin got tired of hearing me say, "On the disney board "! Such good sports!) Off Kilter was high energy, funny and just plain great! I wish I had the money to get the CD but "maybe next time"-see? I'm starting already! **giggle** I could have definitely stayed for another set, but I wanted to check out the British Invasion. I just love that little courtyard they play in, but I wasn't extremely impressed. Next up was Japan-I love the candy lady. She was pretty funny and very talented. She kept repeating all the animals she could make as well as something like "Free candy-cannot buy-for you, sir, blue dolphin-good choice-blue dolphin-yes, sir-candy, all I can make: bird, kitty, doggy, whale, shark, porky-pine " **giggle** It was very humorous.
It was now time for the Voices of Liberty, and they just blew me away! What a fantastic program! So moving and wonderful! You have to hear them! I only wished they could go on and on! It was approaching 3:15pm and although half of me wanted to through caution to the wind and skip over to MK for one last glimpse of the castle (and maybe a ride on Space Mountain thrown in!), my logical side-I DID just go see Cranium Command, you know!-made me bid goodbye to Epcot and take that last bus ride "home". I was, of course, dully sad. **silent sob** I spent $1.00 in the arcade on Ms. Pacman, and then it was time for Mears pickup. I had dinner prior to my flight from MCO-half turkey sandwich and soup and fries with water for $7.00 at Chili's. One note of interest and extreme frustration for me for a bit: They confiscated the tweezers I was carrying in my carryon (I had carried them in my carryon on my flights down and didn't have a problem)!! They made me go back in line-another wait of about 25 minutes!-at the check-in counter to get this .CHECK MY TWEEZERS. The lady at the counter asked me politely, "And what can I do to help you?" At this point all of my good humor was gone so I just held up my tweezer as the offenders they were and stated, "I need to check these please." They ended up putting them in this HUGE box and taping them to the bottom in an envelope. It was hilarious to the point of absurdity. All in all, my flights went fine, and I landed on time back in Fayetteville, NC ready to see my DH and my "boys" (cats) and to sleep in my bed once again.
Tip(s) of the day: Take time to check your bill carefully on check-in to avoid any unexpected problems on check-out; Off Kilter and the Voices of Liberty were definitely worth seeing and Le Cellier has the best pretzel bread ever; and, above all, don't forget to check those tweezers!
And I *love* that candy lady, Miyuki. She's so cute and funny. One time in addition to naming all the animals repeatedly she was naming the ingredients, "corn syrup, sugar, etc". We caught the tail end of Voices of Liberty last trip and were floored. Next trip we're definitely checking out the whole show. And about the tweezers...
Trust me...good tweezers are hard to find. About me going on the trip by myself, have you read the first couple of reports?? They will explain. Anyway, thanks!
IVY
