Four days later, and I think my composure is regained.
So: When we last left off, we'd managed to pick up the rental car, and Melneth had introduced me to Gus. She gave me a brief tutorial in using Gus, which didn't really sink in (perhaps due to still trying to get over Gus's personification, which looked like-- But no. No more Gus pictures; some people *coughJackiecough* want me to get to the parks.
). So on occasion Melneth had the difficult job of not killing us while we drove in Pearl and of also pushing Gus's buttons--or touch screen, actually.
We arrived at our off-site hotel, the Royal Plaza* after about 35 minutes--I think. Since we spent the time gabbing and being excited, it really didn't feel too long. After checking in--I think it was around 5:30pm, for those of you who actually care about time--and trekking up to our room, deeming it worthy, and pondering why the balcony door was locked, preventing entry to the balcony, we each claimed a drawer and unpacked.
And realized we didn't have our refrigerator that we'd requested. Well, Melneth realized it, but kindly didn't comment on how I, as the check-iner, should've remembered to ask for the fridge upon checking in. Which I, as the reservation-maker, had informed Melneth and Nevi that we had to do.
But we requested the fridge on our way to dinner, and from thence to grocery-shopping for breakfast and snacks.
Hunger being paramount, we elected to eat at an Uno's across the street. It was there that I realized I'd forgotten about the bit T-shirt reveal. Oh well, I told myself; just as long as I remember when we get back.
Full of pizza goodness and assured that we wouldn't madly throw things into our cart at the grocery store, we left.
But first, however, I requested a stop at a Chamberlin's, since I wanted to get some health-drink stuff called kombucha.
A Chamberlin's pic that I did not take, and nor did anyone in my party take it:
Now I could go into great detail about why I drink kombucha, but in all actuality you probably don't care, and I think I've already surpassed this week's quota for including details you don't care about. So suffice it to say that I'm able to make my own kombucha, but it being a refrigerated liquid, it doesn't travel well.
We arrived at the Chamberlin's, and I found my kombucha in the refrigerated drinks section. I'd planned on getting three bottles, since we'd be there six full days and each bottle contains one serving. I could drink some of my own on Wednesday evening. But I quickly altered my plans when I saw the $3.99 price tag. In Colorado, the bottled stuff is about $2.89.
$3.99! thought I.
I can get slightly over a gallon of gas for that!
Of course, now it is just about impossible to get a gallon of gas for $3.99, unless you have (a) taken advantage of one of those "buy a new car and get $2.99 gas for three years!" deals, or (b) sold your soul to Satan. Since I have done neither, and I am reasonably sure many of you have done neither, let us take a moment to mourn the passing of $3.99/gallon gas.
[Here's where I'd take off my hat if I wore one.] $3.99/gallon gas: We never thought you'd come to be. And now we wish you still were.
mournmournmournmournmournmournmourn
As the mourning is over, let us continue.
With the kombucha costing me $3.99 per bottle, I instead purchased two rather than three, thinking I could stretch things out a bit.
We considered getting all our food at Chamberlin's, but since all our other items would be available at a regular grocery store, and one was in the same shopping complex, we decided to move on out and save ourselves a few pennies. At the grocery store, we grabbed some yogurt for breakfast, Nevi and Melneth got granola bars for park snackage (I'd brought my own LaraBars
and we also got some envelopes for housekeeping tips (no, I hadn't planned that far ahead, but my Trip Planner tiara will have to be wrested from my cold, dead fingers despite any mistakes I may make) and a few other items we thought we'd need, and returned to the hotel room, where we found our refrigerator ready to receive our dairy and kombucha goods.
Then--TO THE PARKS!
All of 'em! So, at around 8pm, we returned to Pearl, I cuddled Gus in my hands, and he instructed us on how to get to the Animal Kingdom.
But let me back up a bit.
We already had our 7-day park tickets, and of course that was more than enough for our six full days. But we didn't want to waste a day on what would be maybe two hours at the park, max. So instead we decided that we would just drive
to the parks to ensure we'd know how to get there. Which we did. And enjoyed driving past the little booths toward the parking lots, each time wondering if a CM would be in said little booth and yell at us for breezing through without paying for parking.
Of course, no CMs were there since it was late and we couldn't have actually gotten
inside the parks. But I, at least, amused myself with envisioning different scenarios with us taking Pearl across a median and leaving tire marks on the road in our efforts to avoid Cast Member wrath.
After visiting the TTC lot, we headed back to the hotel room to double-check the next day's itinerary. And I remembered to bring out the T-shirts. They were slightly wrinkled, but Nevi and Melneth still exclaimed over them (they're such good friends! And I truly, truly mean that.
), looked at each other, and said, "Should we wear them tomorrow?" Then they looked at me.
Sheepish grin on my part, because of COURSE I thought we should wear the physical results of my toil (and by toil I mean designing the T-shirts online and spending WAY too much time on my own pencil because the site I went through didn't have pencil graphic), but I wasn't gonna, you know,
make them wear the shirts. Moi: "Well, if you want to."
We concurred: The shirts would be worn.
That decided, we commenced with itinerary finalization.
We based our park days on the touringplans.com crowd calendar. Thursday's park, our first park, would be Animal Kingdom, which none of us had been to before. As we were following
The Unofficial Guide's touring plans, I got out the Animal Kingdom plan.
No, that is not actually the AK touring plan. But I put that picture there so that I may applaud my own intelligence.
Note the use of the quart-size resealable bag, in which sits a touring plan cut from the UG. And I
do mean cut; I had to trim the edges down to make it fit. The quart-size bag is excellent, since it keeps the plan dry in case of rain or particularly wet water rides. And it is clear, so that you do not have to remove the plan from the bag in order to read it. The thicker plastic also means it can be shoved in one's sea green baggalini without fear of crumpling. One can also place the UG's "Recommended Visiting times," which may be used if the touring plan goes to pot, in the bag so that it shows out the other side. Papers that must be saved from wet but that do not need to be accessed as frequently, such as ADRs with confirmation numbers and times, can be placed between the two sheets. I was so pleased with the use of the quart-size resealable bag, I considered writing the UG people to recommend that they size their book so that the pages may fit thusly without necessitating trimming the edges. But I never did.
Nonetheless [adjusting the Trip Planner tiara], my tiara sparkles so.
So we went over the AK plan briefly, reconfirmed it included everything we wanted to do, and identified a couple we could take out (e.g., Conservation Station; reviews were sorta meh; it's out of the way and then you're "informed" about conserving stuff. Personally, I can head anywhere in Boulder and get the same spiel).
And, at last, it was time for bed.
Next up: Find out if my metaphorical TPT still sparkles in the Animal Kingdom, and whether the Matching T-shirts do truly hold any power.
*Very nice, and I'd recommend it if you're in Orlando for a reason other than the World, but next time I'm getting my on-site perks. And so, DISers, embrace me as one of your own!
Please?
I'm smarter than I thought! The rhymage of "okra" and "simulacra" never occurred to me. If I were poetically inclined...
Hello, ForeverDance, thanks, and welcome! 
I love the t-shirts! I'm a little confused by Ninja Mickey, perhaps I read to fast?
