PamNC
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 19, 1999
- Messages
- 4,597
Cast: Me, 42 - visiting my husband who is in Florida working
DH, 34, Opera Singer - singing in New Smyrna Beach, FL
My DH left for FL on 1/12. As I said above in the cast info, he's singing in New Smyrna Beach so OF COURSE I went to visit him. I flew into Orlando on 1/21. The weather was wonderful, especially after leaving snow and ice in NC. Not to mention 14 degree mornings. As the plane landed, I was so excited to see that grass is actually still green and that flowers do exist in nature. WOW! Florida instantly rejuvenated me. I got my rental car and drove 1 hour to see my wonderful husband. He waited for me at the New Smyrna exit off I-95. I'll leave out the part where I forgot to bring cash for the toll road. Anyway, thanks to a gracious toll-booth worker, I made it. We grabbed lunch at a wonderful creole place. It was so nice, we sat outside and I kept asking my husband, "why is it we don't live here." He had no good answer. I won't turn this into a New Smyrna trip report...I know this is a Disney board. My husband had rehearsals, but not too bad of a schedule, so Friday and Saturday we spent time in the area and had a BLAST! Sunday was our designated Disney Day. So, I'll move on to what you guys are interested in:
DAY ONE/ONLY DAY - FREEEEEZING AT THE MAGIC KINGDOM, SUNDAY, 1/23:
Friday and Saturday were beautiful days - low 70's. But, as the weatherman warned, a cold front had arrived. This was a day I'll never forget because I've never been to Disney and froze my tushy off...but it happened on this day. We had PS ressies at our favorite breakfast spot, Kona Cafe at 9:00. We were about 10 minutes late, but no worry. It was pretty crowded there, we had to wait about 15 minutes. The food was delicious as usual. Of course we had tonga toast. My DH and I both agreed that it was the best tonga toast we ever had there. Kudos to the chef! After several cups of kona coffee, and our fattening breakfast...we were off to the monorail to head for the MK. By this time, I doubt it was even 45 degrees, and the wind was blowing which made it even worse. But, we were hopeful that it would warm up. SUCKERS!!
The good news is the crowds were virtually non-existent. We visited a couple months ago during Thanksgiving and we didn't get to try the new Stich attraction so we decided to hit it first. No wait, well...maybe 5 minutes. I'll have to say, this was a huge disappointment. An embarassment even! The pre-show is semi-funny but the actual attraction part is so stupid..part of the time you're not even sure what's going on. Well, we were glad we tried it, but NEVER again. Off to Space Mountain. Probably another 5 minute wait. It was fun as usual. We noticed COP was open, so we had to see it. We love this attraction. I believe it was open because the Astro Orbiter is closed for refurb. COP is usually closed except during peak times, and this definitely wasn't a peak time. I'll bet there were 5 people in the audience. We sang the song, clapped and enjoyed, knowing we might not get to see it on our next trip. After COP, a band was playing so we stopped to listen.
We left Tomorrowland and headed for Fantasyland. Pooh was our intended destination but the wait was 20 minutes and we didn't want to stand out in the cold (Yep, it was still freezing) for that long. So, we went to Philharmagic, one of our favorites. It was pretty full. Probably because it's warm in there! Oh - Dumbo was being refurbed. I can't imagine any child would want to ride it as cold as it was. But, folks were riding the carousel. Not me. We grabbed a fastpass for Peter Pan and headed for the Haunted Mansion. Again, no more than a 5 minute wait. Next, we saw the Country Bears. We giggled, sang and enjoyed it as usual. It was time for Peter Pan, so we took that in and then headed towards the castle to try to check out the green wall in front and see what we could see. We didn't see anything interesting. A cast member told us it would be ready in time for 5/5...but we knew that. She didn't give us any new information. Oh well - we tried. Still freezing, we headed for Adventureland to ride POC. This was our longest wait of the day - probably 15 minutes. But that's okay because it's inside.
After POC, we shopped a bit on Main Street. My DH bought a sweatshirt with a hood. He wasn't as smart as me. I wore a long sleeve shirt with a sweatshirt on top. He wore a long sleeve shirt, with a light jacket...and it wasn't cutting it. He hated paying $60 for a sweatshirt, but he did. "Desperate times call for desperate measures" he said. We grabbed a goodie at the Confectionery and headed up to the top of the train station to get a good seat for the parade. And what a good seat it was. We had never seen this parade, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. HOWEVER, the wind and cold had begun to wear us down. We were simply sick of being cold. We had PS ressies at the CA Grille at 5:40. Our plan was to eat slowly and watch Wishes from the restaurant.
At this point, it was about 4:00. We decided to resort hop the monorail resorts and then go to CA Grille. We started with CR, since it's the first stop. We strolled around the shops, gazed out the window at beautiful Bay Lake and then moved on to the Poly, our favorite resort. We were bummed that the Kona coffee bar wasn't open, a nice cup of java would have been wonderful. Kona Cafe was closed, so we couldn't get our coffee there. So, we simply sat and absorbed the atmosphere and listened to a nice man sing and play (don't laugh at me...I know these little guitars have a name but I can't remember it right now). He was Hawaiin, but he sang Jimmy Buffet songs. Hmmmm. It was nice and relaxing. We sat there and got jealous of the folks who were checking in...wishing it were us. Off to the Grand Floridian. Again, we soaked up some atmosphere and just relaxed. At this point, it was about 5:15. Both of us were thinking that we weren't hungry, and probably wouldn't be by our 5:40 ressie. We didn't want to pay $110+ for a meal when we weren't even hungry. And, we were cold, and didn't want to go to Epcot or anything that required being outside. Not to mention we were exhausted from trying to stay warm. So, we made the decision to leave Disney and head back to New Smyrna...I know what you're thinking. You're thinking we're nuts. Maybe so.
As we drove past the See Ya' Real Soon Sign, I didn't cry like I usually do. Probably because this wasn't a "real" Disney trip. It was just an extra day for us. A day we didn't even expect to have. "Gravy" as my husband called it. It was fun, and I"m glad we went but we learned that going to Disney is about more than going to the theme parks. It's the whole "adventure" - being immersed in Disney. Staying at the resorts. Having the luxury of leaving the parks mid-day and going back to the resort for lunch and a swim. A one-day trip is great, but it's not the same. Perhaps the cold had something to do with it...I'm sure it did. We HATE cold weather. I bet you couldn't tell that could you?
In the end, we were glad we stiffed the CA Grille. We ended up eating at a wonderful restaurant..Kelsey's Riverview. Delicious - great atmosphere and certainly cheaper than CA Grille.
Thanks for reading - let me know if you have any questions.
PamNC
DH, 34, Opera Singer - singing in New Smyrna Beach, FL
My DH left for FL on 1/12. As I said above in the cast info, he's singing in New Smyrna Beach so OF COURSE I went to visit him. I flew into Orlando on 1/21. The weather was wonderful, especially after leaving snow and ice in NC. Not to mention 14 degree mornings. As the plane landed, I was so excited to see that grass is actually still green and that flowers do exist in nature. WOW! Florida instantly rejuvenated me. I got my rental car and drove 1 hour to see my wonderful husband. He waited for me at the New Smyrna exit off I-95. I'll leave out the part where I forgot to bring cash for the toll road. Anyway, thanks to a gracious toll-booth worker, I made it. We grabbed lunch at a wonderful creole place. It was so nice, we sat outside and I kept asking my husband, "why is it we don't live here." He had no good answer. I won't turn this into a New Smyrna trip report...I know this is a Disney board. My husband had rehearsals, but not too bad of a schedule, so Friday and Saturday we spent time in the area and had a BLAST! Sunday was our designated Disney Day. So, I'll move on to what you guys are interested in:
DAY ONE/ONLY DAY - FREEEEEZING AT THE MAGIC KINGDOM, SUNDAY, 1/23:
Friday and Saturday were beautiful days - low 70's. But, as the weatherman warned, a cold front had arrived. This was a day I'll never forget because I've never been to Disney and froze my tushy off...but it happened on this day. We had PS ressies at our favorite breakfast spot, Kona Cafe at 9:00. We were about 10 minutes late, but no worry. It was pretty crowded there, we had to wait about 15 minutes. The food was delicious as usual. Of course we had tonga toast. My DH and I both agreed that it was the best tonga toast we ever had there. Kudos to the chef! After several cups of kona coffee, and our fattening breakfast...we were off to the monorail to head for the MK. By this time, I doubt it was even 45 degrees, and the wind was blowing which made it even worse. But, we were hopeful that it would warm up. SUCKERS!!
The good news is the crowds were virtually non-existent. We visited a couple months ago during Thanksgiving and we didn't get to try the new Stich attraction so we decided to hit it first. No wait, well...maybe 5 minutes. I'll have to say, this was a huge disappointment. An embarassment even! The pre-show is semi-funny but the actual attraction part is so stupid..part of the time you're not even sure what's going on. Well, we were glad we tried it, but NEVER again. Off to Space Mountain. Probably another 5 minute wait. It was fun as usual. We noticed COP was open, so we had to see it. We love this attraction. I believe it was open because the Astro Orbiter is closed for refurb. COP is usually closed except during peak times, and this definitely wasn't a peak time. I'll bet there were 5 people in the audience. We sang the song, clapped and enjoyed, knowing we might not get to see it on our next trip. After COP, a band was playing so we stopped to listen.
We left Tomorrowland and headed for Fantasyland. Pooh was our intended destination but the wait was 20 minutes and we didn't want to stand out in the cold (Yep, it was still freezing) for that long. So, we went to Philharmagic, one of our favorites. It was pretty full. Probably because it's warm in there! Oh - Dumbo was being refurbed. I can't imagine any child would want to ride it as cold as it was. But, folks were riding the carousel. Not me. We grabbed a fastpass for Peter Pan and headed for the Haunted Mansion. Again, no more than a 5 minute wait. Next, we saw the Country Bears. We giggled, sang and enjoyed it as usual. It was time for Peter Pan, so we took that in and then headed towards the castle to try to check out the green wall in front and see what we could see. We didn't see anything interesting. A cast member told us it would be ready in time for 5/5...but we knew that. She didn't give us any new information. Oh well - we tried. Still freezing, we headed for Adventureland to ride POC. This was our longest wait of the day - probably 15 minutes. But that's okay because it's inside.
After POC, we shopped a bit on Main Street. My DH bought a sweatshirt with a hood. He wasn't as smart as me. I wore a long sleeve shirt with a sweatshirt on top. He wore a long sleeve shirt, with a light jacket...and it wasn't cutting it. He hated paying $60 for a sweatshirt, but he did. "Desperate times call for desperate measures" he said. We grabbed a goodie at the Confectionery and headed up to the top of the train station to get a good seat for the parade. And what a good seat it was. We had never seen this parade, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. HOWEVER, the wind and cold had begun to wear us down. We were simply sick of being cold. We had PS ressies at the CA Grille at 5:40. Our plan was to eat slowly and watch Wishes from the restaurant.
At this point, it was about 4:00. We decided to resort hop the monorail resorts and then go to CA Grille. We started with CR, since it's the first stop. We strolled around the shops, gazed out the window at beautiful Bay Lake and then moved on to the Poly, our favorite resort. We were bummed that the Kona coffee bar wasn't open, a nice cup of java would have been wonderful. Kona Cafe was closed, so we couldn't get our coffee there. So, we simply sat and absorbed the atmosphere and listened to a nice man sing and play (don't laugh at me...I know these little guitars have a name but I can't remember it right now). He was Hawaiin, but he sang Jimmy Buffet songs. Hmmmm. It was nice and relaxing. We sat there and got jealous of the folks who were checking in...wishing it were us. Off to the Grand Floridian. Again, we soaked up some atmosphere and just relaxed. At this point, it was about 5:15. Both of us were thinking that we weren't hungry, and probably wouldn't be by our 5:40 ressie. We didn't want to pay $110+ for a meal when we weren't even hungry. And, we were cold, and didn't want to go to Epcot or anything that required being outside. Not to mention we were exhausted from trying to stay warm. So, we made the decision to leave Disney and head back to New Smyrna...I know what you're thinking. You're thinking we're nuts. Maybe so.
As we drove past the See Ya' Real Soon Sign, I didn't cry like I usually do. Probably because this wasn't a "real" Disney trip. It was just an extra day for us. A day we didn't even expect to have. "Gravy" as my husband called it. It was fun, and I"m glad we went but we learned that going to Disney is about more than going to the theme parks. It's the whole "adventure" - being immersed in Disney. Staying at the resorts. Having the luxury of leaving the parks mid-day and going back to the resort for lunch and a swim. A one-day trip is great, but it's not the same. Perhaps the cold had something to do with it...I'm sure it did. We HATE cold weather. I bet you couldn't tell that could you?
In the end, we were glad we stiffed the CA Grille. We ended up eating at a wonderful restaurant..Kelsey's Riverview. Delicious - great atmosphere and certainly cheaper than CA Grille.
Thanks for reading - let me know if you have any questions.
PamNC
Thanks for the report.
