hamlet35_2000
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2006
- Messages
- 186
John and I just got back from WDW and we are recovering nicely from the humidity and John is recovering from a cold and also having to go back to work.
Here is the cast and all the background info. My partner John and I (Mike) are former Cast Members who met about seven years ago in WDW, and fell madly in love--at the time it was not to be because John was involved in an abusive relationship that had him trapped. John left Orlando to move back up North, and a few years later I left to move further South and I became a school teacher. Jump forward a few years (seven years to be exact since the last time I saw John) and he shows up again in the form of a MySpace private message... I was floored! This was a man who I still loved after so many years, and he was coming to Fort Lauderdale. Well... many soap opera moments later, and a week that felt like an old romantic MGM movie, John moved in with me, and we have been together since. Middle of summer comes, and I get the notion to go to WDW and spend a few days reliving some of the moments we shared seven years ago. I went online, and seven minutes later we were booked at the POP Century and John and I were headed to WDW, John for the first time in 7 years and me for the first time in four years! I immediatly went into planning mode, and made ADR's and got confirmations for horseback riding, etc.... etc... And then all planning came to a halt... I discovered Tour Guide Mike and signed up and started sifting thorouhg all of the information. The next day (after a long night online reading) I changed all of my ADR's and made sure I was attending all of the parks on Green Days, and adding breaks, and making a list of items to take in my back pack! Planing continued at a furious pace up until the very final minute of leaving. Planes were booked and unbooked, days were added, and dining plans were modified, and then modified again. I got to know some of the reservationists on a personal basis as I called everyday to update or tweak or change something (I am a teacher and a little bit of a control freak, so I had to make sure everything was perfect). In the end, we left with a rented car on Tuesday July 25th and we stayed at the Pop Century for five nights and then swtiched over to the Wilderness Lodge for two night, and came back home on August 1st. We are true Disney geeks, and we made the most of our vacation there with the Premium MYW Plan and Park Hopper Tickets and Water Park Tickets and Downtown Disney, etc... So without further ado, here is the Great, the good, and the bad of our Disney vacation (or our Disney Pilgramage as some one on the DIS Boards called it...that is a funny story if you want to hear it, but I won't bore you all with it now).
Day One: The Turnpike, Humidity, and the Magic
After many questions and concerns about how to get to the World from Fort Lauderdale including discussions of planes, Amtrack, and rental cars, we choose a rental car about a week before leaving, and it turned out to be the 2nd best choice we made on the trip (the first being TGM). We packed the car the night before with all of our bags, and then I tried to sleep...yeah, right! I did try, and I think I might have, but 4:30 AM came and I was wide awake. We were not planning on leaving quite that early, but I gave up and woke John up and said I was ready and to get ready because I couldn't take it anymore and I was leaving in 15 minutes. I informed him I would wait in the car for him...while waiting, I forgot a small deatail about change for tolls, and I had to raid my roomates 2 and 3 year old's piggy bank for quarters... Time to leave, but no John still...he was making sure our beagle was fed and she had watered and when I came back in I found him and the dog in a final cuddle on the bed. I joined the cuddle, and then grabbed a couple of cokes and our brand new Brita Water Bottles, and off we went. I am not a speeder, but I sped...I did 80 going down the Florida Turnpike, and we were looking at the "Welcome to WDW" sign over Osceola Parkway by about 8:00--about three hours since we left Fort Lauderdale. We were checked into the Pop Century by 8:20, and took one look at the line for the MK bus--The line was doubled over and under and there were strollers and children running, and we both looked at each other and said--we will drive to the Grand Floridian for breakfast!
By 8:45 we are seated in the Grand Floridian Cafe, and enjoying a wonderful breakfast...our first meal at WDW, and a wonderful way to start the day. It was so bright and cheery and relaxing in this restaurant, and our waitress was wonderful, and I became a kid again as I realized that I would be in this wonderful world for a week! John had an omlette with everything in it with potatoes (which we didn't like, but the omlette was good) and I had eggs and corn beef hash which was wonderful. We had the waitress fill up our water bottles with ice water (and I added my Hawaiin Punch single to mine, and John still being a bit reserved opted for Peach Tea) and we went off to ride the boat to the MK. We were thinking only of the MK at this point...the Fantasy, the magic, the Holy Grail of Amusement Parks, and we took our little boat right into the middle of maddness, and we did not mind one bit. We got down Main St smiling and laughing and Photopassing (we picked up our card with the first photo with the castle), and arrived in the hub to go and get Space Mountain FP. It's only about 10:00, but FB is still not until 2:00, so we are off to go exploring a little...we rode Stitch. I think this attraction has a very bad reputation...we really liked it. We especially like the chili-dog smell, and the part where Stitch is bouncing on your heads. Alien Encounter was better, but Stitch is pretty good as well. After Stitch we worked our way through the Hub again to Adventureland and discovered that the new Pirates ride is as popular as Splash and Space Mountain now and had an hour and a half wait at about 10:30, so we ducked into the Tiki birds for the air condtioning--we always like the new show, and we get a laugh when Iago starts kicking everybody out at the end of the show. After Tiki birds we decided to hit the Country Bears and then walked back to the castle to see Cinderellabration. I thought Cinderellabratiion was a little corny, but Belle Waved and me and blew me a kiss (and Beast was right there) and Jasmine tossed her hair at me, and so I was happy. Now, the humidity was full force now, and it felt like you were swimming, and the sun was just beating down on us, so off we went to Tony's for lunch (and I was hoping to convince John to take a break and check into the room).
Lunch at Tony's was really good. Nice restaurant, and we got in right away. John had really good Italian chicken soup to start with and I had breadsticks which were just breadsticks, nothing extraordinary, and then for entree John had a pizza (Which was really good) and I had a soup and sandwhich combo, which was excellant (I believe it was a chicken sandwich with some kind of really good cheese on it, and grilled like a pannini). For desert I had apple cobbler with cinnamon ice cream and John had something really sweet milkshake thing in a mug (he liked it, I thought it tasted like a vanilla shake on overload--too much vanilla). He got this desert so he could take the mug home (this was extra). After lunch we went to Guest Relations and called to get our Room Number (which they don't give out until the room is ready, which it wasn't at 8:15 that morning) and when we got that, we went to package pick-up and had the mug delievered to our room (or so we thought, but we actually had to pick it up from the gift shop at Pop Century). Now I say, "Let's get out of here....????" and I get, "No, I am fine let's go get some more FP and ride Space Mountain.....so off we go into the humidity again to ride Space Mountain (seems that they made it faster, but brighter inside of the attraction) and Haunted Mansion (still a wonderful attraction, hoping Disney does not feel the need to update the attraction with Eddie Murphy at some point) and then finally the humidity gets to us and we decide to leave and go take a break at the room. And once again--something we would say over and over, thank goodness we have a car...a short boat back to the Grand Floridaian and a short walk to our car allows us to get back to our resort and room in like 20 minutes.
Pop Century (putting on flame retardant suit) is horrible!!!!!! It's too over the top and it's like being put into a bad Saturday morning cartoon. And its loud! All over the place--Loud!!!!! The toilets are loud, you can hear people stomping all the place, the pool is loud and there is now way I would get into a pool with that many screaming children unless I had lost my mind. We get to the room (on the other side of the pool thank you Front Desk CM's) after wandering through a huge bowling pin and a huge Tramp sculpture--too much!!!! Is there anything subtule about this place--I come to find out that the answer to that is...no. Nothing subtule about the Pop century (including the rooms bedspread and rug). Shower is nice (or just felt really nice after the humidity) but it was a walk in shower and there was nothing to keep the water in the shower area and so after every shower there was a puddle in the bathroom. After wading through the bathroom after our showers, I set a wake-up call (very cool Disney wake-up call system) for about six. It's only like 3:15 so we can have a much needed nap.
Five comes and I am woken up by Stitch and Mickey (way cool) and I wade back into the bathroom (still wet from the last showers) and take another shower and get ready for dinner at 'Ohanas. We drive to the Poly (no problem getting in and parking) and arrive for dinner, and the hostess says to have a drink for her, and so I get a Zombie (which after half of I am ready to start the hula) and John gets a Pineapple--I swear, his drink came in a pineapple--funny, and we are laughing very hard in a matter of minutes, and we don't stop laughing for quite awhile (neither of us are big drinkers and when we do drink we get really quite silly). Dinner is awesome! The salad is wonderful, the chicken wings are our of this world, the shrimp are good (although peeling them annoys me, so I give them to John and try to get him to peel them and then steal them from him, he's drunk so he doesn't notice) and the wontons with the sauces are great--peanut sauce is my favorite, followed closely by the spicy red sauce! Entree--pork was dry, but the steak was Great, and the turkey was so good, and the Sausage was out of this world. Our Favortie thing was the scalloped potatoes though. Desert was the bread pudding and it was good (not great, but good) and we left happily filled up and still laughing for the MK.
We had some time, so we rode Space mountain with our FP and got a FP for Buzz Lightyear. We then went into Toontown to see Mickey Mouse, and waited forver for that mouse, much longer than the 10 minutes they told us. We had priority seating for Wishes (More on that later in the week), but didn't make them because we didn't realize they cut off all access to the castle for this, and we got stuck in Fantasyland. So we rode some rides in Fantasyland without any waits (Snow White and It's a Small World). Snow White seemed to be repainted and looked wonderful and it's a small world was stunning on the outside-much better than it was. We were riding Small world and came out to see the end of Wishes (where in the world are those fireworks being set off from????) and then we rode the Haunted Mansion again, and then went to Frontierland to see what kind of wait for Splash...still an hour according to the wait board, and no FP left, so we walked onto Big Thunder (twice). My feet are hurting by this point because my fat body is not used to walking all this much, and I suggest a nice long sit down ride--pirates, which is still 20 minutes wait and I really want the break so I wait for the half hour of Pirates and get my break. New and improved Pirates is good...The opening effect with the water and the music and the new improved lighting is excellant, and the trip through the village is pretty much the same with the addition of Jack Sparrow in three places, and it's not too distracting. They added some really cool burning embers and logs to the fire scene and those were very cool. After Pirates we catch the final boat of the night on the Jungle Cruise, which I always like better at night, and then we start to head out, and then I stop....I see Spectro starting to hit the center hub, and and so I swerve and take the new bridge into Liberty Square from Adventureland and we have perfect viewing spots for spectro just as it hits the castle. Five minutes and we are in the midst of a parade and dancing and waving and laughing with the characters. The Queen of Hearts tells them to cut off our heads, Merriweather waves at us with her magic wand (as if we need any more pixe dust) and the Dwarves all dance and wiggle their booties with us, and Pluto licks me. We beat the crowds to a resort monorail and back to the Poly and our car and finally we are at back at the garish motel 8 (Pop Century--and I still have my flame retardant suit on so flame away) by the announcement that the lifeguards were leaving and it was swim at your own risk, although I don't think that any of the 100 or more kids in the pool listened to a word they said, and I could swear that there was a bunch of kids that had been in that pool since we arrived...these people do know that there are four theme parks, right???? Off to bed...loud toilets... stomping... pillows the size of postage stamps, why did I choose this motel???????? Oh right, it was cheap...you get what you pay for...and I had to go to four floors before I could find ice....why....???? I find out later it is because people fill up coolers of ice--four or five of them at a time...I don't know what for...I was thinking meth labs...but John quickly silenced me when I suggested that might be the purpose...I have a big mouth that gets me in a lot of trouble...where was I...sleep...I dreamt of bowling pins the size of buildings and yo-yos being made to walk the dog by Tramp and Lady...for some odd reason toilets flushing.......
Next up...Day Two: Splish Splash with Zeus in France
Here is the cast and all the background info. My partner John and I (Mike) are former Cast Members who met about seven years ago in WDW, and fell madly in love--at the time it was not to be because John was involved in an abusive relationship that had him trapped. John left Orlando to move back up North, and a few years later I left to move further South and I became a school teacher. Jump forward a few years (seven years to be exact since the last time I saw John) and he shows up again in the form of a MySpace private message... I was floored! This was a man who I still loved after so many years, and he was coming to Fort Lauderdale. Well... many soap opera moments later, and a week that felt like an old romantic MGM movie, John moved in with me, and we have been together since. Middle of summer comes, and I get the notion to go to WDW and spend a few days reliving some of the moments we shared seven years ago. I went online, and seven minutes later we were booked at the POP Century and John and I were headed to WDW, John for the first time in 7 years and me for the first time in four years! I immediatly went into planning mode, and made ADR's and got confirmations for horseback riding, etc.... etc... And then all planning came to a halt... I discovered Tour Guide Mike and signed up and started sifting thorouhg all of the information. The next day (after a long night online reading) I changed all of my ADR's and made sure I was attending all of the parks on Green Days, and adding breaks, and making a list of items to take in my back pack! Planing continued at a furious pace up until the very final minute of leaving. Planes were booked and unbooked, days were added, and dining plans were modified, and then modified again. I got to know some of the reservationists on a personal basis as I called everyday to update or tweak or change something (I am a teacher and a little bit of a control freak, so I had to make sure everything was perfect). In the end, we left with a rented car on Tuesday July 25th and we stayed at the Pop Century for five nights and then swtiched over to the Wilderness Lodge for two night, and came back home on August 1st. We are true Disney geeks, and we made the most of our vacation there with the Premium MYW Plan and Park Hopper Tickets and Water Park Tickets and Downtown Disney, etc... So without further ado, here is the Great, the good, and the bad of our Disney vacation (or our Disney Pilgramage as some one on the DIS Boards called it...that is a funny story if you want to hear it, but I won't bore you all with it now).
Day One: The Turnpike, Humidity, and the Magic
After many questions and concerns about how to get to the World from Fort Lauderdale including discussions of planes, Amtrack, and rental cars, we choose a rental car about a week before leaving, and it turned out to be the 2nd best choice we made on the trip (the first being TGM). We packed the car the night before with all of our bags, and then I tried to sleep...yeah, right! I did try, and I think I might have, but 4:30 AM came and I was wide awake. We were not planning on leaving quite that early, but I gave up and woke John up and said I was ready and to get ready because I couldn't take it anymore and I was leaving in 15 minutes. I informed him I would wait in the car for him...while waiting, I forgot a small deatail about change for tolls, and I had to raid my roomates 2 and 3 year old's piggy bank for quarters... Time to leave, but no John still...he was making sure our beagle was fed and she had watered and when I came back in I found him and the dog in a final cuddle on the bed. I joined the cuddle, and then grabbed a couple of cokes and our brand new Brita Water Bottles, and off we went. I am not a speeder, but I sped...I did 80 going down the Florida Turnpike, and we were looking at the "Welcome to WDW" sign over Osceola Parkway by about 8:00--about three hours since we left Fort Lauderdale. We were checked into the Pop Century by 8:20, and took one look at the line for the MK bus--The line was doubled over and under and there were strollers and children running, and we both looked at each other and said--we will drive to the Grand Floridian for breakfast!
By 8:45 we are seated in the Grand Floridian Cafe, and enjoying a wonderful breakfast...our first meal at WDW, and a wonderful way to start the day. It was so bright and cheery and relaxing in this restaurant, and our waitress was wonderful, and I became a kid again as I realized that I would be in this wonderful world for a week! John had an omlette with everything in it with potatoes (which we didn't like, but the omlette was good) and I had eggs and corn beef hash which was wonderful. We had the waitress fill up our water bottles with ice water (and I added my Hawaiin Punch single to mine, and John still being a bit reserved opted for Peach Tea) and we went off to ride the boat to the MK. We were thinking only of the MK at this point...the Fantasy, the magic, the Holy Grail of Amusement Parks, and we took our little boat right into the middle of maddness, and we did not mind one bit. We got down Main St smiling and laughing and Photopassing (we picked up our card with the first photo with the castle), and arrived in the hub to go and get Space Mountain FP. It's only about 10:00, but FB is still not until 2:00, so we are off to go exploring a little...we rode Stitch. I think this attraction has a very bad reputation...we really liked it. We especially like the chili-dog smell, and the part where Stitch is bouncing on your heads. Alien Encounter was better, but Stitch is pretty good as well. After Stitch we worked our way through the Hub again to Adventureland and discovered that the new Pirates ride is as popular as Splash and Space Mountain now and had an hour and a half wait at about 10:30, so we ducked into the Tiki birds for the air condtioning--we always like the new show, and we get a laugh when Iago starts kicking everybody out at the end of the show. After Tiki birds we decided to hit the Country Bears and then walked back to the castle to see Cinderellabration. I thought Cinderellabratiion was a little corny, but Belle Waved and me and blew me a kiss (and Beast was right there) and Jasmine tossed her hair at me, and so I was happy. Now, the humidity was full force now, and it felt like you were swimming, and the sun was just beating down on us, so off we went to Tony's for lunch (and I was hoping to convince John to take a break and check into the room).
Lunch at Tony's was really good. Nice restaurant, and we got in right away. John had really good Italian chicken soup to start with and I had breadsticks which were just breadsticks, nothing extraordinary, and then for entree John had a pizza (Which was really good) and I had a soup and sandwhich combo, which was excellant (I believe it was a chicken sandwich with some kind of really good cheese on it, and grilled like a pannini). For desert I had apple cobbler with cinnamon ice cream and John had something really sweet milkshake thing in a mug (he liked it, I thought it tasted like a vanilla shake on overload--too much vanilla). He got this desert so he could take the mug home (this was extra). After lunch we went to Guest Relations and called to get our Room Number (which they don't give out until the room is ready, which it wasn't at 8:15 that morning) and when we got that, we went to package pick-up and had the mug delievered to our room (or so we thought, but we actually had to pick it up from the gift shop at Pop Century). Now I say, "Let's get out of here....????" and I get, "No, I am fine let's go get some more FP and ride Space Mountain.....so off we go into the humidity again to ride Space Mountain (seems that they made it faster, but brighter inside of the attraction) and Haunted Mansion (still a wonderful attraction, hoping Disney does not feel the need to update the attraction with Eddie Murphy at some point) and then finally the humidity gets to us and we decide to leave and go take a break at the room. And once again--something we would say over and over, thank goodness we have a car...a short boat back to the Grand Floridaian and a short walk to our car allows us to get back to our resort and room in like 20 minutes.
Pop Century (putting on flame retardant suit) is horrible!!!!!! It's too over the top and it's like being put into a bad Saturday morning cartoon. And its loud! All over the place--Loud!!!!! The toilets are loud, you can hear people stomping all the place, the pool is loud and there is now way I would get into a pool with that many screaming children unless I had lost my mind. We get to the room (on the other side of the pool thank you Front Desk CM's) after wandering through a huge bowling pin and a huge Tramp sculpture--too much!!!! Is there anything subtule about this place--I come to find out that the answer to that is...no. Nothing subtule about the Pop century (including the rooms bedspread and rug). Shower is nice (or just felt really nice after the humidity) but it was a walk in shower and there was nothing to keep the water in the shower area and so after every shower there was a puddle in the bathroom. After wading through the bathroom after our showers, I set a wake-up call (very cool Disney wake-up call system) for about six. It's only like 3:15 so we can have a much needed nap.
Five comes and I am woken up by Stitch and Mickey (way cool) and I wade back into the bathroom (still wet from the last showers) and take another shower and get ready for dinner at 'Ohanas. We drive to the Poly (no problem getting in and parking) and arrive for dinner, and the hostess says to have a drink for her, and so I get a Zombie (which after half of I am ready to start the hula) and John gets a Pineapple--I swear, his drink came in a pineapple--funny, and we are laughing very hard in a matter of minutes, and we don't stop laughing for quite awhile (neither of us are big drinkers and when we do drink we get really quite silly). Dinner is awesome! The salad is wonderful, the chicken wings are our of this world, the shrimp are good (although peeling them annoys me, so I give them to John and try to get him to peel them and then steal them from him, he's drunk so he doesn't notice) and the wontons with the sauces are great--peanut sauce is my favorite, followed closely by the spicy red sauce! Entree--pork was dry, but the steak was Great, and the turkey was so good, and the Sausage was out of this world. Our Favortie thing was the scalloped potatoes though. Desert was the bread pudding and it was good (not great, but good) and we left happily filled up and still laughing for the MK.
We had some time, so we rode Space mountain with our FP and got a FP for Buzz Lightyear. We then went into Toontown to see Mickey Mouse, and waited forver for that mouse, much longer than the 10 minutes they told us. We had priority seating for Wishes (More on that later in the week), but didn't make them because we didn't realize they cut off all access to the castle for this, and we got stuck in Fantasyland. So we rode some rides in Fantasyland without any waits (Snow White and It's a Small World). Snow White seemed to be repainted and looked wonderful and it's a small world was stunning on the outside-much better than it was. We were riding Small world and came out to see the end of Wishes (where in the world are those fireworks being set off from????) and then we rode the Haunted Mansion again, and then went to Frontierland to see what kind of wait for Splash...still an hour according to the wait board, and no FP left, so we walked onto Big Thunder (twice). My feet are hurting by this point because my fat body is not used to walking all this much, and I suggest a nice long sit down ride--pirates, which is still 20 minutes wait and I really want the break so I wait for the half hour of Pirates and get my break. New and improved Pirates is good...The opening effect with the water and the music and the new improved lighting is excellant, and the trip through the village is pretty much the same with the addition of Jack Sparrow in three places, and it's not too distracting. They added some really cool burning embers and logs to the fire scene and those were very cool. After Pirates we catch the final boat of the night on the Jungle Cruise, which I always like better at night, and then we start to head out, and then I stop....I see Spectro starting to hit the center hub, and and so I swerve and take the new bridge into Liberty Square from Adventureland and we have perfect viewing spots for spectro just as it hits the castle. Five minutes and we are in the midst of a parade and dancing and waving and laughing with the characters. The Queen of Hearts tells them to cut off our heads, Merriweather waves at us with her magic wand (as if we need any more pixe dust) and the Dwarves all dance and wiggle their booties with us, and Pluto licks me. We beat the crowds to a resort monorail and back to the Poly and our car and finally we are at back at the garish motel 8 (Pop Century--and I still have my flame retardant suit on so flame away) by the announcement that the lifeguards were leaving and it was swim at your own risk, although I don't think that any of the 100 or more kids in the pool listened to a word they said, and I could swear that there was a bunch of kids that had been in that pool since we arrived...these people do know that there are four theme parks, right???? Off to bed...loud toilets... stomping... pillows the size of postage stamps, why did I choose this motel???????? Oh right, it was cheap...you get what you pay for...and I had to go to four floors before I could find ice....why....???? I find out later it is because people fill up coolers of ice--four or five of them at a time...I don't know what for...I was thinking meth labs...but John quickly silenced me when I suggested that might be the purpose...I have a big mouth that gets me in a lot of trouble...where was I...sleep...I dreamt of bowling pins the size of buildings and yo-yos being made to walk the dog by Tramp and Lady...for some odd reason toilets flushing.......
Next up...Day Two: Splish Splash with Zeus in France
