Two Adults take on the Premium Plan 3/25/06 – 4/3/06 NEW Update 5/4, Post #36

[Iggipolka]

Two Adults take on the Premium Plan 3/25/06 – 4/3/06

Me: Female, 36 only 2nd time at WDW.

Wife: Female, 46, used to live in Florida and visited WDW all the time.

Premium Package: includes 3 TS or CS meals per day, unlimited recreation and selected tours.

Ya know those vacations that are smooth and perfect? The vacations where everything goes really well and everyone has a great time and there aren’t any freak outs or crying jags or anything like that? Well, this was not one of those vacations. Don’t get me wrong, we still had a good time. It just had its challenging moments.

Day One 3/25/06

Woohoo! Today we go to WDW! Happy Skippy Day! We’re flying from California to Orlando on a redeye that leaves at 10:50pm, so we have all day to wait and wait and wait..er, I mean pack and get ready to go.

At 8:00am the phone rings and I told the Wife to answer the phone. She insisted I answer it. It was Mulan! Somehow Mulan knew that I was going on a trip today! The funniest thing is that I had scheduled a call for the wife from Tigger! She and I think so alike sometimes.

After our phone calls, we ran out to do some errands and got back in plenty of time to pack. I had actually been packed for several days, but the Wife still had some packing to do. I had scheduled an airport shuttle to pick us up at 7pm and then canceled the shuttle when I decided to surprise the wife with a Town Car. Well, the shuttle showed up anyway! We were on our way back from a walk with the dog when we saw the shuttle parked in our driveway! Thankfully I hadn’t given them any credit card info, so there was no charge to me for their mistake. It also firmed up in the wife’s mind that we were taking a shuttle to the airport.

At 8pm, the TownCar showed up with Igor/Alexis the driver. Igor said that his name was EIgor, but his nametag said Alexis. So, we just called him IgorAlexis. The wife was happy and somewhat surprised. She said that she had a feeling that I had gotten a TownCar. We had a speedy ride over to the airport and were nice and early for our fight.

I had never taken a red eye before and I never will again. The Wife booked the fight with the idea that we would sleep on the plane and be all fresh and rested for our first full day at Disney. HA! The killer is that the plane was oversold and they were asking for volunteers to get a voucher for $250, a night at a hotel, dinner and first class tickets on the first plane out the next morning. We passed on the deal because we wanted to get to Disney! Well, we should have taken it.

I had a middle seat on a Delta Song plane. I like Song. I like the individual TV screens. I didn’t like the CREEPY guy sitting in the aisle seat next to me who watched soft porn on the E! channel the whole way to Orlando. I had no idea that E! showed such graphic shows late at night. It was really disgusting that he would watch that on the plane! I was so creeped out that there was no way I was sleeping with him next to me. So, I rested my eyes a bit, but was awake the whole night. The wife was awake too. So, the whole concept of arriving fresh to Disney was shot.

However, we did get to see a wonderful sunrise and got a great view of the Contemporary Resort and the Magic Kingdom from the airplane! That was exciting and helped to wake us up.

Things I learned from this trip:
1. Don’t book a redeye
2. Take the vouchers and 1st class seats when offered
3. Talk to a flight attendant if a creepy guy is watching porn in the seat next to me

 

[Iggipolka]

Me: Female, 36 only 2nd time at WDW.

Wife: Female, 46, used to live in Florida and visited WDW all the time.

Premium Package: includes 3 TS or CS meals per day, unlimited recreation and selected tours.

Day Two 03-26-06

After a miserable overnight flight, we arrived at Orlando at 7am! Woohoo! Somehow, the train from the terminal to the main building always seems like the first ride to me. We easily found Magical Express and checked in. It was so nice to not have to worry about our luggage. There was no line for ME and we were on the bus moments after checking in. We had a short 10 minute wait for other passengers and then we were off! The Wife enjoyed watching the Monsters Inc. video and I watched the scenery. I love how the private pools in Florida all have those black mesh screens on them. I don’t know why other areas of the country don’t have the same screens. It just seems to make so much sense to me.

We stayed at Coronado Springs Resort and were on property by 8:00. We checked in and of course, our room wasn’t ready. We were given the building number, Cabana 8B and the first two digits of our room number. The cast member who checked us in was pleasant and funny, but also stated that we didn’t get all of our room requests. We had paid for a king bed (got that), requested non-smoking because I have asthma (got that), requested a 2nd floor or higher room (the CM said we didn’t get that) and a water view (the CM said we didn’t get that either). Well, the first two were the most important, so we were ok with that. The CM also gave her a birthday balloon because we celebrated the Wife’s last birthday that we missed celebrating together because she was out of the country.

The wife was really dragging by this point, but I was running on adrenalin and didn’t feel tired at all! We had made ADR’s at Boma for breakfast, so we grabbed an Animal Kingdom bus and then an Animal Kingdom Lodge bus to get to Boma’s. I’ve forgotten to mention that we have several carry-on bags that we are hauling with us. I’m carrried the laptop bag (very heavy), a duffle bag with our swimsuits, change of clothes, a Passporter and the important DisneyWorld Binder with all of our trip information and plans. The wife had a very heavy backpack stuffed with electronic gear, a large camera bag and the birthday balloon. We’re pretty loaded down. The Wife didn’t want to check our bags due to concern about the laptop and camera, but when we got to AKL, she finally agreed to check the bags. Oo..It felt so good to not be carrying that stuff around. I found out that night that I had large groove marks on my shoulder from the weight of the bags.

Anyway, we hung out at AKL’s beautiful lobby while waiting for our 10:00 ADR.

The wife tried to nap on the couches, but kept feeling like she was sliding off the front. I was way hyper and wanted to wander around the grounds, but I didn’t want to leave her in case she needed something. She sorta-slept and I people watched, which is something I like to do.

I checked us in for our ADR at 9:30 and we were seated just before 10:00. I’m going to do a separate dining report with pictures and more details, but I’ll give some brief food related info here too. We love dinner at Boma, but this was our first breakfast. Unless we stay at AKL in the future, I don’t think we’ll do breakfast at Boma again. It was good, but nothing that we couldn’t have gotten at any breakfast place. I did like the Pap and the fruit was incredibly fresh and delicious. I also had to try the Frunch, which was amazing. I ordered the pressed pot of Kenyan coffee and wasn’t sure if it would be included on the Premium dining plan, but it was! Happy Skippy Caffine! The coffee was the best coffee I’ve ever had. Unfortunately, the Wife was plagued by intestinal distress for most of our vacation, so while she enjoyed her meal, she didn’t enjoy the after effects.

After breakfast, we collected our bags (everything was safe, including the balloon) and went back to CSR. The Wife’s stomach was really acting up, so we took a taxi instead of waiting for the bus. It was only $10 and well worth it. It was around noon and our room wasn’t ready yet, so we hung out in hammock by the cabanas for about an hour. The wife slept and I gazed at the pretty lake and the convention people wandering around in their suits.

CSR is absolutely beautiful. Buzz’s pictures are great, but the resort is even nicer than his pictures show. It actually doesn’t feel as big as people have made it out to be. We loved the cabana area and the hammocks are super comphy and always have people in them. The resort was quiet and until Thursday night when a family with very young children checked into the room next door, we didn’t hear any noise. Once the family was there, the mornings were pretty loud with kids whining and toilets flushing. Those toilets are super loud!

Check this out though

The Swan/Dolphin is taking over CSR!

I called the front desk around 2pm and our room was ready! Woohoo! We were in Cabana 8B, 2nd floor (!), non-smoking (!), king bed (!) with a beautiful lake view(!!!). We got everything that we had requested on our room reservation. We decided that the CM at the front desk either didn’t know where our room was located, or he was just playing with us. In any case, we were very very happy with our room.

Yes, I took a picture of the bathroom. I actually took a couple, much to the Wife's amusement. I also took a picture of the room, but somehow that has disappeared.

The hallway outside our room.

Our beautiful lake view!

10 minutes after we got into our room, our luggage from Magical Express arrived. Perfect timing. We unpacked the four bags we brought with us. (yes, we over packed) and had a brief rest. The Wife was feeling much better after her nap in the hammock. I was starting to crash though and really wanted to take a nap. The Wife had a different idea though and she convinced me to get into my swimsuit and we headed over to the Dig Site.

The weather was in the mid 70’s with a frequent breeze, so it was pretty chilly. I wasn’t all that excited to go swimming at first, but the water was nice and warm. The air was cold though. We had fun going down the waterslide and then sitting in the huge hot tub to warm up. We grabbed a raspberry vodka drink from the bar that didn’t taste anything like raspberries, but was good just the same and headed back to the room to shower and change.

We had ADR’s for dinner at Ohana at 5:30 and we got there a bit after 5:00. I checked us in while the wife went to the gift shop. I should mention here a trend that started on the first day. The Wife is an addict. She is addicted to those damn Disney pins. We stopped at every pin stand and nearly every gift shop for her to feed her addiction. I won’t even mention the amount of money spent on pins this trip, but it was substantial. She fed her pin addiction and we were seated by 5:30.

Ohana Dining Room

Fire!

We had a window table in the back of the main room, which was perfect. While I miss the shrimp on the skewers, the meal was delicious. We loved the salad and the potatoes and of course, the scrumptious skewered meats. I think my favorite was the steak, although the pork was a close second. The turkey was good too. Neither of us tried the sausage. Even though we were stuffed, we still found room for the bread pudding for desert. The wife also got a birthday cupcake, which was intensely chocolate.

After dinner, we headed over to the MK. It just seemed right that the first park we visited was MK. I always get a little emotional heading under the train tracks and into Main Street the first visit. It’s just such a special place. The best part is seeing the Castle in all of the colored lighting.

After getting the Wife’s birthday button from Guest Relations, we rode Buzz Lightyear. The last time we were at Disney, the wife scored 999,999,999 on Buzz Lightyear. She was eager to try and duplicate her score. However, they’ve glued the guns onto the cars so you can no longer pick them up, so she was disappointed. It’s still a fun ride though.

This is what happens when you try and take a picture of your score on Buzz. It doesn't exactly work.

We then went on TTA, which I’d never been on before. I know it’s a silly ride, but I enjoyed it. Paging Tom Morrow, Mr. Tom Morrow. *giggle* While we were on the TTA, Wishes started and we got a few glimpses of fireworks. We got off the ride in time to see the finale from Tomorrowland, which wasn’t the best spot to see them, but was still good.

After the fireworks, we took the train to Frontierland and rode Big Thunder Mountain and then Jungle Cruise before heading back to CSR around midnight. It had been a very long, but fun day.

Things I learned from this trip:
1. Checking carry-on bags at the resort is a good thing
2. Room requests can be fulfilled!
3. Boma is ok for breakfast
4. I love MK

 

[OhMari]

My husband is a Red Eye nut, whether we are in a plane or driving. Luckily not to much flies out of Milwaukee past 10:00 p.m.

Thanks for sharing, I'm interested to hear about your Premium Plan, not to many people do the Premium Plan, so I am anxious to hear what it all includes.

 

[TLinden16]

Great start to your trip! How cute that you each arranged phone calls for each other. LOL. You sure got a lot accomplished on your first day even though you were on that red eye!

Thanks for posting.

 

[averill94]

Keep posting! Cant believe that guy on the plane- what a pig!!! LIke there isnt enough to watch on those tv's? Really glad to hear you got all your room requests. Thanks

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your reports ~ Thanx for posting.

 

[tinawv]

Looking forward to the next trip report.

 

[dismom9761]

Great report! Looking forward to more.

 

[Darby O'Gill]

Cant wait to hear more about your experiences with the Premium plan. Kepp it up

 

[DeterminedOne]

A Premium Plan trip report... Finally! Thanks for posting.

 

[jimmiej]

IA with you about CSR. Isn't it a beautiful resort? We too had Cabanas 8b, second floor, lakeview (and a corner room!) on our 2000 trip. I told DW the other night, I think that's our best trip so far. Of course, that's subject to change this July!

BTW, I'm a pin junkie too! On our last trip, my DIS lanyard was so full of pins, I walked around slumped over!

Thanks for writing. Keep 'em coming!

 

[Iggipolka]

Thanks everyone for your responses. It's nice to know that people are reading this and enjoying it! The Premium Plan was great and I'm so glad that we got it. It really made it easy to do whatever we wanted to do.
Ok, on to the next day.

Day Three Monday 03-27-06
Me: Female, 36 only 2nd time at WDW.

Wife: Female, 46, used to live in Florida and visited WDW all the time.

Premium Package: including 3 TS or CS meals per day, unlimited recreation
and selected tours.

Animal Kingdom Day! Woohoo!
I requested 6:30am wakeup call because we had reservations for the 8:30
Backstage Safari tour. Stitch called and screamed at me
promptly at 6:30. There’s no sleeping on vacation! I know a lot of people
are annoyed by Stitch, but he made me giggle and that’s always a good way
to start the day.

The wife was really tired and had a difficult time getting up. I was wide awake and ready skippy to go.  That changed later in the week.

We ate breakfast at the Pepper Market, which was just ok. Neither of us
were all that thrilled about the Pepper Market’s food, but it was food and
the coffee was hot. We both had the scrambled eggs, bacon and biscuit
breakfast with a side of fresh fruit. The Mickey Waffles looked good, but I reminded myself that I would need some protein to get through the day.

We caught the bus from bus stop #4, just a very short walk from our room. We rarely waited more than 15 minutes for a bus from or to CSR. The only time we maybe waited a bit longer was getting back from Downtown Disney. Every bus ride seemed to take 15 minutes or so, so getting around was very easy with Disney Transportation.

We got to Animal Kingdom and once again, were dismayed at the lines. Yup, it’s EMH at Animal Kingdom. Ugh. Next time, we’re avoiding all EMH mornings. I just have to toss in a small gripe about how pointless Disney Security is. Why do they even bother? They just glance through everyone’s bag and sometimes they didn’t really even look at my bag. It just holds up the line and they wouldn’t be able to find explosives or weapons with such a casual glance. Anyway, gripe over.

We got through “security” and the biometric scan (which never worked right for me) and got a locker. The lockers at Disney are great. They are $7 for the whole day and when you return your key, you get a $2 deposit. You can take your receipt to another park on the same day and just have to pay your $2 to use their locker. We got a locker every day and every time we park hopped, we got another locker at the next park.

We were signed up for the Backstage Safari Tour that met by Guest Relations. Well, I was told to check in AT Guest Relations and it was 8:30 when I checked in. The tour was scheduled to start at 8:30, so I was a little panicked that we were late. I’m the type of person who likes to be 15 minutes early for everything, so to arrive on time was quite nerve-wracking. As it turns out, we were nearly late or very late for every single tour we singed up for, which did nothing to help my mood or my blood pressure.

Anyway, once we found our tour group standing in a little circle NEXT to Guest Relations (didn’t need to check in at Guest Relations at all), they gave the Wife a Birthday Pin and off we were on the tour.

This was an absolutely fabulous tour. I highly recommend it. We walked backstage (no pictures backstage) and took vans to see how the animals are taken care of. Our first stop was the elephant barn and there was a bull elephant hanging out in the barn. We learned about how they take care of the elephants, including giving them a bath every day.

There really is no picture taking while on the Backstage Tours. I took these pictures from the train that goes to Conservation Station.

After talking about elephants for awhile, we walked next door and saw the rhinos.

As big as rhinos are, they are tiny little eyes and very poor eyesight so rely mostly on sound to get around. One of the rhino trainers banged on the metal of the cage side to attract a rhino’s attention, who promptly ignored us. While waiting for the rhino to decide if he wanted to wander over, she gave us an explanation of rhino care. Finally with a bribe of alfalfa the rhino came over and stood still while we each go to pet him! I can’t believe I petted a rhino! Their skin is much harder than I had expected, although the Wife said that the skin around their ears feels similar to our dog’s nose. It was really neat to have gotten to pet the rhino.

Look! Rhino Poop!


We all got back into the vans and were driven over to the aviary, where we saw lots of different types of birds. The bird trainer discussed their breeding program and their goal to help bring back some nearly extinct species. The aviary’s office was right in the middle of all of the cages, so when we were in the office, we were surrounded by birds. It was amazing.

Ok, we didn't get to see the Giraffes in their barn, but I took a picture of this anyway. Look how tall the ceiling has to be!

We also got to go into the veterinary center and learn about how they take care of the animals medically. Every animal gets a yearly (or close to yearly) exam and they regularly check stool samples for parasites. If parasites are noticed, the animal gets brought in for treatment. When we first got there, they were taking care of a little frog who was so cute. As we talked, I noticed that they were setting up for surgery and asked who was getting operated on. The vet tech explained that they spay and neuter local ducks who wander into the Animal Kingdom. There’s a real problem with non-Florida native ducks flying into the parks and taking over the native duck population. The vet tech also told a story of one duck that would hang out by the McDonald French Fry place and eat French fries all day. Well, this poor duck got so obese that he could barely walk! They brought him in and put him on a diet and he’s a much happier duck now. The Wife and I vowed not to feed any of the birds in the parks. That story also turned me off French fries for quite awhile.

We eventually made our way to an administration building where one of the trainers talked to us about the Animal Kingdom’s conservation efforts while we drank cold water, sodas and hot coffee as well as snacked on cookies, brownies and granola bars. Disney’s Animal Kingdom has raised over 7 million dollars just this year for conservation efforts. Guests can buy Conservation buttons for a dollar and Disney will match that dollar for dollar. Of course, I had to buy a button.

While we were listening and munching, we got to pet a spiny tailed lizard. I’m not big into reptiles, but this guy was actually pretty cute. He had lost part of his tail because he was fighting over a female and the female bit it off! That’ll teach him.

Once we had rested, we all headed over to the Safari Ride and got to ride without the usual script.

It was great to be able to just ride the ride and look at the animals and not hear the same old tired poaching script. The wife had her good Canon Rebel Digital Camera and was trying to take pictures as we bounced along the safari. I think she actually got some good pictures!

I took a few pictures of her trying to take pictures, but mostly just enjoyed looking at the animals. These are how my animal pictures turned out on the Safari Ride.

Nothing like photos of blurry unidentifiable animals and animals running away.

We saw a lot of animals out and wandering around. It was great to see them looking happy and knowing just how well taken care of they are.


After the Safari Ride, our tour was over. We were given a Backstage Safari Pin, which made the Wife very happy, and filled out surveys about the tour. We both gave it very high marks.

After the tour, it was time for Everest! We could hear the people screaming from Dinoland!

The view from Dinoland.

The queue is great, with lots of interesting Yeti information and pictures. I love roller coasters and was really excited to ride Everest. I had seen videos of the ride online and I’m glad that I did as it prepared me for the backwards parts. I don’t like rides that are completely dark and I don’t like going backwards, but since I knew that these sections were short, I was able to do the ride without any problems. I loved this ride! We came THIS close to the Yeti, but we managed to escape. It was great.

Love that drop!

We decided to go to Tusker House for lunch, so we trekked all the way back from Asia to Africa. I had the corn chowder, turkey wrap and a small cucumber & tomato salad with ice tea and carrot cake. The wife had a salad with chicken in it, lemonade and cheese cake. The corn chowder was quite disappointing as it tasted very gluey. The turkey wrap and salad were good and the carrot cake was delicious. I really liked the wife’s salad though and wish I had gotten that. Her cheesecake was typical store bought cheesecake.

I wanted to go to Rafiki's Planet Watch as I had heard (erroneously) that there was a butterfly house there. Well, we had a nice ride on the train and the wife got some interesting pictures of various plants and bugs along the trail to conservation station and I enjoyed watching the monkeys.

We found the Rain Forest Sound booths to be really interesting. You truly feel like you are in the middle of a rain forest.

It was also neat to see the operating room from the other side of the glass than we saw it this morning.

Neither of us had any interest in petting goats at Affection Station, so after a quick bathroom stop, we went back to the train.

It was when we were on the train that I realized I no longer had my camera with me. I knew that I had either left it at the train station while we were waiting for the train or in the bathroom at Conservation Station. I felt so bad, not only because I didn’t want to lose the camera with all of the pictures I’d taken so far, but also because the Wife gave the camera to me when she got her new one. I hated the thought of loosing her camera! She was very kind to me and told me that it didn’t really matter, it wasn’t an expensive camera anyway, but I still felt badly. We notified a CM at the train station by the Safari ride. He said that he would notify CMs at Conservation Station and to come back in about an hour.

Since we were right by the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail, we decided to walk that while waiting to see if the camera would be found. We saw some very cute mere-cats, but I kept thinking about another Dis’ers story about a mama mere-cat racing through the enclosure with a baby bunny in its mouth. That made them decided less cute. The worst thing is that I saw a bunny hopping around in the enclosure! I really wanted to warn the bunny somehow, but decided that if it was that stupid . . . .

We then walked through an aviary with some very pretty birds and different types of fish. The Wife got some great bird pictures.

I was still bummed out about loosing the camera and spent a good deal of time berating myself for being an idiot while staring at the fishies. I don't have any pictures of this yet because, well, I didn't have my camera! When the Wife has DL'ed her pics, I'll add them here.

The next stop was the gorillas. I’m amazed at how close we were able to get to them. They are very large and have amazing facial expressions. At times, it was difficult to figure out if they were watching us, or we were watching them. Just don’t wave to the gorillas; they take that as an aggressive gesture. The Wife told a story about waving to gorillas at another zoo and the gorilla charging the fence. So, I decided to just keep my hands in my pockets.

We headed back to the train station and the CM stated that they hadn’t found the camera. The Wife suggested that we had back to Conservation Station and check around, just in case. I didn’t want to waste any more time on my mistake, but finally agreed to head back up there. When we got there, we went to the gift shop and asked a CM if a camera had been found. She was super nice and went inside the building to check. She came out and said that nothing had been turned in. She then asked another CM working at the shop if she knew anything about a camera. YES! The camera had been turned in to her! I instantly burst into tears. I was just so relieved. The CM’s were super nice and very kind and soothing. They spent several minutes just making sure I was ok. That was really nice of them. I felt so stupid for crying at Disney, but sometimes that just has to happen.

After all that emotionality, I decided I needed Mickey Ice Cream bar. The Wife got a chocolate covered banana on a stick. I devoured my Mickey ice cream bar and then read the nutritional information. Holy Cow! I’m not eating one of those again! The Wife’s chocolate covered banana was much more reasonable. The Mickey Bar was good though.

We wandered around some more, can’t remember exactly what we did and then it was time to leave for our 6pm reservations at Boma. Boma is our favorite restaurant at Disney. We had such a great dinner there last time we were at Disney 4 years ago, that we knew we wanted to go again.

We checked in at 5:45 and were seated a little after 6pm. We had a wonderful server who was fun and informative. We got the red wine flight and sampled 5 different types of African wines. Some of them seemed way to dry, until they were paired with certain foods and then they were perfect. I love wine and was very happy to liberally sample all of the different kinds. I had to make sure that I knew exactly which one paired best with which food of course. I can’t remember everything that we ate, but I do remember that I loved the different types of salads and the salmon was scrumptious.

Of course, we saved room for zebra domes and nut rolls. Yummy! As we were moaning over the heavenly desserts, our server brought over a card, signed by other servers and a Happy Birthday platter of truffles and cookies!

The Wife was so happy. However, we were absolutely stuffed, so we took the truffles (and a few more zebra domes & nut rolls), back to the room.

I was tired and didn’t want to take a bus to another park, to catch a bus back to CSR, so after a stop in ALK’s gift shop (pins, a drum, and some Mickey dishtowels ), we took a taxi back to CSR. Well, the taxi driver was a scammer. He didn’t take the direct route to CSR and instead took us in a long loop that added almost $3 to our taxi ride. I told him that he missed the turn to CSR and he said something about not wanting to stop for street lights. Well, he missed the street lights, but he didn’t get much of a tip. I wasn’t happy with that. The Wife got his name and cab number and let the front desk know of his deception.

When we got back to our room, I took a bath while the wife downloaded pictures from her camera onto her laptop. I was so tired! The only thing I did before falling asleep was to tie my camera to my purse. I didn’t ever want to loose it again!

Things I learned from this trip:
1. Do the Backstage Safari Tour
2. A camera is just a camera is just a camera, unless it belongs to someone else and has your Disney vacation photos on it

 

[Iggipolka]

Keep posting! Cant believe that guy on the plane- what a pig!!! LIke there isnt enough to watch on those tv's? Really glad to hear you got all your room requests. Thanks

I know! It was so nasty! I've decided that if that ever happens to me again, I'm going to stand up and shout really loudly in the completely quiet plane "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU ARE WATCHING PORN!!" and point at him.

 

[Iggipolka]

Day Four Tuesday 03-28-06
Me: Female, 36 only 2nd time at WDW.

Wife: Female, 46, used to live in Florida and visited WDW all the time.

Premium Package: including 3 TS or CS meals per day, unlimited recreation
and selected tours.

Woo, Epcot & Segway Tour Day. Stitch woke us up at 6:30 again. This time, he was less cute. After he screamed at me, I plunked the phone down and went back to sleep for a few more minutes. Thankfully the Wife had set her Ipod to go off at 6:45, so we had that as backup.

The Wife was really tired and had a hard time getting going that morning.
I just kept whispering “Segway, Segway, Segway” and she dragged herself out of bed.

We got to Epcot at 8:15 and were surprised at the number of people already
at Epcot! We’d forgotten that it was Extra Magic Hours that morning. We waited in a very long line for security (why do they even bother?) and then to get into the
park. The biometric scanners hated me again.

Finally we got through the line and checked in at guest relations. The Wife was given an Epcot birthday button, which she promptly put on her hat. The CM’s in guest relations were very awake and upbeat. They were fun to talk with while we waited for a few more
people to arrive. Once everyone was together, we were walked over to the
Segway room.

If you have a chance to do this tour, Do it! OMG, it was so much fun. We
spent about an hour inside, practicing riding the Segway and learning about
it. We had a great instructor whose name I have completely forgotten.

We rode through cones and around the room in circles and finally up and
down a ramp.

I have very good balance and so felt very secure and
comfortable almost immediately in the Segway. There was one poor guy who
struggled with steering, even crashing into a wall at first, but by the end
of the tour, he was doing much better.

After the first hour, we had time for a brief bathroom break and then we
headed out to the World Showcase. Because of EMH, there were guests already
in Future World. We got lots of looks and stares as we rode out to the
World Showcase. I heard many people saying “I want to do that!” We toured
through the countries, going through the columns in Italy, the gardens in
Germany and Japan and even got some free riding time where we could buzz
around a certain area on our own.

It was great fun.

Sadly, all too quickly the tour came to an end and we had to go back to Future World. The Wife was directly behind the tour guide as we entered the building where the tour started. The guide told her to follow him and started to head down the ramp. The only problem was that the next group was heading up the ramp, so he backed up and ran right into the Wife! Woops! We all laughed at that.

I was so disappointed to have to get off the Segway and would absolutely
love to have one of my own sometime. They really are a great deal of fun
and would certainly make getting around Disney much easier!

We reluctantly said goodbye to our Segways and headed off to Canada for our lunch reservations at Le Cellier. When we checked in, the Wife noticed a
sign that said “Can you name 5 Providences of Canada? If so, tell your
server.” Well, the Wife is not one to turn down a challenge. We had a great
server named Charlotte and she was very encouraging as far as our trying to
figure out the Providences. We just couldn’t get them, so I went outside to
call some family members to see if they knew. No one was home, which was
very frustrating, so I decided to call 411! Once the operator at 411
stopped laughing, she was able to get the information that we needed. We
let Charlotte know and the Wife asked her if we would get a prize.
Charlotte promised that she would see what she could do.

Oh, and lunch was delicious. I had the wasabi shrimp appetizer while the wife had the beer cheese soup. Of course, we munched on those delicious bread sticks. I loved the pretzel bread the best. For entrees, the wife had a salad that comes with chicken, but she was able to substitute beef. For my entrée, I had the beef tip salad. My beef was perfectly cooked and so delicious.

For dessert, we ordered the chef’s selections to share. Oo.. scrumptious.
Charlotte also stopped by with a chocolate mouse on a Congratulations
plate, as well as a card signed by all of the servers congratulating us on
naming all of the Providences and Territories. We were made honoree
Canadians! We got a big kick out of that.

It tasted really good too.

After lunch, we rode Test Track (zoom) and then decided to head back to CSR
for a swim and some relaxation.

However, there was a problem. Before we left home, I mailed a box
containing some juice boxes and other items and also ordered a case of
bottled water from a company called Quill. I had requested that both boxes
be delivered to the room on the 26th. It was now the 28th and neither box
was there. I had also ordered flowers for the Wife from Hallmark to be
delivered on the 27th, but they were delivered to the room on the 28th and
were nearly dead. The Wife had ordered a special gift for me that was to
be delivered on the 27th and it wasn’t there either!

So, instead of relaxing and swimming, I went down to the front desk to sort
out package problems. Thankfully in the Disney Binder, I had all of my UPS
confirmation numbers. The front desk CM immediately got a manager
(Randall) and he was very apologetic. He put a room credit on our account
for the amount of the flowers and also bought the Wife new flowers. He
also put me in contact with the package service manager to try and find the
other boxes. The package service manager found the box that I had sent to
the resort and it was delivered to the room. The box from Quill was a
mystery though as his records showed that the box had been received at the
Package Center, but he couldn’t figure out what happened to it.

A few hours later, I got a call from the Package Center Manager who told me that my box of water arrived damaged and was sent back to Quill. It would have been nice if either Quill or the Package Center had notified me. I immediately called Quill and they seemed astonished that I would want my money refunded. They even tried to state that I “declined” the package. Um..no..I didn’t decline the package, it was damaged and sent back, probably because it was spilling water everywhere. After a bit of a debate, they refunded my money.

The Wife didn’t have much luck sorting out her package problems either. Apparently the company she ordered the gift from sent the package postal mail instead of FedEx, so there was a good chance it wouldn’t arrive until after we’d already left! She called them and told them to send another gift FedEx and we expected to receive it by Thursday at the latest.

We had had reservations at both Marakish and the Rose and Crown for dinner that night. I wanted to eat at Marakish because I’m a belly dancer and I always enjoy seeing how other dancers perform, but I knew that the wife would probably like the food at the Rose and Crown better. I thought that we would decide that day which place we wanted to eat at. We also had reservations for the Preferred Viewing area to see Illuminations. Well, we ended up canceling all of our ADR’s and rescheduling Illuminations for Friday. This meant that we had to cancel our ADR for Hoop-De-Doo that was had scheduled on Friday as well. The Wife was bummed because she’s been going to Disney World for 20 years and still has yet to see HDD. We were just too tired and the Wife was too crabby about all the time we’d spent on package issues, to go and enjoy ourselves at Epcot.

Instead we went to the Maya Grill at CSR for dinner. I had the Crabmeat Chalupa appetizer and the special of the day which was a salmon and shrimp tostada. The Wife got a green salad and the filet mignon and fresh catch of the day, which was mahi mahi that day. I was very happy with my chalupa which was stuffed full of crab meat. The Wife didn’t like the dressing on her salad and asked to have the chalupa instead. My tostada was scrumptious, but the Wife didn’t like the sauce on her fish and thought her meal was “uninspired”. She left half way through the meal and I stayed and finished my tostada. I decided against dessert and just asked the waiter to ring us up.

20 minutes later, I left the booth to try and find out what was going on. I asked the host to please check on my waiter and was told “What do you want me to do, hunt him down?” I answered in the affirmative and also stated that I wanted to speak to a manager. The host wandered off and shortly my waiter and a manager appeared. Even though I had told him we were on the Premium plan, he rang us up under the regular Dining Plan, which apparently screwed things up pretty badly. The manager promised to fix it and I left to go and find the Wife.

I found her in the arcade, playing a Star Trek game. She was doing a very good job of shooting the Borg. For once, I actually felt sorry for the Borg! After all of her quarters were gone, we went back to the room and I fell asleep while she was still puttering around.

Things I learned on this trip:
1. Don’t try and do too much. After one early morning, schedule a late day the next day
2. Don’t send packages to the resorts. It’s just too much of a hassle
3. The Segway Tour is awesome!
4. Breathe

 

[DeterminedOne]

Was the Segway tour included in your package or did you have to pay oop?

 

[Skwinkles]

We're really hoping to try the Segway tour on our next extended trip. Sounds like a lot of fun. Thanks for the report! You're a great writer. Keep 'em coming...

 

[Iggipolka]

Was the Segway tour included in your package or did you have to pay oop?

We had to pay OOP for the Segway tour and the Dolphin Experience tour that we did later in the trip. They are both completely worth it though!
Those tours and the scuba tours at Epcot are the only ones not included in the Premium Plan. Our Backstage Safari tour at AK was included in the Premium Plan.

 

[DeterminedOne]

Thanks for such a descriptive report! We were going to do Wild By Design but I just read your report to DH and we're changing to Backstage Safari. Keep 'em coming!

 

[Iggipolka]

Hi All
New sections may be delayed as I'm off tomorrow to go and take care of my mom who just had spinal surgery. Yikes! I'm going to try and setup her wireless network while I'm there and if I can get that working, than I'll do updates while she's sleeping. How's that for an addict?

I just remembered though that I forgot to mention a big thing that happened after we did our Segway tour. We rode Spaceship Earth, ya know, the "Slow Moving Ride" as they kept telling us over and over again. Well, it was so slow that it stopped. The Wife leaned her head over to my shoulder for a snuggle while the ride was stopped (because she's cute that way) and her REI soft brimmed hat fell off her head and onto the tracks behind us. Woops. She secured her hat on all of the fast rides, but on a slow one, the ride ate it!

She notified the CM at the end of the ride about her hat and also let them know at Guest Relations. Guest Relations told her to check in with them at the end of the day and/or go to Lost and Found at TTC the next day. She was not a happy Disney camper as she really liked that hat.

There is a bit of Disney Magic in all of this though. We went to a store to get her a replacement hat and the CM there felt badly for her and gave her a free baseball style hat with a Mickey on it! How nice of him! It's a cute hat too.

However, The Hat Incident continued thoughout the rest of the week. (dumm de dumm dumm) More to come.

 

[Tabetha]

I love that you called 411 to get the names of the provinces in Canada! Now that's what I call gumption!