Wednesday 5-17-06
As normal, on vacation eve, I got very little sleep. We got up at 4:30am and caught the 5:30am shuttle to the airport. We were at our gate by 6:00am. Check-in was ok. The airport seem crowded for that early in the morning. It must be the time of year we are traveling.
Virgin Experience #1. This is the first time we have gone to WDW during the month of May. Also the first time we have celebrated our wedding anniversary at the world. The actual anniversary was the 14th, and the main reason for the trip. We were concerned about high temps in May. Also the extended forecast predicted some storms. The first two day at WDW, the temps were perfect, the next three were very hot in the mid 90's and the last day was a little cooler. We never got a drop of rain the entire time we were there. So over-all the weather was ok. The weather reports on TV during our stay did say that the temperatures were unusually high for mid May.
Anyway, back to the airport.... Like I said, the gate at the airport was crowded so we were surrounded by lots of people and of course lots of kids. There were two woman traveling with a group of six children. The children were excited, but pretty well behaved. One boy in the group, I would say he was about 8 years old, was sitting very quietly playing his gameboy. He looked rather tired and you could tell he wanted to be left alone. Well this child's mother was extremely hyper and she kept nagging the kids to line up for pictures. The tired boy did not want too and he told her so. She kept nagging him to get his picture taken until she made him cry. Then at that point she loudly told the child that his behavior was causing her to be a B***h. I felt so sorry for this boy. It was all I could do not to tell mom to chill out. I know I should not judge the situation on such a brief moment, but come on mom, be the adult!
Our flight boarded and took off on time 7:00am. It was a very smooth ride and I actually rested some during the flight. No unusual people to report on. We arrived in Orlando as scheduled 10:30am. We still have the greater part of the day to spend in the world.
Once again we used DME for transportation. We have always had good luck with the ride and the bags arriving. As I said, our flight landed at 10:30 and we were at the DME check-in counter at 11:00, on the bus at 11:06 and departed the airport at 11:12. You can't beat that for service. The bus would make three stops, SSR, Fort Wilderness, and OKW. We were lucky to be the first stop so we were in the SSR check-in line at 11:45. There was a small line to check in. We were in our room by 12:15.
Now I have to tell you about a rookie mistake made by a veteran! When making our reservation, I had requested the Springs area of SSR since it is very close to the main building. Upon check in, there was a room in the Springs section but it was not ready yet. However, there was a room available in the Paddock. I knew that the Paddock was a bit far away as we had stayed there before. But the last time, there was a quite pool and a bus stop about 30 steps from our studio door. So I made the choice to take the available room in the Paddock based on that reasoning. However, I failed to ask the CM what the room # was and to see the map of its location. Big mistake! They have now added more buildings in the Paddock and our room #6112 was very far from the main building as expected, but also very far from the quite pool, hot tub and bus stop. I was very disappointed, but it was my own fault! I beat myself up for about 30 minutes and then decided I am very lucky to be at Disney and I would stop fretting about the location of the room.
We were at the bus stop by 12:25 heading to Epcot. Of course every other park bus came by except Epcot. Epcot bus finally arrived at 12:47 and we were at the park at 1:05pm
Virgin Experience #2. We are now proud annual pass holders! We took our vouchers to the customer service window at Epcot where they were exchanged for the actual park ticket. Silly, but I was very excited about this. Just think, we will have to get as much use out of that ticket in the next 12 months as possible. Also with our DVC discount, the annual pass was actually $30 less than the 10 day park hopper/no expiration ticket that we usually get. Great deal!!
Virgin Experience #3. Our first time dining at Alfredos in Italy. We made it to the restaurant right on time for our ADR at 1:30. Alfredos is the only table service restaurant in World Showcase that we have not tried. We waited only 5 min for our table.
Virgin Experience #4. We purchased the dining plan! This was one of the best things we could have done. I no longer worried about the prices while ordering. I just got what I wanted. I agree with other posters, it is a lot of food. But you know you don't have to order all three courses. I don't eat desserts, so there were many meals that I just skipped it. I still feel that I got more than my money's worth. Although some days I was encouraged to order my dessert by DH and he would eat two desserts.
Anyway... The food at Alfredos was excellent. I would highly recommend it. Sure glad I didn't let any bad reviews stop me from trying it. DH had salad, the italian trio with ziti, lasagne, and tortellini in cream sauce. His dessert was orange creme brulee. I had the tomato and mozz cheese plate, Italian Sausage over Tuscan beans and for dessert (DH ate it) was choc cake with cream cheese. Of course we left there stuffed. The total bill was $76.00 plus an extra $5 left for a tip. This one meal covered the cost of our dining plan for the entire day. So like I said, it's a great deal. As mentioned in other posts, the restaurant was noisey and the tables are close together. We were exactly 12 inches from the couple at the table next to us.
We waddled out of Alfredos and took note of the perfect weather. 74* with a little breeze.
So with 4 virgin experiences in this post, I really need a rest! This report will continue in this same thread.
