We’re Back!!! Our Marvelous May Mis-adventures ~UPDATED JUL 26 - FINAL INSTALLMENT

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

... to another of our fun filled, loads of pictures, May 2009 trip report ...

Some of you may remember us from our previous trip reports, but for those who don’t we’ll provide a little introduction:

DH – Lee - is an attorney with his own practice in the field of child protection.

DW - Bonny - whose background is in Human Resources but has worked for DH since October 2007.


We live in Edmonton, Alberta and have been making an “annual” pilgrimage to Orlando since our anniversary trip in October 2003. Some years our “annual” trip turned into twice or three times – hey when you’ve got an annual pass, you might as well make use of it right??


As with our previous trippies, this report will be heavy on the photos and less on the dialogue for your viewing enjoyment.

Enjoy...







Feel free to check out our previous trip reports here ...


Our October 2008 Trip Report in Pictures
1500 Pictures in 7 Days - Our January 2008 Trip in Pictures
Our October 2007 Trip Report - Marching Along We're Adventurers ...
Our May 2007 Trip Report - How 2 Big Kids Conquered 'The World' In 6 Days
Our May 2007/October 2007/January 2008 Pre-Trip Report

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

Our travel day began promptly at 5:00 am when we woke to a lovely temperature of -3C (26 F).


After getting ourselves ready and packing our last minute things, we loaded the truck, said good bye to the pooches and were off to the airport by 5:30 am. One good thing about leaving for the airport that early in the morning is there is very little traffic and we arrived at the airport at approximately 6:10 am. We parked and grabbed the shuttle to the terminal. On previous trips, we had gotten up at 4:30 am and upon arriving at the airport had to wait for the airline counter to open. We thought by sleeping in an extra half hour, by the time we got to the airport, we wouldn’t have to wait for the counter to open. We were right ... however, we found that the line-up to check-in was a mile long. Fortunately, we had used our frequent flier points to upgrade to first class, so we were able to bypass the huge line by utilizing the first class check in line. I’m sure there were tons of people in line grumbling at us


Once we were checked in, we headed to US Customs/Security and even with the huge crowd at the counters, the lines weren’t too bad at that early hour. As Bonny’s stuff was going through the scanner, she noticed the security agent moving her carry-on bag back and forth, and sure enough she was pulled aside so they could check the bag. Coincidentally, it was the same gentleman who pulled Bonny aside on our trip to Indianapolis in March to check her camera bag, and he was just as pleasant and good-humoured about it this time. Of course Lee’s stuff went through with no problems!! Once we finished at Security, we were at our gate with a wait of about an hour before boarding was to start.


(sorry not great quality as this one was taken with Bonny’s cell phone)

Our departure gate:

Finally at about 7:30 am they began boarding the plane. We settled into our seats and waited for the rest of the plane to board, and at 8:00 am we were off!


As with all of our other trips to Orlando, we had a stop-over in Minneapolis. This time our layover was only about an hour, so by the time we deplaned and found our gate, we only had maybe 20 minutes to wait before we boarded the plane to Orlando. Unfortunately, as we were waiting, we watched as they kept changing the departure time of the flight, and finally realized there was no plane for us to get on as the arriving flight had been delayed When the plane finally did arrive (about 20 minutes after we were to depart), it took no time for us to board.

Once everyone was boarded we waited ... and waited ... and waited ... Eventually the Captain came on and advised that they were having some oil pressure problems with one of the engines and hopefully we’d be on our way soon. It was about that time that Lee noticed that they had the engine on our side of the plane open, and were working on it. As we were sitting in first class, we were able to pass the time watching the mechanics come and go between the engine and the cockpit ... and about an hour after we boarded, things were fixed and we were given the go ahead. Finally off to Orlando!!

Once we were in the air, the Captain came on again and advised that because of storms in the south east, our flight was going to be a bit longer than scheduled as we had to dodge the thunderstorms ... sheesh, were we ever going to get to Orlando??? As we approached Florida, the Captain came on again to advise that because of the storms currently over Florida, we would need to approach Orlando from the Gulf side – actually flying over Tampa – and fly into Orlando between some storms. After about 15 minutes, we landed – arriving in Orlando at 6:25 pm, an hour and 20 minutes later than our scheduled arrival time.


We collected our stuff and deplaned, only to find that we were not where we usually land at the airport ... all of our familiar landmarks weren’t there. We headed for the tram, and discovered that too was different than our previous trips ... Once we arrived at the other terminal, we realized that we were still on the B side, but opposite of where we normally come in ... someone was trying to confuse us!!


We headed to the luggage carousel and as Lee waited for the luggage, Bonny headed over to the car rentals to snag us a good ride for the week. As there wasn’t a lot of variety, she settled on a red Charger, and after locking it and taking the key, she started back to the garage entrance to wait for Lee. That’s when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye ... a nice shiny new black Challenger. Hmmmm ... should she??? What the heck – why drive the same boring sedan as everyone else – so she headed over to the garage desk to find out about an upgrade. It was about this time that she saw Lee and the luggage, and called him over. At first he was a bit confused, but once she explained what was up, he willingly agreed and we were off to our home for the week - Pop Century – driving our cool black car!


It was about 7:30 pm when we arrived at Pop, parked and headed into Classic Hall to check in.

The line-up wasn’t too bad and in no time we had a room in one of our favourite sections (50’s section, building 1, top floor). Next stop was Everything Pop to grab our new refillable mugs which we of course filled up before heading to our room.

As we arrived at our room, Bonny noticed that the fan in the bathroom was on, so went to shut it off ... only it wouldn’t shut off. Lee thought he’d give it a try – but nope, wouldn’t shut off for him either, so he called to the front desk who said they’d send someone up as soon as they could to fix it. As we had planned to go to Downtown Disney for the evening (we usually do this our first night), we figured if it wasn’t fixed by the time we got back, we’d phone again, and headed over to DTD. As we were leaving, we took these pics:

After wandering around DTD for a few hours, stopping at Earl of Sandwich for a bite to eat and Ghirardelli for our free sample, we headed back to the resort. As promised, the bathroom fan was fixed, so we got ready for bed, set our wake-up call for 8:00 am and drifted off to sleep.

 

[btallennc3]

WOOOHOOO I am the first to post. Love your trip report so far. I can not wait to hear more about pop and disney. I am staying there in 11 days and counting down

 

[Worfiedoodles]

I am so in! Lovin' your trippie so far!!!

Maria

 

[donaldduck352]

You know me Bonny,I'm here.Always love the pics you take!!

 

[MeMom]

It was about 7:30 pm when we arrived at Pop, parked and headed into Classic Hall to check in.

The line-up wasn’t too bad and in no time we had a room in one of our favourite sections (50’s section, building 1, top floor). Next stop was Everything Pop to grab our new refillable mugs which we of course filled up before heading to our room.



After wandering around DTD for a few hours, stopping at Earl of Sandwich for a bite to eat and Ghirardelli for our free sample, we headed back to the resort. As promised, the bathroom fan was fixed, so we got ready for bed, set our wake-up call for 8:00 am and drifted off to sleep.

We'll be standing in that lobby again in about 40 days!

Wandering around Downtown Disney is a nice way to start a trip. I'm looking forward to many more Pop and WDW pictures as we wait.

 

[RAPstar]

Yay!!! Another great Bonlee trippie!!!

 

[Akdar]

Bonny
As usual, your pix are awesome, keep em coming

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

Thanks for reading along everyone!! Glad to have you on board

Before we get to Day 2, we thought we’d let everyone know what cameras and lenses we were using on this trip, as no doubt someone will be asking ...


Bonny – has a Canon XTi ... the majority of her pictures on this trip were taken with her new 28-135mm IS lens with some of the night shots taken with the 50mm f/1.8;


Lee – has a Sony A200 ... most of his pictures were taken with the Sony kit lens (18-70mm), however, all the low-light/night shots were taken with the 50 mm f/1.4 lens, and some pictures were taken with the 75-300mm zoom lens.


We also had our Canon P&S (Powershot A570 IS) for the rainy days when we didn’t want to take along our DSLRs.


As you're reading along, if anyone has any questions about which camera/lens was used for which picture, just ask.


Stay tuned for Day 2 ...

 

[dd50]

Great TR so far except for your delays but what is a vacation without the mishaps that go with it.

 

[cdotla]

Can't wait for more! Glad I found you so quickly this time!

 

[Raecheal]

I followed your sig. from Daisypaisyduck welcome to dis post..Your pictures are so nice.. i can't wait to read more about your May trip.

I'm in!!!

 

[MyBuddyBaloo]

Nice Pictures!! Looking forward to the rest of your trip!

 

[Jamie77]

Can't wait to read Day 2.

 

[mickeystoontown]

I'm along for the ride! I've still got 50 days left before we head off to WDW.

Thanks for posting the pictures of Pop Century. We are staying for the first time this August and I'm a bit worried. We usually stay at the CBR. Every time I see Pop pictures, my worries seem to fade a bit.

 

[thesaurinis]

subscribing thanks for posting

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

For us, a trip to Orlando wouldn’t be the same if we didn’t make a trip over to Universal at least once (yes we admit, we are “those” people who like both parks) ...

... Our wake-up call (Mickey and Stitch) came promptly at 8:00 am and we slowly began to remember where we were. We got ourselves ready and soon were out the door on our way to Universal.

On the drive there, Bonny texted a friend of ours who lives in Orlando to see if he had any plans for the evening ... and as he didn’t we made plans to meet at Raglan Road for drinks that evening.

We arrived at the Universal parking garage and headed over to the Studios, stopping to renew our APs on our way in. Our first stop entering the park was Shrek as we hadn’t done Shrek the last few trips. As we exited into the gift shop, we saw that it had started raining so passed the time taking some pics ...

It didn’t take long for the rain to let up, and we headed out towards Monster’s Cafe, of course avoiding all eye contact with the timeshare people. Lee was definitely bummed that Monster’s was closed as that is one of his favourite places in the park. It started to drizzle again, so we headed for cover at Twister.

This was another one we hadn’t done in the past few trips, and we had forgotten how much detail they had put into the queue. Once inside, we headed for the back row (it was wet enough outside we didn’t need to get wet inside too) . As much as we know the twister isn’t real, it still gets to us every time ... it’s such an amazing illusion.

It was still raining fairly heavily as we exited Twister, so we grabbed a seat on the benches beside the building and waited it out ... (by the way, the pictures of the Monsters below are with Lee's new zoom lens!)

When the rain stopped yet again, we headed off towards Amity Island.

Next up was the Simpson’s and the Quik-E-Mart ...

By now, it was getting close to lunch time, and as we had a reservation at Emeril’s for lunch, we started our trek to CityWalk. As we were leaving the park, Bonny saw one of her favourite characters and ran over to give him a big hug ...

... continued, next post

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

We arrived at Emeril’s about 12:15, and although our reservation was for 12:30, we were seated right away. Bonny ordered the BBQ shrimp as her appetizer and had the Gumbo as her entree, and Lee ordered the calamari as his appetizer and the Tuna as his entree. Of course the food was great – as usual. And no, we didn't take any pictures of our lunch ...

After Emeril’s we made a quick stop at the Margaritaville shop and then headed back to the car to drop off our purchases from the morning, and get a change of shoes for Bonny.

We then headed back to the studios where we ran into these characters ...

As we were walking past the Make-up Show, Lee mentioned he wanted to go in to take a few more pictures of the Meet the Maker’s display ... now those of you who read our October 2008 trip report will remember that Bonny literally had to drag Lee out of the display after about an hour and a half of taking pictures ...

After spending about 20 minutes in the display, we headed off to ET ... where upon exiting, we found that it was raining, yet again (can you see a pattern forming here???) and had to wait it out in the gift shop with a few others who had forgotten to bring their rain gear.

Once the rain had tapered off, we decided to head back to the resort to freshen up before heading over to Raglan Road ...

Of course, just as we were leaving for Raglan Road, it started to rain ... so with rain gear in hand, we headed out ...

As always, we had a great evening with great company, although we weren’t too sure when John Denver and Johnny Cash songs became Irish ...

Unfortunately on this get together, one of our good friends wasn’t able to be with us. We did make sure to send her a little message to let her know we were thinking of her and missed her company, and are looking forward to getting together with her in October!!


Stay tuned for Day 3 ...

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

Is anyone still with us????

 

[circelli]

Is anyone still with us????

Hey there Bonny

I am still here, I am patiently waiting a new installment!!