We did the unthinkable!We Left the teenagers home: DH & I do Disney solo:update 1/15

[MEK]

Wow _ I am really tired tonight, but I would like to add a quick post. Before I start talking about our first full day at the world, let me show you a few more pics from POFQ.

Here is the view from outside of our door - nice!

Like I said, we couldn't be any closer to the water without falling in it.

We got up fairly early on Sun 12/13. We had some Dunkin donuts cinnamon spice coffe in the room and we laced up to go for a run. The morning was fairly pleasant. We ran the same course we walked the night before, By the time we got back, showered, dressed, packed, and loaded up the car it was after 8am. Originally I thought it would be nice to go check into SSR and the go to MK, but I decided it would be better to get to MK at park opening. And that's exactly what happened. We arrived just as the train was pulling away after the opening ceremony. Darn! We missed it but I actually like getting to the parks right after opening. Most of the people are already through the gates so there is minimal wait.


Guess what? I thought I could post now, but I keep making too many mistakes, I'll be back tomorrow!

 

[ILuvCrush]

That is a great view!! Did you see any alligators...that weren't playing instruments???

 

[Mr. & Mrs. Smith]

I love your view!!

 

[Lady Lallie]

What a beautiful view. POFQ looks so nice. It's on my must stay list at some point. Did you request a specific area or was it just luck of the draw? I can't wait to hear about your MK Morning.

 

[MEK]

Paula, Mrs. Smith, and Lallie -

Glad you like the view. Wasn't it superb? I knew from reading the boards that the king size rooms at POFQ often have great views and locations, so I think I was just fortunate to get the BEST view! As you will find out soon, my studio at SSR did not begin to compare with the room/view at POFQ. That disappoints me, since SSR is my home resort. But I would be even more disappointed if I was paying with cash. I'm sure the studio at SSR is about $100 more a night.

Anyway - I am sold on POFQ and I will definately try to stay there for all my non DVC stays. I actually forgot how nice the moderate resorts are. My most recent stays have been alternating between the values and SSR. I rediscovered that I am a big fan of the mods, esp POFQ.

I'll be back later tonight to tell you about our pleasant morning at MK!

 

[Mr. & Mrs. Smith]

My family stayed at POFQ when it was just called Port Orleans. I was a preteen though so I don't remember much about it, other than it being exciting to stay onsite for the first time. This was pre-values, so it was the cheapest Disney resort we could stay at. I do remember enjoying the food court, watching people use the dragon slide, and taking the boat to DTD. So, your photos are trigging wonderful memories for me. Thanks so much.

 

[podsnel]

Your photos of the resort are lovely- I can see why everyone likes PO both sides so much!

 

[MEK]

My family stayed at POFQ when it was just called Port Orleans. I was a preteen though so I don't remember much about it, other than it being exciting to stay onsite for the first time. This was pre-values, so it was the cheapest Disney resort we could stay at. I do remember enjoying the food court, watching people use the dragon slide, and taking the boat to DTD. So, your photos are trigging wonderful memories for me. Thanks so much.

I'm so glad. I have a few more to post, but first I have to tell you guys about MK.

Your photos of the resort are lovely- I can see why everyone likes PO both sides so much!

Hey - thanks for joining in! I just checked out your trip report from HHI. That place looks great. You must have points there to be able to go in July! I have to tell you that I laughed out loud when I read your comment about the toll booth in Delaware. What - you don't like our highly organized, low traffic roads? I know exactly the spot you are talking about.

 

[MEK]

Predictably, DH and I headed directly to SpM for a FP. When I got in line my watch said 9:02am, so I am sure they must have opened the parks a few minutes early. I like to walk fast, but I'm not that fast. Surprisingly, the FP return time was 10:35. The standby line did not appear long, but there was no wait time posted. So we opted for a spin on this little beauty:

We hopped right on the elevator and up we went, blue chip in hand. I have only been on this ride once before, in 2003. I wanted to see the view, but remember the ride as being ho-hum. My impression was exactly the same this time. I was hoping for a good view of the park, but, even though the ride does not spin very fast, its too fast for a comprehensive view. Oh well, it will be at least another 5 years (or more) before I ride AstroOrbiter again.

I did manage to snap this picture before the elevator tried to leave without me to descend to ground level

Tomorrow land was still pretty vacant, so we had time for another photo-op

After AstroOrbiter, we took a ride on buzz lightyear. I assure you, my score was not that impressive. Too embarassing to post. But maybe someday I will have a score worthing of a post on the DIS boards. One can dream!

After Buzz we decided to check out Adventureland. We never go in that direction, so it was time to shake things up a bit.

Here are some more photos as we passed in front of the castle

I think the look on this horse's face is priceless

After a mini photo session, we decided to ride Jungle Cruise. In all my visits to the MK, I have ridden JC twice. I think its because the wait times are always so long. That's why I wanted to visit there first. We had no wait. The last time I did this ride it was during the KTTK tour. I think our tour guide did most of the narrating. So this time I tried to listen to all the campy jokes made by our cruise director. Wow - these CMs really need to talk a lot, and FAST! And they don't get any break between one group and the next. I don't think I could do that skit over and over again. Hat's off to the crew of the JC!

I felt it was essential to take multiple pictures of the JC. Especially this first one of the $5.99 Walmart butterfly

Yeah - I probably took too many pictures, but this is the first time I ever photographed this ride, so I got a little carried away.

After JC we headed over to BTM.

But Before leaving Adventureland, I took a few pics of the Treehouse

There wern't too many people in Frontierland. Both mountains were walk-ons. I wanted to take a ride on splash, but it was still a bit chilly to take a chance on getting wet. So we rode BTM instead. BTM was fun, as usual. So much attention to detail. But I still love this ride so much more at night!

I have some pics of Frontierland, but they must not have uploaded. Oh well, they were nothing special. Just me in front of splash and in front of the liberty bell.

After we left Frontierland, we stopped in the Christmas shop. This is were I noted that ALL the ornaments, EVERYWHERE were 50% off. I got myself an ornament of red Mickey mouse ears - on sale for $3.00. Can't beat that.

Well, it was almost time for our ADR at CP, so we headed there. I got a little scared when I checked in, because they couldn't find our name. Our last name starts with a K, but no matter how often I spell it, people often write C. As it turns out, our ADR was under C instead of K, but I didn't know that. So, I frantically called to make sure all our other ADRs were in order. We had a couple biggies coming up and I wanted make sure they were still intact.

We had the nicest waiter at CP. His name was Jay and when I told him we had an upcoming ADR for the Cali Grill, he proceeded to tell me about their wonderful wine list. Yeah - Jay was talking alcohol at 10:30 in the morning.

DH got up right before Eeyore come over. He is MY FAVORITE character and to think, I almost missed him. Good thing I was on the phone checking my other ADR's!!

Isn't he the cutest?

Yeah, even DH got in on the action

Breakfast was good. They were still putting out fresh food when we arrived. The only negative to this meal was the little boy in front of me in the buffet line who wanted to touch all the food. Yeah - OK - now I see why some people don't like buffets. Fortunately, one of his parents was wise enough to take him back to the table and I, although not a germophobe, avoided the food he had touched.

I was pretty stuffed by the time we left CP. But not too stuffed to use our FP to go ride space. I believe they had both sides of the ride open. In fact, yes, they did. So we rode the left side, since we usually do the right. It was fun, but I immediately regretted giving up the front seat to my DH.

After Space we rode CoP. If you read my last TR you will know that DH has a thing for CoP. After CoP it was probably about 12:30. Wow - where did the morning go? I don't remember exactly what we did next, but I know it involved more pictures. I can't post them now because I am at my limit. We were going to walk over and ride HH, but we decided to call it an early afternoon and leave to go check into SSR. We still needed to take the bus back to POFQ, drive over to SSR to check in, unpack, and then get to DS for a special passholder tour.

Up next.... Our first room at SSR (and what did DH forget now?)

 

[Lady Lallie]

Oh No! He forgot something else!

We love Crystal Palace for breakfast. Yum Yum. You got a lot of rides in what seems like a short amount of time! Woo Hoo!!

 

[MEK]

Oh No! He forgot something else!

Oh yes he did! That's why I told Paula she can turn him into a gnome. Honestly, if I ever go solo with DH again, I will have to do the packing. His inefficiency in packing did cost us a couple hours of vacation time!

 

[Lady Lallie]

Oh yes he did! That's why I told Paula she can turn him into a gnome. Honestly, if I ever go solo with DH again, I will have to turn the packing. His inefficiency in paking did cost us a couple hours of vacation time!

Oh my. Marc is very forgetful but I know to help him "go over" his packing before we leave if not, I will blow a blood vessel or something and that's not fun to do on vacation.

 

[MEK]

Oh my. Marc is very forgetful but I know to help him "go over" his packing before we leave if not, I will blow a blood vessel or something and that's not fun to do on vacation.

Not to mention, messy!

 

[MEK]

Here are a few more pics I took before leaving the MK

Duh - I think the cracks are on the other side!

Was I supposed to stand in front of the kodak sign?????

The line through BTM was moving so fast, I barely got this shot

What's up with the "fingerprint" on this picture?

Who are these guys?????? - I LOVE their outfits! I'm obviously not a good Diser, since I don't know!

I took a close up of an ornament on each Christmas tree

At least I know exactly what time we left MK 12:45!

Time to return to POFQ and pick up the car. I have a few more POFQ pics to post.

 

[MEK]

As you can see, MK crowds were really quite reasonable on 12/14. That was the prediction I read when I visited Touring Plans. MK was the park to visit. HS was the park to avoid. We were headed to HS for a Passholder tour of AI, but first we had to check in at SSR. And before we could do that, we had to go back at get the car at POFQ.

BTW - POFQ did have its own bus to and from MK. I have heard the resorts sometimes share. They did not share MK buses on 12/14. When we got off the bus on FQ, I had another "Doh" moment. I realized we could have parked right near the bus stop. But instead we had to walk ALL the Way back to building one! Horrors!

Kidding - it gave us an excuse to walk through the resort one more time and take a few final pics.

We got to see these friendly guys who were on hand to great everyone

Oh - and these guys, too!

The Lobby with sunlight!

Here are a few more daytime pics as we head over to the car

When we got in the car, I assured DH that I could handle the navigation as well as Ellie would. I asked him to make a left onto Bonnet Creek Parkway and in 3/10th of a mile make a left on Vacation Club Drive. I told him to proceed exactly 8/10th of a mile to SSR. I tried to imitate Ellie's lovely Australian accent, so he would feel more confident in my navigational skills. I wasn't even closed to sounding like Ellie!

The line for check in at SSR was about 6 or 7 people deep. Fortunately, it moved fast. I had requested a room in congress park or the new section of SSR (the name escapes me). The CM checking me in said, "We have a room ready for you in CP. But, oh... its a handicapped accessible room. hmmmm". Then she made a frown. From her facial expression I guess I should have reacted like this , but instead I just looked like this

She quickly said, "Wait. let me see if I can find something else". She did find another room, but said it wasn't ready yet and she basically told me to go have a drink at the pool (and have one for her, too.) I said that would be fine, except we had to be somewhere at 4:30 and I wanted to be in the room before we had to leave. She indicated that she didn't think we would make it, so we mutually agreed that I would take the original room.

I honestly didn't see what the big deal was about the hanicapped accessible room. That was, until I saw the actual room. And please don't think my comments are being negative to anyone who requires the advantages of that room. I actually think its great that those rooms exist.

So when we arrived at CP, there were several things I did not like about this room.....

1. I realized that I really don't like being on the ground level. There is no balcony, just a porch that is level with the ground.

2. This room was particularly worn. The carpet was old and stained and the love seat was pretty worn.

3. The location was horrible. It actually faced the bus stop and not the back of CP where the lovely views are.

4. The room had a very institutional feel. I didn't mind the roll in shower as much as the arrangement of the kitchenette area. I work in a hospital and this room was reminding me way too much of work. I also think the configuration of the shower may have taken some square footage off the size of the sleeping quarters. Maybe this was just my perception

5. I actually could have adjusted to all of these things, but the thing that bothered me most was the overwhelming, and I mean OVERWHELMING, smell of bleach. It was awful!

Now when my DH says, " I think we should call and ask for another room", you know its bad. Because my DH never complains. That must be something he learned as a kid. So when he complains, I use it as the litmus test.

Of course, we had already dragged all our luggage in there. I looked around one more time, inhaled some more bleach, and picked up the phone. I asked for any room in any building on any floor other than the first floor. When they asked if there was anything wrong with the room, I told them the smell of bleach was too much. I felt like telling them they should take the room out of service until they replace the carpet and other worn furnishings, but there was no way for me to say it at the time, without sounding rude.

We ended up with a room on the 3rd floor in the Paddock. We were actually right across from CP with a different view of the bus stop, but at least I didn't feel like we were in a fish bowl and the room did not smell. The furnishings weren't quite as worn and the configuration of the room seemed correct.

We just stayed in a 2 BR at SSR in June and our room was gorgeous. Everything was brand new and sparkling. Its obvious that some of these studios need to be rehab'd. We stayed in a studio in 2006 and it was beautiful, but I guess 2 years of wear and tear really shows. My DH kept saying, "Its the economy. Even disney is cutting back". No excuse. We pay fees for maintenance. And those rooms need a facelift!

Well - I gotta go get ready for work. I hope I have some readers today. Although, considering I just wrote a b;;;;; session, we'll see. I hate people who complain, and I think I did just that!

 

[Lady Lallie]

I'm here reading!!

You have some great pictures of Magic Kingdom! I love all the Christmas decorations.

I completely get what you are saying about the handicapped rooms. We had one at Pop and while the sink area and such didn't bother me, we couldn't stand the shower. No matter what we did, by the time were done showering there was water EVERYWHERE. Which was a bit annoying but oh well.

 

[MEK]

I'm here reading!!

You have some great pictures of Magic Kingdom! I love all the Christmas decorations.

I completely get what you are saying about the handicapped rooms. We had one at Pop and while the sink area and such didn't bother me, we couldn't stand the shower. No matter what we did, by the time were done showering there was water EVERYWHERE. Which was a bit annoying but oh well.

Water everywhere - good to know! That would have to be #6 on my list of why I didn't like the room - water, water everywhere!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Hi MEK!

I just caught up on your TR this morning and am loving it! Can't wait for the next installment.

I always take pictures on Jungle Cruise too! I have so many pictures of the animatronic elephants!

Thanks for the pictures of Port Orleans. It looks beautiful!

Talking alchohol at 10:30am sounds good to me!

Sorry about the less than magical experience at Saratoga. I didn't see any rooms but was walking around the resort this last visit and thought it looked beautiful!

So jealous of your DVC purchase!!

Loving the mystery of what will DH forget next!

 

[Mr. & Mrs. Smith]

That sounds like a horrible room they put you in. I'm not sure that it's because it was handicap accessible. We were actually upgraded to an accessible room when we stayed at AS-S for our honeymoon. It was in preferred location and had a queen sized bed, which we loved. It didn't have a tub, of course, with the roll-in shower but we don't use the tub at hotels anyway so it was fine for us. Maybe it just depends on the room? Ours seemed to have been recently updated and was quite nice.

 

[MEK]

Hi MEK!

I just caught up on your TR this morning and am loving it! Can't wait for the next installment.

I always take pictures on Jungle Cruise too! I have so many pictures of the animatronic elephants!

Thanks for the pictures of Port Orleans. It looks beautiful!

Talking alchohol at 10:30am sounds good to me!

Sorry about the less than magical experience at Saratoga. I didn't see any rooms but was walking around the resort this last visit and thought it looked beautiful!

So jealous of your DVC purchase!!

Loving the mystery of what will DH forget next!

Thanks for checking in. I wasn't upset about the SSR experience. I think it was just really noticeable after having that fantastic room at POFQ. We so loved it there. My second studio at SSR was fine and we still love it at SSR. I think its hard to go from one room in tip top condition to another that's not quite as nice. But it's just one of those things.

I hope to start my next installment soon. I don't have too many pics for my next installment because it included a special passholder tour and we weren't allowed to take pics!!!!!!!