Whose Bright Idea Was it to Drive to Disney Anyway? Oh wait - that was me.

[Sooze]

(At least sleeping as far as “Disney time” is concerned - my idea of sleeping in at home is MUCH later - what can I say, I’m not a morning person!)

So true! Sleeping in at Disney is much different than at home!

We’re trying to adopt that mentality that some of the other DVC owners have - you know that you’ll be back again many times, so you don’t have to go crazy.

It does take some getting used to, for sure! But it is a great feeling!

Awwwwww! So cute!

 

[Sooze]

Okay, here goes! This is my first time trying to put up video. I hope it works - especially since it took 15 minutes to load onto photobucket!

It worked! Thanks for sharing, that was a very cool demonstration that we've never seen before. I think my kids would love it!

Okay, that's interesting. It takes you to my photobucket page and you have to watch it there. Does anybody know how I can embed it in the actual message?

Whenever I post video, it does the same thing. Not sure how to do it any other way.

 

[JenSop]

Whenever I post video, it does the same thing. Not sure how to do it any other way.

Well at least I know it's not just me not doing something I'm supposed to be doing!

I'm going to work more on the update tonight!

 

[JenSop]

So I did try to post an update and my browser quit on me. I lost everything I had put in. So I WILL work on it.

Time is not something I have much of right now. I still have to sing 18 gigs between now and Christmas. Yes - 18. AND an audition this coming Tuesday morning before I run off to the gig that day. I'm just trying to hold on to my sanity.

Sorry all - I've been terrible with the updates - BUT I PROMISE to finish this TR. We are almost done, so I can't quite now!

I hope you are all having a lovely holiday season!

 

[OurDogCisco]

Well.... I just found your trip report and your music. You have a beautiful voice... TFS...

I can wait to read the rest of your TR after the holidays because you sound like one busy person! GL with all your gigs.

 

[JenSop]

Well.... I just found your trip report and your music. You have a beautiful voice... TFS...

I can wait to read the rest of your TR after the holidays because you sound like one busy person! GL with all your gigs.

Thanks so much! You're very kind.

Let's just say that once Christmas day gets here, I'm going to collapse into a ball and not get up (except to eat and open presents, of course)

That, and REST my voice for a chunk of time. Singing this much, this often is very taxing on the cords.

 

[JenSop]

Cont.....



So we absolutely LOVED the dolphin demonstration - it was great! And we were so happy we had wandered over there - dolphins AND an escape from the heat!

After we finished walking around the rest of the aquarium exhibit stuff, we headed over to Imagination so I could check out the Figment merchandise. I really do have my perfect T-Shirt planned in my head. It would be similar to the cute little Pirates Tee I wore on my EMH Magic Kingdom earlier in the trip.... thin, fitted, comfy, and with Figment on it! My sister and I were always huge Figment fans. I’m pretty sure he was our favorite Disney character. That old Journey Into Imagination ride was just beyond wonderful. I remember awhile back someone here on the boards posted a YouTube clip of someone riding through (and obviously taping) the original ride. Super dork that I am, I actually started crying while watching it. It brought back the most wonderful memories for me.

So I will not truly rest until I can find the perfect Figment TShirt. Sadly, it was not to happen.

There was a great design of Figment (totally old-school graphic looking) but on a big men’s tshirt. Nope. The only design that was printed on a cute ladie’s T was a weird looking Figment head that didn’t even look like Figment. It looked like a Figment head if Figment was a Hello Kitty doll or something.

I left Imagination feeling a bit disappointed, but we decided to head over to Test Track and see how the wait was for the Single Rider line........

....15 minutes!!

We could totally handle that!

Had a great ride, then decided to head over to check out the line for Spaceship Earth. The line was insane! Pass!

We decided to head over to World Showcase and think about getting lunch. Since we hadn’t had any Mexican this trip, we chose the outside CS at Mexico.

Now let me say that this was not my first choice. Not because I don’t like Mexican - I DO like it very much. But you all know how I’ve been very vocal when it comes to my hatred of the extreme heat. Well, it was getting very hot already and sitting outside to eat was not my idea of fun. But Brian really wanted to eat there, so I relented.

After lunch, I insisted that we quick stop in Mexico just to get in the air conditioning for a few minutes.

Here I am recovering from the melting I was doing outside...

Despite the heat, we headed back out and around World Showcase. We briefly stopped to take in some musical entertainment.

What was going to help us get relief from the heat? Why alcholic slushies from France, of course!

********

We were still melting from the heat, so after we downed the slushies, it was off to Mouse Gear to finish buying stuff! We stopped at Canada for some silly camera fun:

I did get a cute T on this trip. I saw it in several stores and it kind of grew on me. (Here I am holding it up to myself back at the room):

We also got Daddy a Soarin’ shot glass. (Did I mention in any earlier threads that my dad is obsessed with that ride? Obsessed! It’s all he could talk about on our big family trip the year before.) We got some other cute souvenirs for folks back home and decided to head back to our resort....

Up next... we check out the pool at Kidani Village! Would it be able to compete with the Jambo House pool? Hmmm...........

 

[Sooze]

As it's freezing cold in Indy today, I'm enjoying the pictures if you both just absolutely sweating!!! What did you think of the food at Mexico's counter service? Love the cute tee! Sorry you couldn't find a good Figment one. Thanks for squeezing in an update amidst your Christmas chaos!!

 

[Echo queen]

Ok, in the picture at the fountain you look like you have wings and a halo. just sayin.

 

[JenSop]

Ok, in the picture at the fountain you look like you have wings and a halo. just sayin.

Hahaha! Omg - that's hilarious! I had to go back and look and I am sitting in front of that fountain in just the right way!

And Sooze - yes, we are freezing here too (although I think it's colder where you are - although since we haven't had time to take the AC's out of the windows yet or put most of the storm windows down, it's pretty darn cold in this house right now...)

But I'm one of those really weird people in that I'd rather be cold. I can always layer and bundle up. The heat has gotten me close to passing out too many times for my liking.

Edited to add... If anyone ever finds a super cute Figment shirt, PLEASE let me know! You will have my eternal gratitude!

 

[alabamagirl]

Enjoying your trip report very much!

 

[JenSop]

Enjoying your trip report very much!

Thanks alabamagirl!

 

[JenSop]

******************************
PART TWELVE: Alas it's almost over....

So after heading back to our resort, we decided to pay a visit to the new pool at Kidani Village. After all the hype on the boards, we couldn’t wait to check it out!

Here are our thoughts. Bear in mind that our opinions are ours and ours alone....

We weren’t crazy about it.

I know, it has the great play area and an awesome slide. (The slide really was awesome, by the way.) BUT, the pool itself just didn’t seem big enough. And it was out there right in the middle of the open - next to the parking lot. Kind of took away from the atmosphere. We did get some swimming in, though.

Took a few pictures...

Before long, we decided to leave and head back to the Jambo House pool. We’re big fans of that lush, tropical feel. The pool area at Jambo is just like the area around the Polynesian - lush and tropical all the way. Even though the slide at Jambo leaves a bit to be desired, the pool and the surrounding area more than makes up for it.

Mmmmm.... lush and tropical Jambo House pool......

We stayed out at the pool for quite a bit, as we were having dinner at Boma and didn't need to travel anywhere.

Here's my cute going-out dress for dinner. Got it at my store!

Dinner at Boma was great as usual. Seriously, you can’t go wrong with this place. So many great things to choose from. We even got a complimentary anniversary dessert. (Which we took back to our room, since we were so full!)

Jambo House has animal night viewing at the balcony area near the lobby. They let you use night-vision goggles to see the animals moving around in the dark. It was pretty neat, but there were a lot of people waiting to have a turn, so we didn’t stay too long.

We decided to head back to the room to do our packing, as we’d be leaving the next day.

 

[JenSop]

Our last Day.... 6/26/09

6/26/09

We were up around 7:40 for our last day at Disney. We were very sad to be leaving. Quick finished packing, showered, and checked out. We put a few things in the car, but left our suitcases with bell services so that certain things wouldn’t have to be sitting in our hot car while we were out.

Now I have to say that another plus about driving is that you’re not in a super rush to get back to the hotel to get picked up by ME to take you back to the airport. Our plan was to leave after dinner (drive through the night again), so we had the whole day to enjoy ourselves.

What better way to end a Disney trip than to head out to Magic Kingdom one last time! However, it was pouring rain. Pouring. Insane pouring. Thank goodness for Jambo House’s excellent covering over their bus area. Thank you Jambo House!

While waiting, we started talking to some of the people who were also waiting to go to MK. And wouldn’t you know that they were not only also from PA, but they lived about 20 minutes away from us! Crazy!

Once we got to MK, the rain actually stopped. (Yay for Disney magic!)

But we got our hopes up too soon. The rain was back - enough to close a few rides.

We headed to our favorite land - Adventure Land!!!

We were hoping for a ride on Pirates, but the line was all the way out the building! (Wishing we had rode again when it was empty on that EMH night....)

We continued on towards Frontier Land and Liberty Square. Turns out Splash Mountain wasn’t running, and we assumed Big Thunder Mountain Railroad would be the same. So.... what to do....

Well, neither of us had rode the Liberty Belle Steamboat in a REALLY long time. I think I was 12 the last time I rode it?

At least it was relaxing. Got a good view of Tom Sawyer Island (which we unfortunately didn’t get to on this trip - it was always a favorite of mine when I was a kid.) Also got some good views of the Haunted Mansion and Big Thunder.

After docking, it was time to head to the Columbia Harbour House for lunch. This really is the best counter service at MK, as many Diser’s know. That second floor is always so nice and quiet. We even had a great view from our window of the old sky ride in Fantasy Land. I vaguely remember riding that as a kid .... the not-so-quick way to cut between Tomorrow Land and Fantasy Land.

Brian had the Lighthouse Sandwich and I went with the fish and chips:

The weather had been clear for awhile now and we headed back to Adventure Land.

The line for Pirates was still really long. But we got in line anyway. I hadn’t seen the line this long since I was a kid. Seriously. But it moved along fairly quickly.

After Pirates, it was off to the Swiss Family Treehouse.


This attraction had also been a big favorite of mine as a kid. I always thought it would be SO COOL to live in a tree house like that! So this little excursion was pure nostalgia for me.

Love it!

Looking over to Space Mountain from up top the Swiss Family Tree House:

We walked back to Main Street and paused for a quick pic along the way.

and decided to get some ice cream while we listened to the Barbershop Quartet. Here we are posing for the photo pass CM:

We moved through the shops along Main Street on our way back to the entrance. I was still on the look-out for another tee - maybe an awesome vintage-style one? There actually were a FEW interesting ones in the shop closer to the entrance. But nothing anywhere near my size. Wasn’t meant to be - maybe next trip.

 

[JenSop]

Our next stop after leaving MK was the Poly for their gift shop. Brian wanted to get the tee that he’d been seeing at several of the stores. We posed for a few quick shots before leaving.

But all good things must come to and end....
We took the monorail back to MK so we could transfer to an AKV bus.
Here we are with our sad faces waiting for the AKV bus....

(Wow, my melasma looks really bad in this light - that's what the dark patches are on my face - a type of hyperpigmentation that I get when exposed to UV light.)

We got a few things out of our car once back at the resort and headed to the bathrooms to get changed and get freshened up.

As we killed time, we got some shots from the balcony to the right of the lobby.

Check out the cool carved chairs....

We paused briefly for the photo pass CM in the lobby. Man, we look tired. And Donald Duck is giving me the evil eye...

We got the rest of our stuff from bell services, packed up the car, and we were on our way to Old Key West Resort - we had a dinner ADR scheduled at Olivia’s!

Let me just say that our server, John, was the BEST server we had on our entire trip!!! He was seriously excellent. Not only was he very attentive, he was pleaseant and chatted with us. He helped us with the menu (as Brian was so disappointed to learn that the recipe for the wings had changed.) Really, the only reason for our return visit was to get those chicken wings. Apparently, some people have overly-sensitive taste buds and complained that they were too spicy. (????) My thoughts - if you don’t like spicy food, don’t order hot wings. Pretty simple. Anyway, Brian and I DO like really spicy food, so that would’ve been a nice treat. Oh well. The replacement wings were pretty good.

We had a nice light meal of appetizers and saved room for their amazing Key Lime Torte thing. This dessert really is worth it - I highly recommend it!

Wings:

Oops - forgot to snap a pic before diggin into the crab cakes....

Key Lime:

John set us up with Cokes, coffee, AND extra bread for our trip home. (Didn’t I say he was excellent!?!) He certainly earned the good tip we left AND we spoke to the manager to let him know what great service we received!

We wandered out and thought we’d take a nice little walk before getting in the car, but the skies were not looking too promising....

We got to the car RIGHT before the clouds exploded.

(Doesn't Brian look happy to be heading home...)

But like most Florida rains, it ended quickly. Our final stop was to fill up the gas tank at the Hess station and we were on our way back to PA.

There was some nasty traffic on I4 - apparently from several accidents?

The day ended with a pretty sunset as we contemplated the horrible drive ahead of us.

It was a ROUGH ride back through the night. At least on the way down TO Disney, you have the anticipation to keep you going. On the way home it’s just a really yucky experience. And we were tired from our vacation!

And if your GPS tells you to take an alternate route, don't do it! Stay on 95! It had us go 395 through D.C.! That's insanity! Stay on 95. 95. 95.

But we made it home in one piece and had our wonderful Disney memories to last us until our next trip! (And I had to sing later that afternoon for a fundraising concert - yikes!)

So overall.....

Driving from PA to Disney is NOT for the faint of heart. Seriously. I wouldn't do it again without stopping and staying over night somewhere. Better yet, I think I'll stick with flying whenever possible.

Now, on to planning the next trip(s). Going for a girls only trip in October, but Brian is getting restless to go this year as well, so it might be a two trip year. Here's hoping!!!

 

[JenSop]

p.s.

Finishing up with some of my fave photo pass shots from the trip....

 

[renegade7]

it is over. I really enjoyed following along. I hope to do one for my vacation in Sept (2 days in Barcelona, 10 day Med & 14 day Trans Atlantic cruise, 1 day at WDW). I always have the best intentions to do one but run out of time, but you and Susie make me feel better that they don't have to be real time or completed within the month you return.

 

[JenSop]

it is over. I really enjoyed following along. I hope to do one for my vacation in Sept (2 days in Barcelona, 10 day Med & 14 day Trans Atlantic cruise, 1 day at WDW). I always have the best intentions to do one but run out of time, but you and Susie make me feel better that they don't have to be real time or completed within the month you return.

Haha! Yes - you should do one! And heck, if they had to be done right away, I'd never even make the attempt. But it's fun reliving the trip months later - especially when it's freezing outside and you're thinking back to how terribly hot it was...

Thanks for reading along! I plan to do more TR's and I learn a little more with each trip.

 

[sbell111]

Here's a nostalgic pic in honor of the trees that used to be in front of the castle. I'm not sure of the exact date - sometime in the late 80's. That's my sister on the left and me on the right.

Happy memories......

That picture was taken in 1987.

 

[DaisyMom618]

Hi. I read your TR, Great Story! I live in Allentown, Pa, not too far from Hellertown!I will be taking my DS5 to WDW for his 6th Birthday in Feb. Only 25 days to go, YIPPEE! would you please explain to me a bit about the green Mickey head thingie? I heard they can be bought at Home Depot? Again, great story! Maybe I'll post mine when I return.