Wishes and Dreams-October 2007 Trip Report

[DisneyAngel83]

Introduction

About a year before the trip and about 2 months after we returned from our Disney Honeymoon, I decided I wanted to go to Disney during Christmas. However, after much thought, DH and I realized that with him working for a church, a Christmas trip would just not be a reality for us. So….

I booked a trip for October because it was a time I had never been before and we could attend a Halloween Party and be there for the Food and Wine Festival! After I booked I thought that I would love to take my Mom with us because her birthday is Halloween day and she has always wanted to go to a MNSSHP. But I knew my Mom would not want to be the third wheel with my husband and I, so I thought it would be fun to take my mother in law because she had never been to Disney World. In fact, she had taken maybe two trips on an airplane and only a few “vacations” to anywhere other than her family’s lake house which is also located here in Texas. First we asked my Mom. She is who started my love of Disney and she has been several times since that first time in 1999 and with the allure of the MNSSHP and going with me (because I am of course her daughter) she jumped at the chance. DH Mom was harder to convince. Money can be tight for her and since she had never been before, the allure of going was not high, especially since she would have to forgo her normal July lake house vacation in order to go with us in October. Finally after a few months after initially inviting her, on New Year’s Day of 2007, she agreed to pay us a monthly amount for the next 10 months to pay for her portion. So, we had it set….

The Cast:

Me: 24 years old. Went to Disney World for the first time at the age of 15 and fell in love with it! This will be my 8th time since 1999!

DH: 27 years old. The first time he went was in 2005 right after I graduated from college. He produces videos and does various media for our church for a living and so he really appreciates good production value. As we all know, your entire experience from start to finish at Disney is a production, so going to Disney is really fun for him. He loves the rides, the shows, the theming of the parks and the whole package. This will be his 3rd trip since 2005.

Mom: My mom wanted to go to Disney World when Epcot first opened, but with no money at the time, it just wasn’t an option. When I was in high school, my parents finally had the money to take vacations out of state and so in 1999 when I was ending my sophomore year, we went. My mom has always loved Disney ever since she went to Disneyland in the 1960’s. This will be her 5th trip.

MIL: Pretty much just along for the ride. She doesn’t know anything at all about Disney World or what to expect. I warned her about the intensity of our trip. That there would be little nap time (which she is VERY used to on a vacation) and that it would be a lot of walking. I tried very hard to acquaint her with Disney in the months before we left, but she showed little interest, so we will see how it goes.


I booked us for 6 nights/7 days October 12-18 at All Star Music Suites for the 4 of us in January of 2007, but when the discounts for our trip time came out, I moved us over to two connecting rooms in Port Orleans Riverside. It will be my first ever stay in a moderate! I have wanted to stay in POR since it was called Dixie Landings, so I am super excited! We have requested Alligator Bayou building 14 or 15 in order to be close to the South Bus Depot and the food court.

 

[DisneyAngel83]

Day 1: Friday October 12

Finally!! Today is the day we leave for Disney!! I had been looking forward to this trip for a year now. I had done some major planning this time around since we had about 7 days this time. I had alternately worried about my MIL because she had not shown much interest in this trip ever since we booked it. She was a little nervous about flying and she really did not even try to grasp the concept of the parks, the resort and the type of vacation it would be as a whole. I was very nervous about her enjoying herself and had scheduled some additional resting time into our trip because of this. We usually do not take the time to rest much on our trips because we are all healthy adults (no kids) and I do not see any reason to miss time in the parks or out doing something other than parks when you only have about a week. I really do like to “see it all” and usually I can (a little foreshadowing there for you).

Our plane left bright and early at 8:55am (ok, usually I take an earlier flight, but the day would be busy and long, so I didn’t want to kill everyone right off the bat). We left our houses and by 6:45 we were off to the airport. We checked our bags, went through security, and went and got some breakfast at the Wendy’s in the airport food court. I could not eat because I was so excited, but everyone else did.

When we finished eating we made our way to our gate and about 10 minutes later we boarded the plane. Soon after we were up in the air on our way to Orlando! The flight was uneventful and my MIL was fine. DH and I passed the time on the plane with our new iPod. We had downloaded several TV shows and so we watched Mythbusters on the way. The plane was very full though! I don’t think there was a seat left. I guess it was prime flying time on a Friday morning. We arrived at MCO and made our way to the airport monorail for our first “ride”. Once we got to the main terminal we went over to the B side to check in at Magical Express. We were on two separate reservations so my Mom and I went and checked us in. After the pleasant check in with ME we walked down the red carpet and straight through the empty POR line and right onto our waiting bus. Our bus had huge pictures of Expedition Everest all over it which was pretty cool. It looked way more interesting that just a regular ME bus. We waited for a little bit for more guests to fill up the bus and then we were off. They had a nice little video on the bus that told you about all the cool things you would find in Disney once you got there. I remember the last time we were on ME last year, they showed a Disney movie. I liked the movie better than the video, but I think that my MIL liked watching the video better since she still did not know what to expect. Once we passed through the purple arches I announced to my family that we were now in Disney World!! We went first to POFQ to drop off guests and then our next stop was POR! I was so very excited to be there. The lobby is really beautiful. DH had given me a hidden Mickey book for our first wedding anniversary (you know, the year when you get paper) and I had read up on the hidden Mickey’s in the lobby of POR. I especially liked the Mickey’s in the lattice work. We all stood in line and my Mom and I checked in our two reservations in no time at all. Not only were our rooms already ready in the early afternoon, but they were exactly what we requested. We were in Alligator Bayou building 15! We took the REALLY long way around because we did not know where we were going. I would have enjoyed the walk better if I hadn’t been so intent on finding our rooms, but really, POR is absolutely beautiful. I just cannot believe you get those beautiful grounds with a moderate resort!

Finally we found our rooms which were wonderful! We requested Alligator Bayou after looking at pictures of Mansion rooms and Bayou rooms. The reason why we requested AB is all of us girls were not really picky about it, but DH made a comment that the Mansion rooms looked like a girl’s bedroom, so we went with AB. We were all very pleased with the resort and our rooms. Building 15 is really close to the South bus depot and the food court, so we really did not have to walk very far. Once we arrived in our rooms the plan was to leave immediately as I wanted all of us to catch lunch at Casey’s Corner. We did not leave right away though and for that I am actually thankful. When DH announced he needed to make a pit stop in the bathroom before our adventure began, I at first was like nooo, we must start Disney vacation!! Then I remembered about the bounceback offer. I had been reading and reading about this on multiple discussion boards and I really, really wanted to book the offer. You just can’t beat free dining, even if it is for the less appealing 2008 dining plan. I had already written down two phone numbers to call. I had read that CM’s working at your resort might know nothing about the offer, or look at you funny, especially since it was to have officially ended at the end of September (and it is October 12th). I knew better than to ask about it when I checked in, so my plan to get this offer that I had heard had indeed extended until the day I arrived was to call the extension that was advertised from my room phone. I called, I asked, I booked!! Yes, next year DH and I are returning September 26-October 2. We are booked at Pop Century preferred room with free dining! Woohooo!! Can I tell you how wonderful it felt to book your next trip for an amazing price ($1200 for the two of us) before you even really started the current one! I was so happy after that I couldn’t stop smiling for about an hour as we made our way to MK later. Of course, my Mom thought I was crazy until she understood that I got free dining for next year with the resort room at value prices and that I had to book it that day in order to get the good price. I think she understood after that.

Now, where were we? Oh yeah, so I booked the bounceback offer before our trip even really began. Then DH finished his pit stop and the mothers were ready, so we made our way to the bus stop and got right on a Magic Kingdom bus. The bus service was really good all week long. Even if we had to stop at other bus stops, it never took too long to get where we wanted to go.

When we got to MK, we walked slowly into the park because we were all taking pictures and admiring the Halloween decorations. We very slowly made our way down Main Street among all those waiting for the 3pm parade. I took a look at MIL as we rounded the corner and caught sight of the castle and then proceeded to walk down. She did not look as impressed as I had hoped. Not even mesmerized really. I thought, well, she will change her mind as she is here. We finally made our way to Casey’s Corner for the most spectacular hot dogs, fries and the richest chocolate brownies I have had in a long time. While we were eating the parade began to come by and my MIL started to perk up a bit. She seemed to really like the floats. I was enjoying the atmosphere and the parade music. This was a new parade for me, but then again, the music from the afternoon parades in MK does all have the same type of tempo and bright feel, so it was almost like any other parade I had seen in MK at that time of day.

After we finished eating we got up and walked toward Adventureland. DH wanted his mom to ride Pirates of the Caribbean as her first Disney ride. We were all too happy to oblige. As we walked toward the ride (which is at the end of Adventureland, I began catching wind of what our trip would be like as we walked, sometimes ran and meandered around the parks. My MIL could not or did not want to “keep up”. I tried to be understanding at first. I mean, it was her first time, there was a lot to see, and she wanted to take pictures. So…. I walked slower. I was practically crawling (at least it felt that way). It seemed that the slower I walked, the slower she walked. Maybe I just kept speeding up, or maybe she just slowed down even more, but it was clear to me that we would have a lagger in our group. What is a lagger? Well, that is not really a word, I just made it up. My definition of a lagger: someone who either cannot or does not want to keep up when walking from one destination to another with the group they are with. My MIL is a little Pooh sized and that can cause you to walk a little slower, but of all of us, my Mom is the only one without a weight problem. And, how to explain that when I walked slow, she still kept the same distance behind us, even when she ran out of room on her camera and could not take pictures anymore, I cannot. Sometimes she was several feet behind us. Think like we are at Jungle Cruise and she is at Swiss Family Robinson Tree House distance. This caused a split in our group when we were walking. My DH would bounce back and forth between his mom and me and my mom. He seemed caught in the middle. He asked her to try to keep up and she agreed, but never, not once really, did she keep up with us for longer than maybe 30 minutes.

Frustration aside, we made our way to Pirates. There was a Pirates tutorial going on outside the ride at the time and we snapped a few pictures of the guy playing Captain Jack. Wow!! These guys really look like Johnny Depp as Captain Jack. We did not stop for long. We walked on to the ride and got right into a boat. This was the start of the famous, but understandable question we would get all trip on every boat ride we would get on (and let me tell you, when you have a reoccurring question on every boat ride, you realize how many boat rides Disney really has). “Will I get wet”. Yep, that’s the question of the hour, well most every hour really. I pointed out that there were no seatbelts and her seat wasn’t wet. She laughed and agreed. I really think that MIL was impressed with the ride. She was amazed at the detail and even asked if the Johnny Depp audio animatronics were real people acting. To me, that means Disney is doing their job well!

I forgot to mention that on our way to Pirates, we stopped and picked up a fastpass for Jungle Cruise. After Pirates we still had some time until our fastpass opened up, so we went decided to go to The Enchanted Tiki Room Under New Management. DH and I had finally seen the original version in Disneyland in May. We decided that we really liked Walt’s original version after seeing the new one again. This was one of those shows that DH thought his mom would really like, but we really didn’t get a reaction from her about it. Part of the reason was there were several families with small children that left early because the children got scared. It was kind of distracting.

After the Tiki Room, it was on to Jungle Cruise! I really like this ride despite having some bad skippers in the past. It is hard to pull off those jokes if you are not into it or don’t have good comedic timing. However, Jungle Cruise was my first ever ride in Disney and it holds a special place for me because of this. Our skipper this time was a VERY animated guy. He told some new jokes and I thought he was pretty good at his job, mostly because he seemed to love being a skipper. I think my MIL liked this ride.

The next ride we went to was an absolute must ride that day, especially because we were in the parks during October! The Haunted Mansion!! The ride had just recently come up from a rehab and I was VERY excited about riding it. We rode The Haunted Mansion in Disneyland and I thought it was much better than the Disney World version. Well, I won’t go into any details, but let me say that it is now just as good if not better than the Disneyland version. The special effects they put into the ride are really awesome and the changes enhance the classic ride. The question we got this time from MIL was “is it scary”. Once again, this question was understandable given the name of the ride and all that. We reassured her that it was not scary, but fun. I think she walked off the ride very impressed.

Tangent: I wanted to get upset sometimes because of all the questions, especially since I went to a lot of trouble to educate my MIL about Disney, but I also learned I need to be understanding about how other people like to think on vacation. My DH claims that his mom does NOT like to “think” on vacation. This was the reason for the questions. I must let you know that I DO NOT think my MIL is not smart; she just does not like to have to think about things when on vacation. This makes no sense to me, but that’s ok too. Later in the day, she asked DH (her son) about the lands in the parks. She did not understand the concept of the different lands, nor did she understand the concept of the different theme parks (even after we had moved on to Epcot later in the day). She had picked up maps at least once in each park, but hardly cracked it open. Therefore, when we would announce in MK that we were in Fantasyland, she would look puzzled. I think it took her to the end of the trip to partially understand the whole concept of the theme parks (especially when on our last day we were in World Showcase and I stated how much I loved it and she said “that is where we are right now, right?”), but I don’t think she ever caught onto the concept of different themed areas within the parks. I know I am jaded about all this as I am a Disney park junkie, but really, she is an adult and I can’t see how you can’t pick up on these things after 7 days. Her previous experience with parks is Six Flags over Texas, Six Flags Fiesta Texas and Six Flags AstroWorld (which is closed and gone now). These were/are all in Texas and are your classic Six Flags parks, although only Six Flags over Texas was originally opened as a Six Flags park. Fiesta Texas was bought by Six Flags later as was AstroWorld which closed down the other year. This is not much experience to go off of I suppose.

Off my tangent….