tanprofessional
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2004
- Messages
- 39
The anticipation is over! We made it to Disney!! This was my first trip since I was 10 and my DBF's first trip ever!
We drove down from Atlanta and arrived Friday morning. The WL does take your breathe away the first time you see it! It was about 10:00 am when we checked in. I anticipated just having to store the luggage and then taking off for MK. But as we checked in they told us our room was ready. They sent us to a room on the first floor. We opened the door and went in. It was ground level and a horible view! I had requested a smoking room because we have that yucky habit! Luckily this room was non-smoking and it gave me a great reason to head straight back to the front desk. I told the CM that we had requested a smoking room and that I would love a great view and was willing to wait to check in till later in the day. She said they had another room available right then and no waiting was neccessary! So they sent us to the room we would be staying in the rest of the trip. Room number 6015. It was a great room. We had the balconies that are partially blocked so you have to stand to look over. Which was fine with me because it gave me more privacy. I felt perfectly comfortable on the balcony in my pj's smoking a yucky ciggarette. We could leave our door open and hear the falls and got a good view of the pool to check for overcrowding before we went down!
After taking a few minutes to settle in we rushed to catch the boat to MK. I was in complete commando mode due to having limited park days. We got to MK and I got out my map from the Passporter I had bought pre-trip. It is great because it lists all the attractions and well noted restraunts and even gives a touring plan based on if you are traveling with just adults or children too. We followed the great tip of starting our tour to the left. We headed straight for Pirates of Caribbean. That was a great start! We passed up Splash and Thunder Moutain and decided we would come back to those at the end of the day. I hate walking around wet!! I had a date with destiny next!! The two times I have been to Disney I have chickened out riding Space Moutain. I am a ride chicken! I decided it was time to tackle my fear. It was my 29th birthday that day and I was going to face my childhood nemesis!! So we got a fast pass and went to grab some bottled water and a bite to eat. After lunch we went to Space Moutain. My DBF reminded me that I swore I was going to ride it! I put my brave face on and got on (not even a 5 minute wait.) If you happened to be there that day I was the one on Space Moutain screaming, "I hate you honey" the entire ride! But I did it!!!!!!
We went and watched Mickey's Philharmagic wich was worth every second we spent waiting for it. I even found myself trying to reach out and grab the flying objects. The heat started wearing us down. We decided we needed to start making our way back to WL to cool off and get ready for our dinner reservation at California Grill. The boat ride was relaxing and I got Happy Birthday sung to me and a young man named Zach. I felt like a goof being a grown up and standing there with Zach who was turning 10 I beleive. But the CM kindly reminded me to just give in, lighten up and remeber I would likely never see any of those folks again!
We got back to WL and cooled off in our room a bit. It was so comfortable. We had dragged ourselves around MK so quick I was ready to slow the pace a second. So after maybe a 10 minute break we changed and we off and down the path to the boat to the Contemporary. We arrived quicker than we thought so we took a detour and rode the Monorail all the way around and back to the Contempoary again. DBF said he thought it would have been a smoother ride that it was. We went to the podium to check in for our PS of 7:30. I wanted to make sure we could view Wishes from the restraunt. So after a minute or two they hearded us to an elevator especially for the Cali Grill. We stood around waiting for a table. Finally a greeter came to seat us. We walked past quite a few tables for two facing the MK. I began to get a bit agitated that our seater person still has us moving all the over to the far side of the restraunt. I had made a priority seating months in advance, told them its was going to be a birthday dinner and that I really wanted to seat at a window table facing MK. They told me they would note that in my PS information. Well as she pointed to a table at the far left of the restraunt crowed in between two large tables full of people with no view of anthing because the booth type chair was too high I said, "There must be a mistake I requested a window seat with MK view!" She said there were none available. I said,"What about all the tables set for two that we passed?" To make a long story short California Grill did not care and said if I wanted to eat there I would be eating at the table I was at. This of course lead to a little melt down. The DBF was tired and I was livid so we took it out on each other for the next half an hour or so. We were dining with Wishes and the server we had there helped ruin the magic a little more. He made only 2 or 3 appreances at our table and it was another server from a different table that had to fill us in that we would be able to leave our table and view Wishes and that they would not serve our meal untill after Wishes anyway. This was good news and we needed it. We made another bad decision next. We went out on the viewing area with no music piped in. After all the let down I needed a little nicotine and they told us there was an ashtray there for the CM to take a break. We did not have a very good view of Wishes and the DBF was like why was that so important to see! My fault there we should have gone to the other side. After Wishes we got right to our evening meal which dispite the server was wonderful. We took a boat ride back to WL and ran up to the room and chagned into our suits!! The pool was very inviting. I was so ready to cool off! We jumped right in. And wow was it warm. I imagine it is great in the winter time but we were ready to cool off and were a bit puzzled at the water temp. We meandered over to the spa to ease those sore muscles. The spa was real hot but who cares it felt great on those sore feet of ours!! The great thing was after baing in the spa the pool felt 15 degrees cooler the second time we hopped in!! The pool slide was closed. I guess maybe they close it once the lifeguards are off duty. We head off to bed after our swim to get ready to face the next day of our stay.
Saturday our original plan was to spend the day at Epcot. The DBF had been dissapointed in the lack of intense thrill rides the night before was asking if Epcot had lots of thrills and chills. After I explained there would only be one or two thrill type rides I decided maybe for his sake we should go to a water park to get his cheap thrills craving taken care of before Epcot. So we headed off to the bus stop for Blizzard Beach. We went commando there running around quickly riding each water slide to make sure to keep on track for early dinner reservations and priority Illuminations seating. Time strted ticking by a bit quicker than I realized. We had to run and catch a bus back to WL to get rid of the wet swimsuits. We got back to WL and through on clothes. At this point we had had nothing to eat all day. It was about 2:30. We decided we would have a quick lunch at WC then go to Epcot. Well WC's quick bite turned into a large bite. We got so stuffed on there all you can eat skillet. That was some good eating!!! We were tired of the bus so we decided to take the boat to the Contemporary and ride the monorail to Epcot. By the time we made it to Epcot it was already after 4. We ran in, went to the left and tracked down Mission Space. I am a ride chicken as I mentioned earlier so the DBF rode it while I waited in the heat. After that we got a fast pass for Teat Trac and went and got on Spaceship Earth I think it was called. We hit test track which was awesome!! I was now ready to hit the world showcase and do some good shopping!! We decided to cancel our priority seating due to WC and the big lunch!! We walked through world showcase. It was painful. By then I had blisters on the bottoms of my feet. We were not going to miss anything if I could help it. The DBF did good even though I think he was bored. We noticed it getting dark and everyone was starting to sit on benches. We were supposed to be in Morroco for our Priority Viewing area but we just plopped down on the ground near Canada. WE were beat!! These cute little ducks came to visit us as we sat. It was about 8:30 then. We did not know we would be sitting on that hard ground for another half an hour waiting. We did it though. We watched Illuminations. It was alot more magical than the night before. We could really appreciate better from where we sat. The bus was our choice for going back to WL. We decided it was too much walking to do it the way we came. We watched the finale of Illuminations while walking out to catch the bus. Our intention was another late night swim. After skipping dinner and doing the waterpark and Epcot all in one day we just crashed out hard.
Sunday we decided to stick to the preplanned agenda to accomplish more. The plan was to do the morning at Ak and the afternoon and Evening at MGM. We had breakfast at WC which was wonderful again. We wanted to avoid a late lunch because we had a Fantasmic Dinner Package that night. We hopped a bus to AK. We planned to do Kilimanjaro first and Kali last. The safari was great! We saw lots of animals. After that we went to Dino Land. We got a fast pass for Dinosaur and went to PRimival Whirl. They were not offering fast pass for it and were only using one side. That was the longest line we waited in the entire stay. It was fun and the spinning was unlike any other coaster I have convinced myself to ride. Dinosaur was a blast! We ran to to ride Kali. I was explaining to the DBF there was a chance we would not get wet. We both agreed that would be the prefered outcome to walk to the bus dry. Well we get on Kali and go through it without a single bad drenching. We were so proud as we stepped off! We did it with out getting wet!! Just then the sky opened up and it poured! So much for staying dry!! We made it to the bus soaked to the bone!
We got back to WL and fought off wanting to be swallowed up in the beauty and charm of the resort and just staying there to enjoy it. We changed and ran for the MGM bus. WHen we got to MGM we got into commando mode and got DBF on RnR. We both skipped ToT. We wanted to expolore further but we had to get to the BRown Derby for our PS. As we walked across the restraunt I noticed a foul smell kinda like moldy carpet. I was about to turn into the ugly person morphed into at Cali Grill but the our CM showed up and put me right into a great mood. He started giving us all sorts of neat info and reecemendations. He shared some stories about having his family visiting him there. He eased us through the Wishes ordering process. I had previously decided Wishes were bad. It gives the CM's no incentive to be a good host. This CM was definitely better than the one at Cali Grill. He even went so far as to offer to take a picture of us at dinner with our camera. A food note for you this place is tops. Our desserts were Greatfruit Cake and a Granny Smith Apple Tart with Pepper Ice Cream. Yes I said Pepper Ice Cream. It was to die for!! We left him a large extra tip even though the Wishes already included tip. See there Cali Grill if you would of been a better server you would have gotten a bigger tip too!!! So I was lloking forward to Fantasmic. It was also our last night at Disney!! It was everything I had hoped it would be!! Even the DBF felt the magic!! We left MGM and dedided we would come back the next day after we checked out of WL to explore the rest! The bus ride back to WL for MGM was a bit aggrevating. They really pack those buses full!! I gave up my seat to some very little people who were maybe 2 and 3 who could not have held on while the bus was moving. We got back to WL and went swimming. We swam untill midnight. It was a beautiful night and the water felt great. THere were lots of new folks who had just checked in. It was cool being the ones answering a few questions for those who had just got there. Also of course was the envy that they had just started their journey.
Monday check out day!!! We packed it all up and called Bell services. We went out to the bus stop for the last time on this trip. MGM was still pretty busy even though it was only a Monday. We watched the Indy stunt show, then the Muppets 3-D. I bought a Mickey shirt. What happended to the white shirt with Mickey in the middle and the black sleeves and collar? I loved that style t-shirt!! We walked around untill tears were welling up in our eyes. I am not sure if the tears were because we were leaving our because they blisters on our feet were killing us. Tears none the less!!
We went back to WL. The DBF got the car and luggage while I traded in my last few remaining Wishes for the Disney Keepsakes. We drove off bidding farewell to WL. We were headed for South East Florida. And that my friends is a whole other story!!!
We drove down from Atlanta and arrived Friday morning. The WL does take your breathe away the first time you see it! It was about 10:00 am when we checked in. I anticipated just having to store the luggage and then taking off for MK. But as we checked in they told us our room was ready. They sent us to a room on the first floor. We opened the door and went in. It was ground level and a horible view! I had requested a smoking room because we have that yucky habit! Luckily this room was non-smoking and it gave me a great reason to head straight back to the front desk. I told the CM that we had requested a smoking room and that I would love a great view and was willing to wait to check in till later in the day. She said they had another room available right then and no waiting was neccessary! So they sent us to the room we would be staying in the rest of the trip. Room number 6015. It was a great room. We had the balconies that are partially blocked so you have to stand to look over. Which was fine with me because it gave me more privacy. I felt perfectly comfortable on the balcony in my pj's smoking a yucky ciggarette. We could leave our door open and hear the falls and got a good view of the pool to check for overcrowding before we went down!
After taking a few minutes to settle in we rushed to catch the boat to MK. I was in complete commando mode due to having limited park days. We got to MK and I got out my map from the Passporter I had bought pre-trip. It is great because it lists all the attractions and well noted restraunts and even gives a touring plan based on if you are traveling with just adults or children too. We followed the great tip of starting our tour to the left. We headed straight for Pirates of Caribbean. That was a great start! We passed up Splash and Thunder Moutain and decided we would come back to those at the end of the day. I hate walking around wet!! I had a date with destiny next!! The two times I have been to Disney I have chickened out riding Space Moutain. I am a ride chicken! I decided it was time to tackle my fear. It was my 29th birthday that day and I was going to face my childhood nemesis!! So we got a fast pass and went to grab some bottled water and a bite to eat. After lunch we went to Space Moutain. My DBF reminded me that I swore I was going to ride it! I put my brave face on and got on (not even a 5 minute wait.) If you happened to be there that day I was the one on Space Moutain screaming, "I hate you honey" the entire ride! But I did it!!!!!!
We went and watched Mickey's Philharmagic wich was worth every second we spent waiting for it. I even found myself trying to reach out and grab the flying objects. The heat started wearing us down. We decided we needed to start making our way back to WL to cool off and get ready for our dinner reservation at California Grill. The boat ride was relaxing and I got Happy Birthday sung to me and a young man named Zach. I felt like a goof being a grown up and standing there with Zach who was turning 10 I beleive. But the CM kindly reminded me to just give in, lighten up and remeber I would likely never see any of those folks again!
We got back to WL and cooled off in our room a bit. It was so comfortable. We had dragged ourselves around MK so quick I was ready to slow the pace a second. So after maybe a 10 minute break we changed and we off and down the path to the boat to the Contemporary. We arrived quicker than we thought so we took a detour and rode the Monorail all the way around and back to the Contempoary again. DBF said he thought it would have been a smoother ride that it was. We went to the podium to check in for our PS of 7:30. I wanted to make sure we could view Wishes from the restraunt. So after a minute or two they hearded us to an elevator especially for the Cali Grill. We stood around waiting for a table. Finally a greeter came to seat us. We walked past quite a few tables for two facing the MK. I began to get a bit agitated that our seater person still has us moving all the over to the far side of the restraunt. I had made a priority seating months in advance, told them its was going to be a birthday dinner and that I really wanted to seat at a window table facing MK. They told me they would note that in my PS information. Well as she pointed to a table at the far left of the restraunt crowed in between two large tables full of people with no view of anthing because the booth type chair was too high I said, "There must be a mistake I requested a window seat with MK view!" She said there were none available. I said,"What about all the tables set for two that we passed?" To make a long story short California Grill did not care and said if I wanted to eat there I would be eating at the table I was at. This of course lead to a little melt down. The DBF was tired and I was livid so we took it out on each other for the next half an hour or so. We were dining with Wishes and the server we had there helped ruin the magic a little more. He made only 2 or 3 appreances at our table and it was another server from a different table that had to fill us in that we would be able to leave our table and view Wishes and that they would not serve our meal untill after Wishes anyway. This was good news and we needed it. We made another bad decision next. We went out on the viewing area with no music piped in. After all the let down I needed a little nicotine and they told us there was an ashtray there for the CM to take a break. We did not have a very good view of Wishes and the DBF was like why was that so important to see! My fault there we should have gone to the other side. After Wishes we got right to our evening meal which dispite the server was wonderful. We took a boat ride back to WL and ran up to the room and chagned into our suits!! The pool was very inviting. I was so ready to cool off! We jumped right in. And wow was it warm. I imagine it is great in the winter time but we were ready to cool off and were a bit puzzled at the water temp. We meandered over to the spa to ease those sore muscles. The spa was real hot but who cares it felt great on those sore feet of ours!! The great thing was after baing in the spa the pool felt 15 degrees cooler the second time we hopped in!! The pool slide was closed. I guess maybe they close it once the lifeguards are off duty. We head off to bed after our swim to get ready to face the next day of our stay.
Saturday our original plan was to spend the day at Epcot. The DBF had been dissapointed in the lack of intense thrill rides the night before was asking if Epcot had lots of thrills and chills. After I explained there would only be one or two thrill type rides I decided maybe for his sake we should go to a water park to get his cheap thrills craving taken care of before Epcot. So we headed off to the bus stop for Blizzard Beach. We went commando there running around quickly riding each water slide to make sure to keep on track for early dinner reservations and priority Illuminations seating. Time strted ticking by a bit quicker than I realized. We had to run and catch a bus back to WL to get rid of the wet swimsuits. We got back to WL and through on clothes. At this point we had had nothing to eat all day. It was about 2:30. We decided we would have a quick lunch at WC then go to Epcot. Well WC's quick bite turned into a large bite. We got so stuffed on there all you can eat skillet. That was some good eating!!! We were tired of the bus so we decided to take the boat to the Contemporary and ride the monorail to Epcot. By the time we made it to Epcot it was already after 4. We ran in, went to the left and tracked down Mission Space. I am a ride chicken as I mentioned earlier so the DBF rode it while I waited in the heat. After that we got a fast pass for Teat Trac and went and got on Spaceship Earth I think it was called. We hit test track which was awesome!! I was now ready to hit the world showcase and do some good shopping!! We decided to cancel our priority seating due to WC and the big lunch!! We walked through world showcase. It was painful. By then I had blisters on the bottoms of my feet. We were not going to miss anything if I could help it. The DBF did good even though I think he was bored. We noticed it getting dark and everyone was starting to sit on benches. We were supposed to be in Morroco for our Priority Viewing area but we just plopped down on the ground near Canada. WE were beat!! These cute little ducks came to visit us as we sat. It was about 8:30 then. We did not know we would be sitting on that hard ground for another half an hour waiting. We did it though. We watched Illuminations. It was alot more magical than the night before. We could really appreciate better from where we sat. The bus was our choice for going back to WL. We decided it was too much walking to do it the way we came. We watched the finale of Illuminations while walking out to catch the bus. Our intention was another late night swim. After skipping dinner and doing the waterpark and Epcot all in one day we just crashed out hard.
Sunday we decided to stick to the preplanned agenda to accomplish more. The plan was to do the morning at Ak and the afternoon and Evening at MGM. We had breakfast at WC which was wonderful again. We wanted to avoid a late lunch because we had a Fantasmic Dinner Package that night. We hopped a bus to AK. We planned to do Kilimanjaro first and Kali last. The safari was great! We saw lots of animals. After that we went to Dino Land. We got a fast pass for Dinosaur and went to PRimival Whirl. They were not offering fast pass for it and were only using one side. That was the longest line we waited in the entire stay. It was fun and the spinning was unlike any other coaster I have convinced myself to ride. Dinosaur was a blast! We ran to to ride Kali. I was explaining to the DBF there was a chance we would not get wet. We both agreed that would be the prefered outcome to walk to the bus dry. Well we get on Kali and go through it without a single bad drenching. We were so proud as we stepped off! We did it with out getting wet!! Just then the sky opened up and it poured! So much for staying dry!! We made it to the bus soaked to the bone!
We got back to WL and fought off wanting to be swallowed up in the beauty and charm of the resort and just staying there to enjoy it. We changed and ran for the MGM bus. WHen we got to MGM we got into commando mode and got DBF on RnR. We both skipped ToT. We wanted to expolore further but we had to get to the BRown Derby for our PS. As we walked across the restraunt I noticed a foul smell kinda like moldy carpet. I was about to turn into the ugly person morphed into at Cali Grill but the our CM showed up and put me right into a great mood. He started giving us all sorts of neat info and reecemendations. He shared some stories about having his family visiting him there. He eased us through the Wishes ordering process. I had previously decided Wishes were bad. It gives the CM's no incentive to be a good host. This CM was definitely better than the one at Cali Grill. He even went so far as to offer to take a picture of us at dinner with our camera. A food note for you this place is tops. Our desserts were Greatfruit Cake and a Granny Smith Apple Tart with Pepper Ice Cream. Yes I said Pepper Ice Cream. It was to die for!! We left him a large extra tip even though the Wishes already included tip. See there Cali Grill if you would of been a better server you would have gotten a bigger tip too!!! So I was lloking forward to Fantasmic. It was also our last night at Disney!! It was everything I had hoped it would be!! Even the DBF felt the magic!! We left MGM and dedided we would come back the next day after we checked out of WL to explore the rest! The bus ride back to WL for MGM was a bit aggrevating. They really pack those buses full!! I gave up my seat to some very little people who were maybe 2 and 3 who could not have held on while the bus was moving. We got back to WL and went swimming. We swam untill midnight. It was a beautiful night and the water felt great. THere were lots of new folks who had just checked in. It was cool being the ones answering a few questions for those who had just got there. Also of course was the envy that they had just started their journey.
Monday check out day!!! We packed it all up and called Bell services. We went out to the bus stop for the last time on this trip. MGM was still pretty busy even though it was only a Monday. We watched the Indy stunt show, then the Muppets 3-D. I bought a Mickey shirt. What happended to the white shirt with Mickey in the middle and the black sleeves and collar? I loved that style t-shirt!! We walked around untill tears were welling up in our eyes. I am not sure if the tears were because we were leaving our because they blisters on our feet were killing us. Tears none the less!!
We went back to WL. The DBF got the car and luggage while I traded in my last few remaining Wishes for the Disney Keepsakes. We drove off bidding farewell to WL. We were headed for South East Florida. And that my friends is a whole other story!!!
