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View Full Version : My First Trip Home to SSR!


PoohsPal
01-14-2006, 08:59 PM
Day 0 – Checked in at Pop around 11:30 pm. Very looong day. Don’t Worry, Be Happy was playing as we entered, so I took that as a very good omen.

Room was fine. I was surprised at how quiet they were (heard value walls were paper thin). Went to bed, as we were going to watch the half marathon in the morning.

Day 1 – Up at 5 am to go see the marathon. Wow. MK with almost no people (about 6:20 am). I saw my first WDW Christmas tree and cried. It was amazing.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b352/PoohsPal/IMG_1200.jpg

Moved to SSR. Welcomed home at gate and desk. Room assigned was not ready, but they had one that fit our request (NS) ready, “but it’s kind of far away.” They told mom and dad same thing about their room in The Paddock. I don’t understand why they would start with such a negative.

Loved room! Ours was right next to community pool/bus stop. FYI, there are 2 bldgs in the Paddock that are next to community pool/bus stop. Great for kids!! Bus stop with rest rooms and playground would be my dream as a parent!

Towel animals were very cute. Room was perfect for us.

Did last training run, met parents and cousin, went to lunch at AP. I liked it, but was scared to death that DH would not like anything. They seem to keep some very basic flatbreads on the menu, though and he liked those. Whew!

They do have a limited sit down menu at the Turf Club starting around 2 pm. I will post details later.

Had to go to WWoS to get our race stuff and came back in time to go to ’Ohana for dinner with the Tag Team. Liked it, but too meat-oriented for me. Will have to take dh back, though, as he’d love that.

Tried to go to bed early, but could not sleep.

Day 2 – Marathon Day. See Marathon Report

Marathon Report Link (http://www.mouseowners.com/forums/showthread.php?p=13716&posted=1#post13716)

Pretty much just wanted to die rest of day but did drag ourselves to MGM for last showing of Osborne Family Lights. Wow! Worth the hobble!

Hobbled to PI fro the post-marathon celebration but we were cold and tired. SO we hit McD’s and Ghirdelli and called it a night. MMMMMM…. 10% at Ghiradelli. Very nice!

Day 3 – Breakfast at BW Bakery with WISH team. It was good, but I don’t know if I’d go again if I weren’t staying there. I need a little more to my breakfast in the morning. From there, we headed to MGM. Never spent much time there before. Thought we could take it easy and do shows while recovering. Well, it was more like commandoing in slow motion than recovering, but it worked for us. We both wore our medals, as we were told to do so. It helped explain the hobble and CMs made a big deal out of it. That was cool.

I went to ToT first, as Pal Mickey said there was no line. I don’t like scary things or “Demon Drop” type things, but was told I had to do ToT. It was AWESOME!!! Wow. Can’t believe what I had been missing, The special effects were great! From there, we went to get a FP for Rockin’ Rollercoaster. Again, one I had never gotten around to doing. Then we hobbled over to Lights, Motor Action to see about FPs for that. Bev was the CM that told us they were not doing FPs, just comeback ½ hour before and that would be god. Bev commented on our medals and asked where we were from. Guess who was also from West MI? Guess who got director’s chairs for LMA???? That was awesome!!!

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b352/PoohsPal/IMG_1394.jpg

RnR was awesome too! I think I’ll be spending a little more time at MGM in the future!

We had a Brown Derby/Fantasmic Dinner package and I was really looking forward to it. Got to say that I was VERY disappointed at BD. The food was ok, not quite us, but I knew that going in. The service was awful!!! Our waitress was very nice, but horrible. My water was gone for about 20 minutes before she came back and I had to ask for more. Come on, that’s bad to begin with, but she knew we ran a marathon the day before. 10 minutes later she told me she had not forgotten about my water and another r10 minutes later, she brought it. She never even asked if I wanted coffee with dessert. (Not that I wanted to wait half and hour to get it.) I was very close to getting a manager. If I had more energy, I likely would have. Still might write in (with compliments re. Other CMs).

Saw a shirt here that was really me. "I live in my own world, but that's ok, they knowme here." I'd change world to closet, but close enough. ;)

Fantasmic was great!! Just loved it! Wish the hobble was not so far, but that would not typically have mattered to us. It was evening EMH, so we took advantage of that for a bit. We were really struggling with the walking thing after this, so we called it an early night.

Day 4 – Finally went to MK to play! Did breakfast at the Main Street Bakery and ate outside. Really enjoyed that. Caught a peak of Cinderellabration, but I’m not a big princess person.

Saw Buzz outside his ride. I’m thinking he was there a lot to kind of make up for the ride being closed. Then, off to my favorite ride. I have a pic for my rodent friend.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b352/PoohsPal/IMG_1415.jpg

Caught Share a Dream Come True, PhilharMagic, TMRR, Splash Mtn, all my fav’s. DH decided to accompany me on Space Mountain. Now last time he went on by accident and was wearing the patch and did ok. I told him not to go this time, but he insisted he could do it, as he did it before. “I didn’t realize the patch would make that big of a difference.” Duh….

Right around the 4 pm start of Cinderellabration, we decided to see if we could get into CP, not expecting we could. We were wrong.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b352/PoohsPal/IMG_1447.jpg

Now, how come the buffet waiter at CP was 50 times better than the one at BD?? That just blew me away. He got a very good tip! I’m not a buffet person, but dh and I really liked CP.

Stayed for Wishes. Still good, but not Illuminations. Then we headed to DTD, as we were way behind on our shopping. To my horror, Pooh’s Corner was closed!!! According to the CM at The World of Disney, it will reopen in April, but not sure if it will still be Pooh’s Corner. Very disappointing, especially as it is Pooh’s 80th b-day.

We were still pretty sore, so we bussed it back. So not us.

PoohsPal
01-14-2006, 09:02 PM
Day 5 – Segway Tour!!

Awesome, everyone must do it. I really loved the rather spoiled sounding little girl who told her mom that she need to rent those as we motored by. Good luck kid! She reminded us both of the spoiled little girl in Charlie and the Chocolate factory. The time was awesome. Fun to ride, learned some new stuff. Very cool.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b352/PoohsPal/IMG_1461.jpg

Rest of the day doing our favorite things at Epcot. However, we wandered a bit more and ate a lot more. You all would have been proud of me!! Soarin’ was awesome!!!

Side note: Mom and dad got to WDW early and left just after the race. When I saw dad Saturday, he had a band aid on his head (not unusual for dad, guess who I take after). Well, it turns out he was walking to BW from Epcot and clipped a curb and took quite a header. He was fine, but seeing as he is in chemo, he was afraid of infection and wanted it cleaned well, so let them call the paramedics. 9 CMs assisted him. It took a while, but the paramedics cleaned him up well and he was very pleased with everyone. He was even more pleased when they wrote a FP to Soarin’ for him and mom. He said the fall was well worth it. That’s my dad!

Listened to Off Kilter and Beatles while eating dinner (Fish n’ Chips, which were quite good). Thinking of Mar’ during OK and Yeunling with the Fish and Chips.

Illuminations was incredible as always and we headed off for more shopping. We were getting better and closed the Marketplace and even went through some shops at PI.
Day 6 – Last full day. Started with a Mickey waffle from AP. Look at Turf Club and bought some souvenirs. This is where it gets surreal. We did not get to the parks on Saturday and our tickets were expiring. I talked about seeing if it was worth it to upgrade to non-exp. DH says, “I think I need to do the marathon again next year to prove that this was not a fluke.” OK, so I’m speechless. This was just under 2 years btwn trips and that was awesome for us. Going 1 year later???? He was not even phased by the fact that we’d need to transfer points, as we won’t have any. So, we wander to concierge and see that it’s not really worth it to upgrade fro 1 day and 6 plus options. Now, I just turned stupid. I’m so ashamed of myself, as you all should be too. The concierge had to tell me that I should upgrade to NE 10 days tics. That would give us 4 days and 6 pluses very cheap. I’m just so ashamed. However, the fact that I have tics in my possession makes me all tingly inside!!! WDW here we come! Where’s my new counter???

We headed to AK and really did relax and enjoy it. I can now say I saw Tarzan Rocks and it is closing next week. Even if it weren’t I would not go again, but I’m glad I saw it. EE was running empty cars. That darn near killed me. It looks awesome. I was told that even if you did not want to do the ride, take the chicken exit just to see the que's. They’re supposed to be awesome. We were surprised at how many animals wer saw on the safari, and it was midday! Did Lion King. Saw jumping Jungle Parade for the 1st time. That was really cute. We wandered a lot of paths that we never had before and really did relax a bit here. That stopped as we left AK at 4:30, though.

Off to MGM to hit Narnia and One Man’s Dream. Grabbed a snack and then headed to MK for spectro. Missed the first part, but caught most of it. The park was packed! Don’t think I’ve ever seen it so crowded. Think is was due to the upcoming MLK weekend.

The off to Epcot for Illuminations. Needed another snack, still no time for dinner. DH and I were starting to get very sad, as tomorrow as leaving day, so we used every second. Then, off to DYD for shopping. OK, there were 2 Pooh sweatshirts in WDW. 1 in MK that was the “Tigger, is that you” one with Pooh and a tiger. I’ve got that in a T. The other was at the Pooh ride. Nothing special. There was Tigger sweatshirt and an Eeyore sweatshirt in World of Disney, but no other adult clothing. I was very disappointed. I think Tink, Princesses and the 50th was all they concentrated on. I did get a Helen Incredible charm for my bracelet. That was a good memorial for my first marathon.

Back to the room to crash for a few.

Day 7 – Last Day.

We did our favorite park (MK) and our favorite things, but it was cloudy and that fit our moods. We got soaked on SM, Pooh ride broke down several times while we were on it. We did get to see CP. I’ve never made it all the way through. The last scene was odd as the computers were at least from the 90s, but the clothes were very 80-s. Glad we finally got to do it without break downs, though. Then it was time to go. The worst part of leaving, though, was the fact that we got to the airport and the pane was delayed over an hour. That was time we could have been in WDW!!!

Sad to be home, but we had a wonderful trip. Somewhat odd due to moving in slow motion for most of it. There are some things we could have done differently, though, to help. The best part is that it looks like we’ll be back next year! Now to decide what and if I’m running. Hmmmm….

jnrrt
01-14-2006, 11:53 PM
Carrie, I loved your report, and I can't believe you've already posted it! You put me to shame...

I'm glad that Pal Mickey got you to go on TOT - I'll feel a little responsible for some WDW happiness.

I can't believe you ran a marathon, and still walked through MGM to see the lights. Crazy!

That's so cool that you'll be back next year! Yea for you! Watch, now your dh will be hooked, and soon you'll be going all the time.

And I loved your pictures. They so make me want to segway. Ahh, but what to do with the children, there's the rub.

Good to have you back!

TEK224
01-15-2006, 01:09 AM
Great report Carrie! We were at SSR at the same time (well-sort of). I was there from the 4-10th. If you saw someone hobbling on crutches the day after the marathon, that was me. Instead of getting to the WISH breakfast, I was in Celebration getting leg x-rayed. Luckily, nothing is broken. Just a bad shin splint. Was on crutches for 3 days. My leg and foot are still swollen, but not as bad. I did Goofy and love all 3 of the medals. However, I think I'll stick to one race or the other from now on; not both.

Sounds like hubby is hooked. Me too. I'm thinking of doing the 1/2 next year, but trying to run the whole way instead of walking.

I never made it to the Turf Club, but I enjoyed AP for lunch. Also had 2 Spa treatments that were outstanding.

Glad you and DH had a great time and great race!

Terri

nono
01-15-2006, 01:46 AM
Welcome back Carrie and thank you for the trip report! :goodvibes

jaysue
01-15-2006, 02:45 AM
Thanks for the report

We like the buffet at CP as well - seems to have a nice range of choices

Congrats on your marathon!

cheers
jaysue

:woohoo:

jiggerj
01-15-2006, 12:15 PM
Great report Carrie! We have missed you ! :)
Thanks for the photos and for the positives on the Segway Tour...still thinking of trying in May- :)

Congrats on the race and WOW those are some VERY cool medals you guys are sporting there! You must be very proud! :)

mssparrrow
01-15-2006, 03:06 PM
Carrie,

Great report & pics!!! Thanks for sharing!

Rozzie
01-15-2006, 06:59 PM
Thanks Carrie for the report. I agree about the Brown Derby, used to be a must do, but we also had ok food with horrible service last time, we won't be back.

You have given me courage to do Segway! I am glad we booked it now. Also am so relieved your Dad called the pros to clean his wound. How scary! I know it meant so much to you for him to be there.

I will be down there in May, let me know if you want me to pick you up something at Poohs! Be happy to do it!

Congrats on the marathon! you must be so proud! We sure have missed you around here!!

cobbler
01-15-2006, 08:55 PM
Great report! Glad you had a good time. Now my question, did you run the full or half marathon?

I really want to try the marathon someday. I just can't get the timing right for our vacations.

So if you don't mind, could you send me a PM on how easy/hard it was, what you did for training and such. All the good details!

Welcome home :)

PoohsPal
01-15-2006, 10:39 PM
Thanks for the congrats all! It was amazing.

jnrrt - There were several rides that PM helped me out on. You can gladly take teh credit for some smiles!

cobbler - I did teh full. The report for that is loading now. I hate dial up!

There are many on teh Mick-boxing forum that are talking of an 07 MouseOwners team. I'll post some of my details there and, hopefully, Mel will share her story too. Her TR tells a lot!

PoohsPal
01-15-2006, 10:57 PM
Here's my Marathon Report (http://www.mouseowners.com/forums/showthread.php?p=13716&posted=1#post13716)

withdisneyspirit
01-16-2006, 03:48 PM
Good for you, Carrie, sounds like you may need to start looking at add-ons:Pokepoke:

Thanks for a great trip report! I can't believe your DH mentioned the marathon after only a few days recovery:faint:

lllovell
01-16-2006, 04:13 PM
Excellent report!

It sounds like you had a fantastic time and I am very glad. I would have been so pooped after running so to me, what you did is really a LOT! I keep thinking we will slow WAY down at WDW, but when we do, I feel sad that we didnt "do much" lol :doublejum The semi-commando life for us seems best!

Also - tell hubby he rocks for wanting to go back more often!!!

SueOKW
01-29-2006, 12:41 AM
I love your Dad's sense of humor! I agree w getting Paramedics - my DH was on chemo 2 years ago and we were very careful!

Loved the report. My kids can't wait to get old enough to Segway!

PS - congrats on the Marathon!

idratherbeinwdw
02-02-2006, 03:26 PM
Great report and great photos! Thanks for sharing! :goodvibes :thumbsup:

bavaria
02-09-2006, 03:22 AM
Great report and great photos! Congrats on your success!!! :cheerlead AND you have tickets to return...

Saw a shirt here that was really me. "I live in my own world, but that's ok, they knowme here." I'd change world to closet, but close enough.

ooooooooh - 'I live in a paper bag, but that's ok, they know me here' - that's my version of that shirt.....:innocent: