idratherbeinwdw
10-23-2005, 03:54 AM
Monday:
Two minute wait for MK bus. http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/12/12_7_8.gif (http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZZzebXXX) Got to MK at opening, watched the welcome show and counted backwards to "open" the MK. Arrived under the castle and waited for rope drop, did Peter Pan before it got ridiculously long. Toured our other favorites: Splash mountain for Sarah (becky and I are not coaster people), Buzz, Space mtn (again, Sarah), COP, Tomorrowland transit authority (had to see my friend there in her curlers and fishnets, LOL) Haunted Mansion (my fave), Country Bears, Philharmagic. Would have done POTC but it was having some trouble and wasn't running when we went, so had to save that for another day. By then it was about 1 time for a break.
Back to the villa, made lunch, kids relaxed, Mom ran over to catch the 2:30 OK show. Got a bunch of smiles and waves from the band, as they recognized the nut who'd been there yesterday in the custom made tshirt who jumped on the stage to get her pic taken with them after the show (with their permission). Left room at 4. Had 6:00 ressies for Chef Mickey, decided to walk through Epcot and do spaceship earth before heading on monorail to the TTC and taking the resort monorail to the contemp. We rode SE, got on the monorail, checked out our brick in the TTC, and then got on the (rather long) line for the resort monorail at 5:15. "No sweat" I'm thinking, "45 minutes is plenty of time to get from here to the contemp". It takes at least 10 minutes for the monorail to arrive, and they don't let us all on, which pisses me off, because there was plenty of room. If it was late and the parks were closing they'd let people stand, but they weren't taking any more than could sit. OK, still, there's 35 minutes left, surely that's still a lot of time. And happily another monorail arrived in about 5 minutes. We're off. Wait no we're not. The monorail ride from hell was about to begin! We stopped in between the TTC and the poly. Then we stopped again between the poly and the GF. AGain between the GF and the MK. Each time for at least five minutes, with no announcement other than one "we'll get going as soon as we can". I should have gotten off at the MK and walked, because the worst was yet to come. We stopped just outside the contemporary for over 10 minutes. I was going to be late for my ressie, as it was now 6:05 and we weren;t moving. FINALLY, after what seemed like an eternity, we pulled into the contemp at 6:15. It had taken 45 minutes to get from the TTC to the contemp. EVERYONE was whining and grumbling about how frustrating it was. I was worried they wouldn't take my ressie, but since so many folks on line were in the exact same boat I was they were more than accomodating. At least I was only 15 minutes late, some people who'd left less leeway were over half an hour late (talked to folks in line and found that out). If this was my first monorail ride I don't think I'd ever go on one again! I stayed at the Poly many times and never had an experience like this, I hope it was just an aberration and this is not going to happen regularly. So frustrating! Made me really appreciate being able to walk to 2 out of my favorite 3 parks from BWV.
Dinner was great, and afterwards we walked to the MK for spectromagic and Wishes. Back to BWV, was after 10 so no one was performing on the boardwalk.
Tuesday: Woke up early to get to Epcot at rope drop for Soarin. Did it in CA and in WDW in April, couldnt wait to go again, love that ride. Rode it once, got a FP and then went to test track. Rode that and then went back to soarin. Shopped at mousegear. Played around in imageworks and in the area after mission space but didnt go on either attraction. Then we walked over to WS for the American Adventure. By the way the weather, except for the first day when it was hot and sunny, was mostly cloudy with occasional downpours and not much sun. I prefer cloudy to killer sunny and hot, but I've been to WDW in October when it was in the upper 70's-low 8o's and nice and sunny, so the weather was disappointing. Didnt come close to ruining the trip, but it could have been better.
Break time, community hall, foosball, air hockey, ping pong. Lunch. BWV surprised us and sent up balloons and a card from Cinderella for Sarah's 15th bday, that was really cool and we took lots of pics of us all with the birthday girl and her balloons. Back to MK for sarah's bday dinner in the castle, which was awesome. Window seat, table decorated with streamers and shiny metallic mickey heads in a rainbow of colors. I timed it so the cake I ordered for her was delivered just as the fireworks started right outside our window, it was so cool. Another great ending.
Wednesday: Basically a sleep late/no attraction day, we always like one off day. I caught a couple of OK shows, and asked the guys in the band why Mark wasn;t singing lead at all, as he usually did lead on 75% of the songs. They said he'd been having voice trouble for over a month, I hope he's going to be alright. Mostly we hung out at the villas, played video games, walked over to BCV and played on the volleyball court and in the video arcade there. Went to DTD and shopped and ate in the rainforest cafe for dinner. Back to BWV, hung out a long time watching the shenanigans of various entertainers on the boardwalk.
Thursday: MK in the morning, did all of our favorites a second time and got to ride pirates this time yay! http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/1062.gif (http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZZzebXXX) Break time, but while kids rested I walked over to catch the 230 and 330 OK shows, and then met back up with my daughters and we went to MGM in the afternoon. Big highlight: My older daughter got the first fast finger question and got into the hot seat in WWTBAM. I got up there once, but it was actually more exciting for me to see my kid up there. She did pretty well, made it up to $16000 and then got a question that she needed help with. She polled the audience, and 70% of them gave one answer, so she went with them--and they were wrong, oh well. She still got the hat and the pins and the lanyard and a memory we'll all always have. We also did RNR coaster and TOT for sarah, as well as the little mermaid http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/36/36_35_6.gif (http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZZzebXXX) and muppetvision for all of us. Ate in Hollywood and Vine, have eaten there before, it's nothing spectacular but it's fine and all of us can find something we like there. With Becky into veggies and fish and sarah into chicken it's not always easy to please everyone, hence at least two buffets/trip. Shopped a bit, and then walked back to BWV. No fantasmic, have done that too many times and was more than happy to avoid the mad rush when the show ends. Again more hanging out on the boardwalk, sarah and I really love the live entertainment there. http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/92v.gif (http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZZzebXXX)
Friday: Last day , waahhh! Checked our luggage with the BWV bell service. Got to epcot for rope drop again did soarin once and then did test track. Then we Ellen, Innoventions and some puttering around in mousegear until lunchtime. Did the other half of Food and wine: arroz con pollo in puerto rico, Quesidillas and watermelon water in Mexico, Potato leek soup and smoked salmon in Ireland, Chicken sha cha in China, and shrimp on the barbie in Australia. Caught the voices of liberty and then another showing of American Adventure (it's a fave or mine). We had to be back at BWV for our towncar at 6, and we were pretty tired, so at 5 we headed home to BWV. Played ping pong and air hockey at community hall and then off to get our luggage. Time to go, all too fast, boohoo. http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_9_3.gif (http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZZzebXXX) But wait--what an amazing ending! Just as we walk out front to the car a beautiful rainbow appeared just to the left of the entranceway. I took some pics, yet another perfect ending, just awesome. http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/12/12_1_10v.gif (http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZZzebXXX)
I got a new camera with a huge memory card, so I went nuts with pics. Here's a link if anyone wants to have a look:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/idratherbeinwdw/album?.dir=760a&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos
Two minute wait for MK bus. http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/12/12_7_8.gif (http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZZzebXXX) Got to MK at opening, watched the welcome show and counted backwards to "open" the MK. Arrived under the castle and waited for rope drop, did Peter Pan before it got ridiculously long. Toured our other favorites: Splash mountain for Sarah (becky and I are not coaster people), Buzz, Space mtn (again, Sarah), COP, Tomorrowland transit authority (had to see my friend there in her curlers and fishnets, LOL) Haunted Mansion (my fave), Country Bears, Philharmagic. Would have done POTC but it was having some trouble and wasn't running when we went, so had to save that for another day. By then it was about 1 time for a break.
Back to the villa, made lunch, kids relaxed, Mom ran over to catch the 2:30 OK show. Got a bunch of smiles and waves from the band, as they recognized the nut who'd been there yesterday in the custom made tshirt who jumped on the stage to get her pic taken with them after the show (with their permission). Left room at 4. Had 6:00 ressies for Chef Mickey, decided to walk through Epcot and do spaceship earth before heading on monorail to the TTC and taking the resort monorail to the contemp. We rode SE, got on the monorail, checked out our brick in the TTC, and then got on the (rather long) line for the resort monorail at 5:15. "No sweat" I'm thinking, "45 minutes is plenty of time to get from here to the contemp". It takes at least 10 minutes for the monorail to arrive, and they don't let us all on, which pisses me off, because there was plenty of room. If it was late and the parks were closing they'd let people stand, but they weren't taking any more than could sit. OK, still, there's 35 minutes left, surely that's still a lot of time. And happily another monorail arrived in about 5 minutes. We're off. Wait no we're not. The monorail ride from hell was about to begin! We stopped in between the TTC and the poly. Then we stopped again between the poly and the GF. AGain between the GF and the MK. Each time for at least five minutes, with no announcement other than one "we'll get going as soon as we can". I should have gotten off at the MK and walked, because the worst was yet to come. We stopped just outside the contemporary for over 10 minutes. I was going to be late for my ressie, as it was now 6:05 and we weren;t moving. FINALLY, after what seemed like an eternity, we pulled into the contemp at 6:15. It had taken 45 minutes to get from the TTC to the contemp. EVERYONE was whining and grumbling about how frustrating it was. I was worried they wouldn't take my ressie, but since so many folks on line were in the exact same boat I was they were more than accomodating. At least I was only 15 minutes late, some people who'd left less leeway were over half an hour late (talked to folks in line and found that out). If this was my first monorail ride I don't think I'd ever go on one again! I stayed at the Poly many times and never had an experience like this, I hope it was just an aberration and this is not going to happen regularly. So frustrating! Made me really appreciate being able to walk to 2 out of my favorite 3 parks from BWV.
Dinner was great, and afterwards we walked to the MK for spectromagic and Wishes. Back to BWV, was after 10 so no one was performing on the boardwalk.
Tuesday: Woke up early to get to Epcot at rope drop for Soarin. Did it in CA and in WDW in April, couldnt wait to go again, love that ride. Rode it once, got a FP and then went to test track. Rode that and then went back to soarin. Shopped at mousegear. Played around in imageworks and in the area after mission space but didnt go on either attraction. Then we walked over to WS for the American Adventure. By the way the weather, except for the first day when it was hot and sunny, was mostly cloudy with occasional downpours and not much sun. I prefer cloudy to killer sunny and hot, but I've been to WDW in October when it was in the upper 70's-low 8o's and nice and sunny, so the weather was disappointing. Didnt come close to ruining the trip, but it could have been better.
Break time, community hall, foosball, air hockey, ping pong. Lunch. BWV surprised us and sent up balloons and a card from Cinderella for Sarah's 15th bday, that was really cool and we took lots of pics of us all with the birthday girl and her balloons. Back to MK for sarah's bday dinner in the castle, which was awesome. Window seat, table decorated with streamers and shiny metallic mickey heads in a rainbow of colors. I timed it so the cake I ordered for her was delivered just as the fireworks started right outside our window, it was so cool. Another great ending.
Wednesday: Basically a sleep late/no attraction day, we always like one off day. I caught a couple of OK shows, and asked the guys in the band why Mark wasn;t singing lead at all, as he usually did lead on 75% of the songs. They said he'd been having voice trouble for over a month, I hope he's going to be alright. Mostly we hung out at the villas, played video games, walked over to BCV and played on the volleyball court and in the video arcade there. Went to DTD and shopped and ate in the rainforest cafe for dinner. Back to BWV, hung out a long time watching the shenanigans of various entertainers on the boardwalk.
Thursday: MK in the morning, did all of our favorites a second time and got to ride pirates this time yay! http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/1062.gif (http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZZzebXXX) Break time, but while kids rested I walked over to catch the 230 and 330 OK shows, and then met back up with my daughters and we went to MGM in the afternoon. Big highlight: My older daughter got the first fast finger question and got into the hot seat in WWTBAM. I got up there once, but it was actually more exciting for me to see my kid up there. She did pretty well, made it up to $16000 and then got a question that she needed help with. She polled the audience, and 70% of them gave one answer, so she went with them--and they were wrong, oh well. She still got the hat and the pins and the lanyard and a memory we'll all always have. We also did RNR coaster and TOT for sarah, as well as the little mermaid http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/36/36_35_6.gif (http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZZzebXXX) and muppetvision for all of us. Ate in Hollywood and Vine, have eaten there before, it's nothing spectacular but it's fine and all of us can find something we like there. With Becky into veggies and fish and sarah into chicken it's not always easy to please everyone, hence at least two buffets/trip. Shopped a bit, and then walked back to BWV. No fantasmic, have done that too many times and was more than happy to avoid the mad rush when the show ends. Again more hanging out on the boardwalk, sarah and I really love the live entertainment there. http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/92v.gif (http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZZzebXXX)
Friday: Last day , waahhh! Checked our luggage with the BWV bell service. Got to epcot for rope drop again did soarin once and then did test track. Then we Ellen, Innoventions and some puttering around in mousegear until lunchtime. Did the other half of Food and wine: arroz con pollo in puerto rico, Quesidillas and watermelon water in Mexico, Potato leek soup and smoked salmon in Ireland, Chicken sha cha in China, and shrimp on the barbie in Australia. Caught the voices of liberty and then another showing of American Adventure (it's a fave or mine). We had to be back at BWV for our towncar at 6, and we were pretty tired, so at 5 we headed home to BWV. Played ping pong and air hockey at community hall and then off to get our luggage. Time to go, all too fast, boohoo. http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_9_3.gif (http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZZzebXXX) But wait--what an amazing ending! Just as we walk out front to the car a beautiful rainbow appeared just to the left of the entranceway. I took some pics, yet another perfect ending, just awesome. http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/12/12_1_10v.gif (http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZZzebXXX)
I got a new camera with a huge memory card, so I went nuts with pics. Here's a link if anyone wants to have a look:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/idratherbeinwdw/album?.dir=760a&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos