Mother's Day trip report--Day 1

[tinksmom02]

Friday--arrival at POR, AK and Epcot

DD10 and I had no problems getting to the airport and no problems with our flight--except that Spirit seemed to be running a special for bringing screaming children along! I know it's Disney and there are going to be children, but I have NEVER seen/heard/experienced so many screaming infants and children in MY LIFE as I did over these past four days--and I spent 8 years working in day care!!!

Regardless, we arrived on time and made it to our DME bus in no time at all. And then, forty minutes later, we left the airport. Ugh. I know, I know, it's to be expected, but still, UGH. Then we stopped at OKW and POFQ before finally arriving at POR! And yay! Our room was ready! And double yay! It was the section we had requested (Mansions 85). Terrisue over at MJ convinced me NOT to do online check-in (the last 3 or 4 trips we'd done it, and HADN'T gotten our requests), and I'm glad we did. We literally dropped our carry-ons in our room and headed to the bus stop to wait for an AK bus.

It seems that we waited a long time for everything this trip--we sat through 3 Epcot buses, 3 MK buses, and 2 or 3 DTD buses before an AK one, and then naturally we had to stop at Blizzard Beach first LOL I thought I had read they were trying something new for BB guests--stopping at AK and then switching? That didn't happen while we were there!

Finally at AK, we grabbed a frozen banana for DD and FP for the safari before heading over to Dinosaur. We were heading back to see how E:E was doing when we saw a few people in line waiting for Pluto and Goofy so we jumped in as well (Goofy is DD's favorite). It worked out well because we were eligible for new FP right after that, so we grabbed those for E:E, went back to Africa for the Safari, then back to Asia for E:E. I saw the Yeti (I think the real one, not just the shadow) for the first time ever, I think.

After that, DD had to make a few purchases (a leather bracelet with her name engraved on it, and a giraffe Mickey-ears headband), and we made our way out and on to an Epcot bus.

At Epcot we visited the Festival Center to get pins and passports, walked past Test Track but the line was at 70 minutes with FP return time really, really late, and went to the building to trade in our APs for the new ones. That took, literally, a minute and a half. Nice.

At this point it was going on 4pm and I had yet to eat ALL DAY, so I was cranky and had a headache. We made a beeline for the World Showcase so we could get some food. We started with the watermelon and arugula salad which was delicious--even DD loved it, and she's not a big salad person. Then we grabbed the tostada, tacos, and a rose margarita for me--but were not really thrilled with any of those items. We headed to Cava de Tequila for chips and guac (and a pineapple ), and chatted with some local women, teachers who were playing hooky for Field Day LOL

As we were leaving Mexico we spotted the 3 Caballeros as part of the Limited Time Magic, so I got in line to wait and DD watched the mariachi band across the path. Then she begged me to go on Maelstorm, so we waited in line for that. Then in China we tried the candied strawberries--HUGE strawberries and good, but the kind of snack that makes you want to brush your teeth after eating! Oh, we saw Mulan while wandering around China, no line, so DD got a quick pic with her.

We decided that we'd had enough for one day, so started to make our way out. We did stop by the Florida Fresh booth one more time, though, so DD could have more salad! I tried the shrimp and stone ground grits--delicious!!

We made our way out and back to POR, dropped off our stuff and headed over to the River Roost to see Yeehaa Bob Jackson. We grabbed some food from the food court to eat while we listened/participated. I don't know where that man gets his energy from.

We were back in our room and DD was asleep by around 10pm, I think. A pretty full but long day, considering we started at 5am!

[KylesMom]

Christi, I was just thinking of you this morning, hoping your trip was a nice one with all you've been through.

A bit of a prolonged trip to POR but it's great that you got the area you requested and your room was ready. I'm impressed - both AK and Epcot your first day after traveling! Sounds like a lovely day with DD. Looking forward to reading more!

[faline]

Woo hoo!! A newly posted trip report to read!!

Sometimes it seems that the one bus you want is the ONLY one that never comes!! Still, you managed quite a lot on your arrival day!!

Glad you got the room selection you wanted!

[Mickey'sGirl]

A fantastic start! You guys sure got around!

[tinksmom02]

A fantastic start! You guys sure got around!

Yeah, the great thing about traveling in a group of 2 is how quickly we can get around. The bad thing is that there's no one there to tell us to hit the brakes--we just keep going and going...

[January-2007]

Thanks so much for the trip report!

[princessgirls]

Christi,

A great first day! Love it that you were off and running!!!

Julie

[vizsla]

Thanks for the report.

[DisneyDINK]

You 2 really got in a lot on day one.

I'm curious, what time did you get to MCO?

[DizNee143]

Sounds like a great first day!! You guys sure did manage to get a lot done!!

[emerzmom]

My DD and I took a "post divorce" trip many years ago. That was when I truly began to believe in pixie dust and Disney magic. That trip did a lot for both of us. It was also the beginning of our "new normal".
Your first day sounds like a VERY full day!
I a looking forward to reading the rest of your trip reports.
Thanks so much for sharing.

Julie

[pdrlkr]

Thanks for the Report!