Our anniversary/birthday/I'cot bash trip - Day One

[Dsnygirl]

If any of you read my pre-trip report, you heard all about the trip and how it came about, and how special it was to be able to be going -- so I won't bore you with the details all over again!! Suffice it to say, this was a VERY special trip, for a variety of reasons.

The cast:

Dan - my DH and fellow Disney fan - also a non-Intercot person... for now...

Blythe - #1 Disney fan in the family, planner extraordinaire & birthday girl.

Our trip to the world this time was to celebrate many things - our 13th wedding anniversary, my upcoming 40th birthday, and of course, Intercot's anniversary bash!! Lots to make merry about, and we sure did that!!

Day One - Thursday, October 11th

Our day started very early - 3:40 am, to be exact. Yawn!! My MIL had come in to stay with our girls while we were gone, so she and the girls stayed happily asleep while we dragged ourselves out of bed and grabbed coffee as fast as we could. (Okay, truthfully, I jumped out of bed - but ONLY a Disney trip could do that at 3:40 am... ) We were on the road and checked-in to our flight by 5:25, and tried not to embarass ourselves by falling asleep until they called our row # to board!!

After an uneventful flight and transfer @ JFK, we found ourselves in Orlando, jumping on the ME bus and being whisked off to our resort before we knew it!! Yeah!! Let the fun begin...

We were staying this trip @ All Star Sports... honestly, not our number one choice, but after looking at our own plans and then adding in the Intercot meets, we realized we'd probably be at our resort for oh, maybe 6 hours a night - if we were lucky. So - we chose to go a little less expensive, and boy were we glad we did!! Nothing to complain about at this resort - we had a great, quiet room in the Touchdown section overlooking palm trees and a little, secluded park... perfect!! 3rd floor, so no one above us - also perfect!! We'd sent our costumes ahead (and some wine, too... ) as well as done a grocery order - and everything was delivered almost immediately after we got to our room - talk about service!! We'd also gotten some Pleasure Island tickets through one of Intercot's sponsors, and they were brought to us by a very nice man who also gave us a lot of other local information and was great. We'll definitely use them again!!

So - after a shower and a change of clothes, we were off to Downtown Disney for a little shopping, some margaritas along the water and our anniversary dinner @ Fulton's. Also, we were having an Intercot meet for the JQ thread I belong to later in the evening, so there was a lot to look forward to!!

We spent a little while shopping - some for us, definitely some for our wonderful DD's who were kindly staying at home (and at ages 6 and 9, that's saying something!! ) and then we relaxed along the water with some WONDERFUL strawberry margaritas. It was warm, sunny, and perfect! We headed over to Fulton's right before our ADR time and were seated almost immediately - at a special section they were opening for the first time all season!! We got to sit down on the boat dock, right on the water... ... it was beautiful!! Swans came over and visited us while we ate, the waiter and service was impeccable, the food was wonderful and the chef even surprised us with a huge piece of chocolate cake, drizzled with chocolate sauce that said, "Congratulations" and circled with raspberry dipping sauce. Yummmm!!! And it was on the house.... what a nice surprise! Boy were we full when we left, too. Our waiter took a picture for us, (pic) and then we were off to shop a little more before our JQ meet @ Ghiradelli's. (We'd planned to have dessert there, but that cake changed our minds...)

Meeting everyone that I post w/ on the JQ thread that evening was so neat... to finally be able to put faces to names and talk in person was something I'd never really expected to be able to do. (pic) Everyone was so friendly and we all had a great time - you'd really think that we'd all met before, it was so easy to talk and "catch up". Even my DH, who isn't on Intercot but graciously listens to all my stories, thought it was a good time and really enjoyed meeting everyone -- suddenly, names took on a real personality, and it wasn't just posting in cyberspace anymore. We stayed there for quite awhile, and then some headed back for bed, others of us headed over the Pleasure Island to hit the Adventurer's Club!! My DH and I hadn't been there for 10 years, so we were REALLY looking forward to it... and it was just as fun as we remembered it. We saw quite a bit of improv going on just around the main room, and caught two of their "shows" - one in the Mask Room, the other in the Library, where Intercot got a "plug" when the woman doing the show picked one of us out b/c of his nametag, saw that about 10 of us had nametags and wanted to know who we were with!! Pretty funny!

Unfortunately, by this time (11:45) I had a raging headache and really wasn't up to closing the place like we'd planned. So, we left with another JQ'er about midnight and headed back to our resort for some much needed sleep. By the time we got back and got to sleep, it was almost 1:30... so, having been up for almost 21 hours, we changed our next-morning plans a little and set the alarm for a bit later than planned. Phew!!

[ElenitaB]

Did you at least sleep some on the plane on the way down?

One of the biggest highlights of the trip for me was also meeting the people behind the screennames. I hope we didn't scare Dan too much!

[Mickey'sGirl]

What a day! It is no wonder you left the AC (I don't know that I would have lasted as long as you did, however!). It was great to meet you and Dan! In January, we stayed at the All Star Sports and had a quiet little room like yours over in the Hoops section. We were very happy with our stay there too!

[BriarRose0708]

Hey Blythe, welcome home! It's cold here isn't it! Sounds like an awesome first day. It was great to meet you and Dan and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of your report!

~Nikki

[disneydrmr]

Wow, I'm surprised you lasted as long as you guys did! Must've been the caffeine and sugar in the chocolate cake! I so wish I could've made the bash.. oh well, maybe next time! Looking forward to reading 'the rest of the story"...

[KylesMom]

What a great - albeit long day and fabulous start to your Birthday/Anniversary/Icot party! Can't wait to hear more!

[Momof2boys]

Isn't it amazing how quickly some of us can get out of bed on Disney day - no matter how early ? ?

Happy Anniversary ! Sounds like you had a delicious & special meal.

Can't wait to read more . . .

[Caroleh]

Sounds like a great time!! What a long day!! I don't think I could do that!! I'm glad to hear you liked Fulton's, we're going to try it for my birthday trip.

[Bethis26fan]

what a long day, thanks for sharing.

[pogo]

Great start to your trip. I've got to go read the rest. I missed you in "JQ".

[Mickey 101]

Glad to hear you had a nice trip!

[offwego]

That's a pretty full day! Glad your having such fun (overall) and that you enjoyed your meet. Thanks for sharing with those of us left behind!

[Dsnygirl]

Originally Posted by pogo

Great start to your trip. I've got to go read the rest. I missed you in "JQ".

Thanks!! Are you home yet???

[vizsla]

Sure was a great day. Thanks for the report.

[disneydeb]

Thanks for the report. I certainly enjoyed meeting you and your dear hubby.

[faline]

Love the picture of you at Fulton's! You're both just as nice as you apear to be in your picture!

[pdrlkr]

Thanks for the report!

[Dsnygirl]

Originally Posted by disneydeb

Thanks for the report. I certainly enjoyed meeting you and your dear hubby.

Originally Posted by faline

Love the picture of you at Fulton's! You're both just as nice as you apear to be in your picture!

Thank you -- we really enjoyed meeting you guys, too! It was an amazing experience to put faces with names, and now to be back and be able to "know" who I'm talking to!!

[ChipnDaleGal]

What a special day Blythe - from your anniversary dinner to meeting all of your JQ friends. Certainly a day to remember. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[DizNee143]

wow you were up almost a whole day..sounds like an eventful day you had...cant wait to read about the rest!!