IloveJack
07-27-2007, 12:20 PM
Saturday, July 14, 2007
The alarm went off at 3am and we were on the road by 3:35. A 40-min. drive to the airport later, and we were on our way! Well, not quite. It seems Southwest doesn’t open until 5am. We got there before 4:30, as advised, but had to wait. We played “spot the Disney-go-ers” to pass the time. We saw 3 families with Magical Express tags on their luggage before we got to check in. It was more like 5:15 before the man opened the E-ticket line, but we had no problem getting through.
From there, our Disney day started. The security man checked out my Pirates Crocs, and proceeded to ask if we were going to Disney. He and I talked for a few minutes about the new ride, and then I went on, before David got scared as to why I was still in the security area. Then, when we boarded the plane, I had my Cars pillow out (that my Mom made us for the trip), and the flight attendant stopped by to tell us she had just seen Cars for the very first time. Her nephew knows it by heart, and made her watch it with him.
David really enjoyed looking out the window on his first-ever flight. We boarded early, and took the two-seater emergency exit row, so that we could have a window, but still sit alone. The flight was uneventful, and we both made use of the Disney songs on our iPods while we flew. David took quite a few pictures of the clouds, but then deleted most of them later. He did catch a rainbow at one point. (In fact, we had a rainbow in the clouds on our return trip, also.) As we were descending, David exclaimed, “Palm trees!” (Hey Florida, we’re back!) We landed at 9:15, as scheduled, and grabbed our things to get off the plane. David was behind me, and I walked on off, a jerk, who couldn’t wait, shoved his bag in David’s chest to cut him off. David mumbled “Jerk”, and the guy then pushed on through. We wandered around for a while, trying to find our way to the Magical Express pick up (There are signs everywhere telling where it is, but not how to get there). When we got on the tram, so did the Jerk’s family. He was mouthing about how he’d put David in his place, looked up and saw us, and shut up. Oh well, we weren’t going to let it ruin our trip. We just hoped that since they were going to Disney, we wouldn’t run into them again.
Once we found it, we rushed right through ME and got right onto the bus. Our driver was friendly, and it only took us about 35 minutes to get to Saratoga Springs. We were staying at Port Orleans Riverside, so we were the last stop, though. There was no line at check-in, so we went right on up to the desk. No special treatment for our anniversary, even though I’d put it in the comments. I asked about our continuing reservation, and was assured we’d be able to stay in the same room. We put the check-in papers in our luggage, dropped it at bell services, and by 10:30, we were standing at the bus stop.
The wait was only 5 min., and we were on our way to EPCOT. We had no trouble with security, even though I had a drink in my bag. (I’ve never been told to trash outside food). We went over to Guest Relations for our anniversary buttons. The wait wasn’t short, but at least we weren’t having the problems that the guests in front of us were! My card didn’t work to enter, but the CM was so frustrated with others’ problems that she just let me on through. We hurried, (not!), behind a Brazilian soccer team, over to Soarin’. I had never been inside the Land, so I was a bit lost, but David saw the sign and saved the day. (We decided by the end of this day, that Brazil had evacuated all people between the ages of 12-18, to WDW. We counted no less than 5 different “teams” of 30+ kids, who seemed to follow us park-to-park. However, other than being in the way of fast walkers, they weren’t a problem, sinc e they never, ever used FastPass, and would just take up the stand-by line). We walked straight to the FP distribution, which was already at 2:12. Whoops! My FP ticket said I’d never entered EPCOT today! I explained to the CM, and he gave me a FP card to use all day. Cool! Great for my scrapbook!
We spotted a Pirate kiosk under Innoventions West, and stopped. My two souvenirs that I wanted on this trip was a scrapbook, and anything Pirate I could find. I bought the Pirate lanyard pin starter set, and a bunch of Pirate pins. David got a couple of pins, and 4 patches.
We hurried through Cool Zone, which is much different from when I was here last. We both agreed that the Watermelon (China, I think?) was the best. David gagged on Beverly. He agreed with a friend of mine that it tastes like Vodka. I still say yellow Triaminic! We were starving by now (having eaten only airplane snacks), so we went to World Showcase. We were stopped in France, and given a survey to fill out for Bastille Day. I wanted hibachi, so I read it over while walking to Japan. We wandered through Japan, receiving many, many “Happy Anniversary’s” from the CMs there. Oh, such disappointment, Teppanyaki was closed! David still wanted to look around though, so we went through their shop. I bought a turtle timepiece, because a) I collect turtles, and b) my watch battery had died on the plane.
We stopped again at a pin kiosk at America, and I bought a bunch more pins. By this time, David was into it too. Let’s just say, we’d been in Disney for less than 3 hours, and we’d already spent $170 on just pins! Oops. Oh well, we really got into it this trip, and they’re wonderful souvenirs. We did get a Pirate lithograph and watch for having spent a certain amount. We’ve decided to decorate our game room with PoC stuff, so it’ll be perfect in there.
We finally decided on Italy for lunch, since I love L’Originale Alfredo di Roma Ristorante. I had the lasagna and David had spaghetti and meatballs. Having lived with an Italian family for a while, David doesn’t often think much of “American Italian,” but he said this place was great, and reminded him so much of living with them. We didn’t opt for dessert, as we were stuffed from just the bread and entrees.
We rolled out, and raced through WS and over to Test Track. However, we did stop once to see Dopey, in Norway. David stayed behind the camera at first, but then the CM took our pic together. Test Track’s stand-by line was only 30 min., so we went over to check out the wait for Mission: Space. It was over an hour, so we got FPs, and went to stand in line for TT. It was the first time I’d ever used stand-by for TT. We might have waited for 15 minutes before entering the briefing room. We both enjoyed the ride, especially the outside part. I scanned the pic with my PhotoPass card, and we were out. By now it was time for our FPs to Soarin’.
We thought we’d be slick and cut through Mouse Gears, but that was not the case (completely to our delight). A couple of CMs saw our anniversary buttons and invited us to join them in the Hokey Pokey. I figured David would balk, as he’s a shy, behind the camera, kind of guy. However, he got into it, even singing along. We were given our choice of Mickey gloves, or Stitch paws, and of course, we chose Stitch. I got one of the CMs to take our picture, “paws up,” before we gave them back. Jose, the other CM, made us a certificate for our magical moment, writing “Happy Anniversary” on it.
The alarm went off at 3am and we were on the road by 3:35. A 40-min. drive to the airport later, and we were on our way! Well, not quite. It seems Southwest doesn’t open until 5am. We got there before 4:30, as advised, but had to wait. We played “spot the Disney-go-ers” to pass the time. We saw 3 families with Magical Express tags on their luggage before we got to check in. It was more like 5:15 before the man opened the E-ticket line, but we had no problem getting through.
From there, our Disney day started. The security man checked out my Pirates Crocs, and proceeded to ask if we were going to Disney. He and I talked for a few minutes about the new ride, and then I went on, before David got scared as to why I was still in the security area. Then, when we boarded the plane, I had my Cars pillow out (that my Mom made us for the trip), and the flight attendant stopped by to tell us she had just seen Cars for the very first time. Her nephew knows it by heart, and made her watch it with him.
David really enjoyed looking out the window on his first-ever flight. We boarded early, and took the two-seater emergency exit row, so that we could have a window, but still sit alone. The flight was uneventful, and we both made use of the Disney songs on our iPods while we flew. David took quite a few pictures of the clouds, but then deleted most of them later. He did catch a rainbow at one point. (In fact, we had a rainbow in the clouds on our return trip, also.) As we were descending, David exclaimed, “Palm trees!” (Hey Florida, we’re back!) We landed at 9:15, as scheduled, and grabbed our things to get off the plane. David was behind me, and I walked on off, a jerk, who couldn’t wait, shoved his bag in David’s chest to cut him off. David mumbled “Jerk”, and the guy then pushed on through. We wandered around for a while, trying to find our way to the Magical Express pick up (There are signs everywhere telling where it is, but not how to get there). When we got on the tram, so did the Jerk’s family. He was mouthing about how he’d put David in his place, looked up and saw us, and shut up. Oh well, we weren’t going to let it ruin our trip. We just hoped that since they were going to Disney, we wouldn’t run into them again.
Once we found it, we rushed right through ME and got right onto the bus. Our driver was friendly, and it only took us about 35 minutes to get to Saratoga Springs. We were staying at Port Orleans Riverside, so we were the last stop, though. There was no line at check-in, so we went right on up to the desk. No special treatment for our anniversary, even though I’d put it in the comments. I asked about our continuing reservation, and was assured we’d be able to stay in the same room. We put the check-in papers in our luggage, dropped it at bell services, and by 10:30, we were standing at the bus stop.
The wait was only 5 min., and we were on our way to EPCOT. We had no trouble with security, even though I had a drink in my bag. (I’ve never been told to trash outside food). We went over to Guest Relations for our anniversary buttons. The wait wasn’t short, but at least we weren’t having the problems that the guests in front of us were! My card didn’t work to enter, but the CM was so frustrated with others’ problems that she just let me on through. We hurried, (not!), behind a Brazilian soccer team, over to Soarin’. I had never been inside the Land, so I was a bit lost, but David saw the sign and saved the day. (We decided by the end of this day, that Brazil had evacuated all people between the ages of 12-18, to WDW. We counted no less than 5 different “teams” of 30+ kids, who seemed to follow us park-to-park. However, other than being in the way of fast walkers, they weren’t a problem, sinc e they never, ever used FastPass, and would just take up the stand-by line). We walked straight to the FP distribution, which was already at 2:12. Whoops! My FP ticket said I’d never entered EPCOT today! I explained to the CM, and he gave me a FP card to use all day. Cool! Great for my scrapbook!
We spotted a Pirate kiosk under Innoventions West, and stopped. My two souvenirs that I wanted on this trip was a scrapbook, and anything Pirate I could find. I bought the Pirate lanyard pin starter set, and a bunch of Pirate pins. David got a couple of pins, and 4 patches.
We hurried through Cool Zone, which is much different from when I was here last. We both agreed that the Watermelon (China, I think?) was the best. David gagged on Beverly. He agreed with a friend of mine that it tastes like Vodka. I still say yellow Triaminic! We were starving by now (having eaten only airplane snacks), so we went to World Showcase. We were stopped in France, and given a survey to fill out for Bastille Day. I wanted hibachi, so I read it over while walking to Japan. We wandered through Japan, receiving many, many “Happy Anniversary’s” from the CMs there. Oh, such disappointment, Teppanyaki was closed! David still wanted to look around though, so we went through their shop. I bought a turtle timepiece, because a) I collect turtles, and b) my watch battery had died on the plane.
We stopped again at a pin kiosk at America, and I bought a bunch more pins. By this time, David was into it too. Let’s just say, we’d been in Disney for less than 3 hours, and we’d already spent $170 on just pins! Oops. Oh well, we really got into it this trip, and they’re wonderful souvenirs. We did get a Pirate lithograph and watch for having spent a certain amount. We’ve decided to decorate our game room with PoC stuff, so it’ll be perfect in there.
We finally decided on Italy for lunch, since I love L’Originale Alfredo di Roma Ristorante. I had the lasagna and David had spaghetti and meatballs. Having lived with an Italian family for a while, David doesn’t often think much of “American Italian,” but he said this place was great, and reminded him so much of living with them. We didn’t opt for dessert, as we were stuffed from just the bread and entrees.
We rolled out, and raced through WS and over to Test Track. However, we did stop once to see Dopey, in Norway. David stayed behind the camera at first, but then the CM took our pic together. Test Track’s stand-by line was only 30 min., so we went over to check out the wait for Mission: Space. It was over an hour, so we got FPs, and went to stand in line for TT. It was the first time I’d ever used stand-by for TT. We might have waited for 15 minutes before entering the briefing room. We both enjoyed the ride, especially the outside part. I scanned the pic with my PhotoPass card, and we were out. By now it was time for our FPs to Soarin’.
We thought we’d be slick and cut through Mouse Gears, but that was not the case (completely to our delight). A couple of CMs saw our anniversary buttons and invited us to join them in the Hokey Pokey. I figured David would balk, as he’s a shy, behind the camera, kind of guy. However, he got into it, even singing along. We were given our choice of Mickey gloves, or Stitch paws, and of course, we chose Stitch. I got one of the CMs to take our picture, “paws up,” before we gave them back. Jose, the other CM, made us a certificate for our magical moment, writing “Happy Anniversary” on it.