Janmac
10-12-2008, 10:59 PM
The Hurricane, Free Dining, Old Key West Experiment and Poly Anniversary Trip
5 through 15 September 2008
Day Three in the World – Sunday 7 September 2008, Old Key West
Cast of characters -
Me, planner un-extraordinaire
Mac, DH apparently perennially resistant to the Disney bug – but at least he doesn't stay home
Nick, our youngest grandson, and the only 17 yr old in our extended family to visit WDW
Kim, my smart timeshare-owning sister, joining us from Washington State
Sam, our niece & Kim's daughter, major fan of Disney in general and Tink specifically
Sierra, Sam's 4 year old daughter, on her second trip to the World
The Plan - It's water park day! Typhoon Lagoon, here we come. For supper, we go to Boatwrights at Port Orleans. As usual, Mac is going to hang around home (Old Key West) during the day, doing laundry, cleaning up after breakfast which we prepared in our villa (biscuits and gravy for some; eggs, toast and fruit for others) and reading his book, Stormy Weather by Carl Hiassen.
What really happened – In one of my better (or maybe worse?) un-extraordinary planner moments I left Missouri without our previously used, non-expiring Park Hopper with remaining Fun Options tickets that we were going to use for the water park. And I was still surprised – momentarily - at the turnstile when my park hopper only card didn't get me into the park. I remembered pretty quickly and turned to the rest of the group, half thinking I'd suggest a day at the Old Key West pool. One look at those perplexed but still hopeful faces and I knew that we were going to Typhoon Lagoon. Luckily we had room charging and we could charge the tickets to the room, because I had nothing else on me for payment. When going to a water park, you leave as much at home as you can.
At the ticket window I did my next impression of planner un-extraordinaire and bought tickets for our whole group, even tho Mac was at home. I figured that out just as soon as I started handing out tickets and had one too many. Back to the window and after several bits of refund paperwork, we are finally ready to go into the park. Luckily there were still some places in the shade over in the Ketchakiddee Creek area.
To be sure, I could have kept that one extra ticket for another trip but after leaving at home our current tickets saved for another trip, returning it for a refund seemed the better idea.
We had a great time at Typhoon Lagoon and did almost nothing. Sam and Nick did a few slides. Nick did the shark swim once but found it too cool, in the summer. Seems like in December 06 the shark swim wasn't as cold. Sierra had a grand time in the kiddee area, but she's still a bit timid on the slides. We all did the Lazy River, linked together. We had thought we might do the Crush 'n' Gusher but by the time we got around to it, figured we'd pass until next time, as the lines were starting to look long.
Mostly tho, we hung out, watched Sierra and relaxed. Very nice time. We had a good meal at Leaning Palms. The Cast Member asked did we want to come back for the Mickey head ice creams we had chosen for dessert. I did not know this was an option but assured the CM that we didn't need to. We eat the Mickey heads first. She thought that was a great idea.
We got back home to Old Key West – everyone there says “welcome home!” When we got back home we had plenty of time to shower and get ready for our supper at Boatwrights. A person can get really spoiled with the washer and dryer available. We just filled the washer, tossed in all the swim suits and towels and went to supper.
We were a bit concerned about eating at Boatwrights after our less than memorable meal at Olivia's. We liked the atmosphere and our server was very personable. We had had problems at Olivia's trying to find something we wanted to eat but at Boatwrights our problem was the reverse – so many things sounded good.
One funny thing happened on the drive over to Port Orleans from Old Key West, which isn't much of a drive, luckily. As my niece turned into the entrance and we saw the sign about showing your photo i.d., we realized we had left without our driver's licenses. Out of five licensed drivers in the van, the only one with a license was Mac. He drove on the way back.
We were back home fairly early but were ready for bed as tomorrow morning we wanted to be at Disney's Hollywood Studios in time for rope drop.
What worked – Room charge! 'Nuff said.
What didn't work – remembering to bring the park hopper passes with fun options from our previous trip. Ooops.
Note to self: grab that license before driving somewhere at Disney World.
Surprise! How much we liked Boatwrights. Perhaps it was that we were eating at 5:30 instead of 7 and we had been relaxing all day instead of traveling many miles. But Boatwrights worked for us.
It might be awhile – hopefully, before I have to buy spur of the moment park admissions again. :blush:
At the end of the day – We had a relaxing and fun time at the water park and a great meal experience – a pretty good day. :thumbsup:
Jan
5 through 15 September 2008
Day Three in the World – Sunday 7 September 2008, Old Key West
Cast of characters -
Me, planner un-extraordinaire
Mac, DH apparently perennially resistant to the Disney bug – but at least he doesn't stay home
Nick, our youngest grandson, and the only 17 yr old in our extended family to visit WDW
Kim, my smart timeshare-owning sister, joining us from Washington State
Sam, our niece & Kim's daughter, major fan of Disney in general and Tink specifically
Sierra, Sam's 4 year old daughter, on her second trip to the World
The Plan - It's water park day! Typhoon Lagoon, here we come. For supper, we go to Boatwrights at Port Orleans. As usual, Mac is going to hang around home (Old Key West) during the day, doing laundry, cleaning up after breakfast which we prepared in our villa (biscuits and gravy for some; eggs, toast and fruit for others) and reading his book, Stormy Weather by Carl Hiassen.
What really happened – In one of my better (or maybe worse?) un-extraordinary planner moments I left Missouri without our previously used, non-expiring Park Hopper with remaining Fun Options tickets that we were going to use for the water park. And I was still surprised – momentarily - at the turnstile when my park hopper only card didn't get me into the park. I remembered pretty quickly and turned to the rest of the group, half thinking I'd suggest a day at the Old Key West pool. One look at those perplexed but still hopeful faces and I knew that we were going to Typhoon Lagoon. Luckily we had room charging and we could charge the tickets to the room, because I had nothing else on me for payment. When going to a water park, you leave as much at home as you can.
At the ticket window I did my next impression of planner un-extraordinaire and bought tickets for our whole group, even tho Mac was at home. I figured that out just as soon as I started handing out tickets and had one too many. Back to the window and after several bits of refund paperwork, we are finally ready to go into the park. Luckily there were still some places in the shade over in the Ketchakiddee Creek area.
To be sure, I could have kept that one extra ticket for another trip but after leaving at home our current tickets saved for another trip, returning it for a refund seemed the better idea.
We had a great time at Typhoon Lagoon and did almost nothing. Sam and Nick did a few slides. Nick did the shark swim once but found it too cool, in the summer. Seems like in December 06 the shark swim wasn't as cold. Sierra had a grand time in the kiddee area, but she's still a bit timid on the slides. We all did the Lazy River, linked together. We had thought we might do the Crush 'n' Gusher but by the time we got around to it, figured we'd pass until next time, as the lines were starting to look long.
Mostly tho, we hung out, watched Sierra and relaxed. Very nice time. We had a good meal at Leaning Palms. The Cast Member asked did we want to come back for the Mickey head ice creams we had chosen for dessert. I did not know this was an option but assured the CM that we didn't need to. We eat the Mickey heads first. She thought that was a great idea.
We got back home to Old Key West – everyone there says “welcome home!” When we got back home we had plenty of time to shower and get ready for our supper at Boatwrights. A person can get really spoiled with the washer and dryer available. We just filled the washer, tossed in all the swim suits and towels and went to supper.
We were a bit concerned about eating at Boatwrights after our less than memorable meal at Olivia's. We liked the atmosphere and our server was very personable. We had had problems at Olivia's trying to find something we wanted to eat but at Boatwrights our problem was the reverse – so many things sounded good.
One funny thing happened on the drive over to Port Orleans from Old Key West, which isn't much of a drive, luckily. As my niece turned into the entrance and we saw the sign about showing your photo i.d., we realized we had left without our driver's licenses. Out of five licensed drivers in the van, the only one with a license was Mac. He drove on the way back.
We were back home fairly early but were ready for bed as tomorrow morning we wanted to be at Disney's Hollywood Studios in time for rope drop.
What worked – Room charge! 'Nuff said.
What didn't work – remembering to bring the park hopper passes with fun options from our previous trip. Ooops.
Note to self: grab that license before driving somewhere at Disney World.
Surprise! How much we liked Boatwrights. Perhaps it was that we were eating at 5:30 instead of 7 and we had been relaxing all day instead of traveling many miles. But Boatwrights worked for us.
It might be awhile – hopefully, before I have to buy spur of the moment park admissions again. :blush:
At the end of the day – We had a relaxing and fun time at the water park and a great meal experience – a pretty good day. :thumbsup:
Jan