Robin's Trip Report 1/4-1/10/09

[handmaidenofprincesses]

I'm going to post this in several parts (it's already typed and waiting to go haha) Here are the links to my web albums on Picasa (there are 2, with 725 pictures total :)) Allow me to quickly explain the ducks.. Ducks are one thing, other than Mickey, that you can find everywhere you go in WDW, and since my dad loves birds it has kind of become a joke. So, I take pix of Disney ducks.. you'll see lots in the albums lol

Disney 2009 Part 1 (500 pix)
http://picasaweb.google.com/sweetnotes19/Disney2009?feat=directlink

Disney 2009 Part 2 (225 pix)
http://picasaweb.google.com/sweetnotes19/Disney2009Part2?authkey=4N95A0e53l0&feat=directlink

Okay, now we're ready..

Here is my trip report starring Robin (that's me!) and my Aunt Susan (more frequently known as Auntie)

1/4/09 Sunday

Our flight out of Hartford left at 8 am, so we made it to the airport around 6:45. It was a brisk 9 degrees! Our Southwest flight was very smooth and we landed in Orlando a half an hour early. We had to ask for directions to get to Magical Express twice (it isn't very clearly marked, surprisingly, and having stayed on-site only once before several years prior, I'd forgotten how to get there). As soon as I saw the incredibly long line for ME, all I could think was “I thought this was off-season!?!?” I ended up waiting about half an hour to forty five minutes, but it felt much longer (I was in long pants and a fleece hoodie, and it was somewhere in the 80s) Our travel agent didn't send them our flight info, so I had to deal with that minor meltdown, but it wasn't too bad.

We took a Mears bus to Pop Century and were pleasantly surprised to find we were the first stop! Despite the early time of day, our room was ready and waiting, and our room request had been honored. (1st floor, 70's building) Our room was right next to the Big Wheel, across from the foozball court and the giant Mickey phone.

We had some time to kill, so after we unpacked, we went down to the arcade and used up my 30 minute game card. I could play any non-ticket game I wanted for 30 minutes (mostly racing games). I came in 2nd highest score for the day on the NASCAR game!

Then we went to the Boardwalk. It took forever to get there! There is no direct bus, so we were told to go to Downtown Disney and transfer there (which makes no sense, b/c DD is in the opposite direction) We finally arrived about an hour and a half later (stopped at about ten other hotels on the way) We explored for a while and then ate at Spoodles (it was my dad's birthday gift to my aunt). It was awesome! I had the pork tenderloin with spinach and gnocchi and my aunt had steak kebabs with harissa and quinoa. The harissa was some sort of Egyptian dipping sauce, according to our waitress Kim. My aunt wasn't too crazy about it, but I thought it was great. I ended up dipping my pork in it. After dinner Kim brought my aunt a HUGE cupcake with a ton of pink frosting and sprinkles and everyone sang (which really embarrassed my aunt...) So, we split the cupcake (really good) and then went back to Pop.

[handmaidenofprincesses]

Got up at 6 and caught the 7:15 bus to the Magic Kingdom. (Called home before I left to rub in the fact that I was warm and they were freezing lol) Made it to MK by 7:50 and into the park for our Crystal Palace breakfast ADR. Being on Main Street USA w/o a huge crowd was AMAZING! Plus, the Christmas decorations were all still up, so I was even happier.

Breakfast at CP was dreadful. The food was all lukewarm bordering on cold, our server Mike was abrupt and made sure to remind us (several times, in quite the pushy way) that his tip wasn't included and we needed to leave him one. We only saw Pooh and Eeyore, and Pooh barely bothered to wave as he walked by, as if there were no point in stopping since there were no children at our table. Having had some really wonderful dinners at CP, I was thoroughly disappointed. In the end, the benefit of getting in early outweighed the lousy breakfast. Perhaps next time we'll try Cindy's castle...

We walked right onto Peter Pan after the rope drop, and continued through Fantasyland without waiting in a single line. Our longest wait all day was BTMRR (35-40 min) followed by Jungle Cruise (35 min- no FP all week), and Goofy's Barnstormer (30 min).

My goal this trip was to try new things. It was my eleventh trip, and we tend to do the same things each time. New things I did Monday included: full circle train ride, Barnstormer, watch Sonny Eclipse's show (very cute, liked it a lot) and explored the Plaza Rose Garden. It was in this rose garden that I found the ONLY “Celebrate Today!” banner I saw all week- everywhere else was still decked out for the YoaMD.

We finished the entire park (much to our surprise) by 3:30 pm! So we sat down and had a premium Mickey ice cream bar before redoing Pirates, Philharmagic, and the Haunted Mansion.

That night at Pop, while my aunt was in the shower, I inflated a bunch of balloons and decorated our room for her birthday. Then we were ready to party! :)

[handmaidenofprincesses]

We got breakfast at Pop and brought it back to our room (I had a muffin and milk, my aunt had a bagel and some OJ.. nothing special) I called and made sure that my aunt got her special birthday message from Goofy, which she just loved! Then we mailed our postcards and caught the 1st bus to Epcot @7:15 for EMH.

We rode Soarin' first, then got fastpasses to come back around ten thirty. We then went and rode Test Track (my favorite). Then we went to get my aunt's Birthday Fun Card. Now, I realize the program had only been going on for 6 days at this point but it wasn't very well coordinated. No one seemed to have a clue, including the folks at Guest Relations. We spent about an hour searching high and low and being sent hither and yon before finally getting to the right Will Call window and obtaining her BFC.

We then had to get back to Soarin' (or our FPs would expire) and then we tried to get on Living with the Land (no FP for that either) About 20 min after getting in line, the ride broke down, so we took off for the Seas with Nemo and Friends. It was pretty crowded and we had to wait for quite a while to catch a “clam-mobile.” After poking around the observation areas for a while and going to see Turtle Talk, we headed over to the Coral Reef for lunch.

Our waiter, Tony, was very friendly and helpful, though service was a bit slow (our lunch took almost two hours after we sat down, and we weren't the ones lallygagging). The food was very good. I had blackened catfish (catfish is my favorite!) with pepper jack cheese grits. The grits must have been extraordinary, by grits standards, because I was even persuaded to eat a bit of them and I absolutely despise grits. My aunt had the mahi mahi, which she really enjoyed. For dessert, we both had the Bailey's/Jack Daniels chocolate mousse, which was excellent, but very, very rich.

After lunch, we headed over to Journey into the Imagination and then had our picture taken at Imageworks, which we had sent to our resort. They messed it up and used the wrong picture though, so we ended up with a picture of my aunt with her eyes closed. (She was mad).

Then we finally started in on the World Showcase. We watched “O Canada” and then attempted to make it to the next Voices of Liberty show (There are only 2 things I care to see in the World Showcase: Voices of Liberty and Off Kilter. Once I've seen them, I'm happy haha) Unfortunately, we only caught the very last chord of their last song. We decided to see the American Adventure attraction, but sat at the end of the row in order to skip out early and catch their next performance. I sat front and center on the floor, as always, and they were wonderful! After the show one of them came over and talked to me for a while, took a picture with me. Auntie said it was probably b/c I had a stupid ear-to-ear grin on my face the whole time they were singing. All I know is that I felt reeeaaallllyyy dumb, b/c I had somehow managed to tie my backpack around my wrist while we'd been sitting there and I couldn't get it off, and here's this guy coming over to chat with me and reaching out to shake my hand and I can't get my stupid backpack off my wrist. Did finally manage to get it off though, thank heavens. He asked me almost right off if I sang (without fail, one of them always does... sometimes I think I must have “voice major” tattooed on my forehead) He also asked me where I was from, and when I said CT, he grinned “I was just there not too long ago, I picked apples!” idk, it made me laugh... (there are a few other things to do here you know.. not many, but a few...)

I stopped in the gift shop on the way out and bought the “A Cappella Americana” CD (which is quite good) but I was surprised to see non-American CMs working there. I am confused. In order to work in a World Showcase pavilion, don't you have to actually be from that country? These girls were from Hong Kong and Panama, I checked.

Then we rode the Maelstrom, then the Gran Fiesta Tour, then headed back to Future World. We rode Test Track as single riders, although just before we got into the briefing room, the ride broke down for about 15 min. Then we spent part of my aunt's B-day Fun Card in the gift shop. She got herself a Test Track Pit Crew tee-shirt, bought my dad a Jeff Burton hat (it's really tough to find Jeff Burton merch for some reason, so we sort of jumped at the opportunity), and she bought me a Test Track antenna topper. I also got my Test Track license from one of those little photo booths. Very silly, but a fun way to remember my favorite ride!

On the way out, I tried to take a picture of the Wonders of Life pavilion, but it was dark and it didn't come out. The sign is gone (it was there last year, although a few bulbs were burnt out) I have a feeling the whole pavilion is next...

We spent the rest of my aunt's BFC at Mouse Gear. We got matching “Four Parks, One World” tee-shirts and she got a watch. Then we rode the “reimagined” Spaceship Earth, the ending of which my aunt loved.

After that, we went back to Pop, got some dinner (a meatball sub for Auntie and pepperoni pizza for me) and went to bed.

[handmaidenofprincesses]

Auntie brought breakfast back to our room while I got ready (I am not a morning person) and then we caught the 1st bus to DHS. It was pretty crowded. The rope drop was cute, keeping to the whole theme of old-time Hollywood movies with a director, movie star, film crew... We were the “extras-” after the family of the day said “Hollywood here we come!” we were all supposed to scream and yell. We sort of did, bu we were all much more interested in getting to Toy Story Mania.

I hurried ahead of my aunt (I'm good at dodging through crowds) and got FPs, then we waited about 15-20 min standby. Our first scores were: Robin-93,900 and Auntie-39,900 and our second time around our scores were: Robin-114,400 and Auntie- 54,600.

In between, we rode the Great Movie Ride, and I was surprised by a female Mugsy. I hadn't realized they did female Mugsies. Anyway, she was dreadful. She couldn't keep the accent going, was hard to hear (we were only three rows back) and she just didn't seem into it. Kind of ruined the ride for me, although our original tour guide, Ingmar, was possibly the best we'd ever had on GMR.

Then we headed over to the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater for lunch. Auntie and I both had a reuben, which was way too big for me to finish, and we split an Oreo milkshake. Neither the food nor the service were outstanding, but I'd probably eat there again just for the atmosphere. I loved watching the clips from all of those old B-movies and overall I think it was a very clever theme.

Then we saw MuppetVision 3D. I love that movie, but it could use an update. The 3D effects aren't even all that clear, and after seeing things like Philharmagic, it's slightly underwhelming. Then we rode Star Tours, much to my aunt's chagrin (she hates things that “jerk you around”) I love Star Tours though, so she agreed to go on with me. There was literally no line (possibly b/c the Jedi Training thing was going on) and we even got to sit in the front row, which was a first for me. I felt bad for the little girl behind me though, she cried hysterically through the whole thing.

Next, we went to do Auntie's favorite thing: The Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular! We sat 3 rows up front and center, which was awesome. That first scene with the fire and the stakes shooting out of the ground is much scarier when you're up close! Then we went over to the Magic of Disney Animation. The Animation Academy is usually the highlight of my trip, but not this time. We attempted to draw Goofy circa 1939 and well, it just didn't work. Then we attempted to go to One Man's Dream and were sorely disappointed to find it closed already!

So we rode the GMR one more time instead. I was very excited- we got the alternate scene with the cowboy bank robbery/fire for the very first time! It really wasn't much different than the gangster scene, but it was nice to see something different. It also wasn't terribly believable- not sure if it was the script or our tour guide, but it sort of played out like “Gee, somebody's robbing a bank, in a movie that isn't even real, so why don't I just jump out of my vehicle, unarmed, and rush in all heroic like and hope I save the day.”

After that we got some popcorn and headed back to the hotel (I wanted to change before Hoop Dee Doo, as it had gotten quite cool).

Later on, we took the bus to MK and then got on the ferry to Fort Wilderness. That may very well have been the highlight of my whole trip. Cool, breezy, the scenery was great, and the most beautiful pink and purple sunset was gracing the sky. It was fabulous. Looking back at MK and seeing it all lit up was pretty cool too, I was disappointed that I couldn't get a good picture. We passed a bunch of little islands on the way and I was trying to remember- is one of those Discovery Island?

The guy at check-in said the show is 1hr 45 min, so we can expect to be out around 9 pm. The show itself was great and funny as ever. Even though we were in Category 3 seating, we had a great time. Sixbit Slocum came up and spent quite a bit of time chatting with us. He was the only one out of the 6 that I saw last year- all of the other actors were different. After the show, a bus was waiting to take us back to our hotel. We were a little annoyed though- the Pop Century bus stopped at 3 other hotels before the Pop Century... but I guess they had to get back too. It just made for a late night, that's all.

[handmaidenofprincesses]

We got to the Animal Kingdom by 8:30 am (Auntie's 1st visit to DAK). The rope drop was cute, it included more core characters than the others we had seen so far. It was absolutely PACKED, but then again, the marathon weekend had just begun. We got on the safari first and saw a ton of animals, which was great. Then we went to see “Finding Nemo the Musical.” It was a pretty good show- awesome set design. Auntie loved it, it had been pretty much all she wanted to see at DAK, and it didn't disappoint.

Then we went to Dinosaur, which did disappoint. As I said earlier, she doesn't like anything that “jerks you around.” Well, I've never liked Dinosaur very much (to be honest it scares me to death, though I'm getting more comfortable with it as I get older) but Auntie wanted to ride it after seeing the talk about it on the Travel Channel. So, we rode it once and got it over with but I doubt she'll ever ride it again.

Then we went on Primeval Whirl. It's a fun coaster, but we were very squished together and extremely uncomfortable, especially when going around sharp corners- we got slammed around quite a bit, and I ended up with a big bruise on my thigh from being pushed up against the side of the car.

We ate at the Tusker House for lunch, which was a very brave choice for us, but turned out to be excellent. Our server, Rudi, was wonderful. I was very brave and even tried a cold couscous dish and a curried seafood stew with shrimp, scallops and mussels. I have discovered that I don't like mussels, by the way. I only had two on my plate, and Auntie ate one.

We then rode Kilimanjaro Safaris again, since we were in the neighborhood. There was no wait, which surprised me. We had Bobby for a guide and I think he may have been confused as to whether he was working on the safari or the Jungle Cruise- lots and lots of corny jokes! He still gave us lots us really interesting info though, and we saw a ton of animals, different from what we had seen in the morning. My favorite was the family of giraffes :)

Then we went over to It's Tough to Be a Bug and I was reminded of why I hated it when I was little. ::Spoilers Ahead:: Acid shooting termites, a poison dart throwing tarantula, giant black widows dropping from the ceiling, and creepy crawlies underneath you- for a film that starts off trying to convince you that bugs are your friend, they sure do manage to play up to every single stereotypical fear of bugs out there. I was very disappointed and probably won't be doing that again anytime soon.

We went back to the hotel for a while (too much walking for Auntie to do all the trails) and then headed to DD West Side for Cirque du Soleil La Nouba! It was quite the hike from the Pleasure Island bus stop down to Cirque (there's no bus stop for West Side). Having never before seen a Cirque du Soleil show, I had no idea what to expect, but I can say this: it was phenomenal! I had no idea human beings were capable of some of those stunts. My favorite act was a balancing act. This guy balanced himself on a table stacked with five chairs, a grandfather clock, a briefcase and a chandelier, all whilst on top of an ever-rising platform! It was amazing.

My one complaint would be that the stage tended to be overcrowded. There were so many performers on stage at one point that I didn't know where to look or what was going on, and I ended up missing part of the tightrope act. I thought perhaps it was just my ADHD acting up, b/c I do tend to be easily distracted, but I heard a couple of others make the same comment.

After the show, I got a distressing voice mail message from my dad. “We're expecting 6-10 inches of snow here on Saturday night. I'll keep an eye on it, but you're probably going to have to fly home early.” Figures!

[handmaidenofprincesses]

We had a “real” breakfast at Pop, though it could only be classified as “really disgusting.” I ordered chocolate chip pancakes, which were tough and cold and all of the chocolate chips were piled in the middle. My aunt ordered a cheddar cheese omelette and home fries, but hers was cold as well (the cheese didn't even melt). They were really busy with all of the marathoners, so this may have been the problem, I don't know.

Then we went back to MK just in time for rope drop. I really liked this one, with Mickey and the gang riding in on the train. I think it was my favorite of all the rope drops. Then we rode Peter Pan, IASW, Philharmagic, Pirates, and Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin (There was something wrong with my gun though, which was very upsetting.) Then we got on the TTA, which stopped motion in the perfect place to take some awesome picture of Space Mountain and the Castle.

After that, we said goodbye to MK and got on the monorail to hop to Epcot. We ate lunch at Sunshine Seasons. My aunt had a grilled veggie sandwich with a piece of key lime pie and I had a turkey and muenster cheese sandwich on foccacia with chipotle mayonnaise (My favorite sandwich in the whole of WDW!) with a piece of Butterfinger cheesecake for dessert. That's the one problem with the dining plan, I think, is that people who aren't used to eating dessert suddenly find themselves eating dessert at every meal so as not to waste their credits!

Then we rode Living with the Land, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I think the last room in the greenhouses has changed a bit since last summer. Then we rode Figment again (I love that little dragon) and I bought my niece a souvie in the gift shop (when she was in the hospital, we watched my DVD of that ride over and over and over and over....)

Then we went to Canada and I bought Off Kilter's “Etched in Stone.” Then we caught their 2:30 show, which made me very happy, as it is what I had been waiting for all week! After the show they signed my CD and I had my picture taken with them (Came out kind of blurry, unfortunately). I was very glad my cell phone was on silent though- right when our picture was being taken it started to vibrate and had it been on full volume, Loch Lomond would have started blasting out of my pocket (it's my ringtone)! Now that would have been embarrassing...

Then we went over to the American Adventure and saw some of the Fife and Drum Corps, and then the Voices of Liberty again. With the exception of the director, one man and one woman, the group was entirely different from Tuesday, which got me wondering, how many Voices of Liberty are there? And who are they? I can name every member of Off Kilter, but I haven't got a clue who the people in the Voices of Liberty are. There may be a reason behind that, idk, but I was just wondering. Mostly because of that picture I had taken... I'd prefer to caption it along the lines of “Robin and John from the Voices of Liberty” than “Robin and some guy from the Voices of Liberty” lol

But I digress... then Auntie and I saw the entirety of the American Adventure. I love the film montage at the end, the one set to “Golden Dream,” it gives me goosebumps! Then we walked around the rest of the World Showcase and rode the Gran Fiesta Tour again. Why they don't just call that “It's a Small World Goes to Mexico” is beyond me... My mom called. Due to snow, we were now confirmed for a much earlier flight, cutting our vacation almost a day shorter than anticipated. Blech..

We checked out the line for Test Track, but 65 min was way too long for us and there were no FPs left, so we just went back to the land building. We watched the Circle of Life film (thank heavens “going green” is trendy right now!) and then headed over to our ADR at the Garden Grill.

The Garden Grill was great; in fact, I may have a new favorite restaurant! The characters and the atmosphere were great and the food was really good, especially the catfish!

Then we rode Spaceship Earth one last time. Did you know that you can e-mail your “future” home from Project Tomorrow? I never did until we were walking out and I happened to see a kiosk as I went by. I simply had to stop and send it home. (It's in my 2nd Picasa album) I have to admit, the cartoon create-your-own-future thing is growing on me a little.

On the way out I was interviewed by Emira from Disney Research which was neat. I've always wondered what kinds of questions they ask, and now I know! Then we went back to Pop (about 7:50 pm) Bus was P-A-C-K-E-D packed! I don't understand how it can be legal for so many people to be standing in the aisle that they have to hold on to one another instead of the rails. If there had been an accident, we'd all have been dead, but the bus driver kept saying “Oh sure, we can squeeze a few more in.” Whatever..

When we got back to Pop we stopped at the Concierge to change our Magical Express and cancel our lunch ADR for Planet Hollywood. I have to say, in both of my visits to Pop I have hated dealing with the Concierge. I've just had bad experiences all around, but not so this night. Alfred was great! He was really helpful and funny, and made the whole ordeal of having to go home early much less cumbersome.

On our way back to our room, we stopped at Pop Dining and used up our last 6 snack credits buying chocolate dipped Mickey Mouse rice krispie treats. Since Saturday would have been our day at Downtown Disney, these would have to suffice as souvenirs. Then we went back to our room and set about the extremely depressing task of packing. We had managed to drink all but one bottle from the case of water bottles I brought, so I essentially took my dirty clothes bag and stuffed it into my duffel to be dealt with later.

[handmaidenofprincesses]

After several hours of being unable to sleep, I finally got up at 5:45 am, got dressed, finished packing, and found that I was ready 2 hours early. (ME was set to come at 8:15) I went outside and took a couple of last minute pictures and then spent some time uploading my new Off Kilter and Voices of Liberty CDs to my iPod.

We checked out at 7:55 and were waiting for the bus (per Alfred's recommendation) by 8am. We had a very pleasant ride to the airport. I liked the little video with all of the characters saying goodbye, although it made me kind of sad. We went to the Southwest desk and printed off our boarding passes (my dad had checked us in online) and then headed over to the terminal.

The line for security was still pretty short at that time, and we breezed through. Then we had breakfast at Au Bon Pain and got a sandwich to go on the plane. We boarded on time and even landed about a half hour early at Bradley, although we had to wait on the plane because the gate wasn't ready. This flight wasn't nearly as smooth as the flight down had been- lots of turbulence, and boy was I glad I was wearing my seatbelt when we landed!

My dad was waiting at baggage claim and we went home. It started snowing about 20 minutes later and there's now about 4 inches of snow on the ground (Those weathermen always overestimate...but at least we got some snow, I'd have been really annoyed if we hadn't got any.) And so ends my eleventh trip to Walt Disney World. Thanks for reading!

Totals:

Final picture count (pre-editing): 804
Final picture count (post-editing): 725
Fastpasses used: 3
-Soarin'
-Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
-Toy Story Mania
Dining Credits Leftover: 1 QS (b/c we left early)
Pins Purchased: 4
-Mickey shaped speedometer
-Mickey Liberty coin
- Epcot “One Mouse, One World”
-Cindy's carriage

[the other micki]

I so enjoyed reading your reports! Sorry you had to leave early, but it sounds like you and Auntie had a great time! That's so funny about the backpack getting wrapped around your wrist! Thanks for the comments on dining. We'll be eating at a few of the places you went. Thanks for sharing!:thumbsup:

[mouseketeer mom]

Great trip report!!!!! Loved your pictures too! Sorry your breakfast at CP wasn't very good...it usually is, so must've been an "off" day..

[faline]

Despite your early departure, it was a very nice trip!

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

Thanks for the reports

[Suz36]

Thanks for sharing your trip with us! Sounds like you had a great time. I've never seen Off Kilter, but after your glowing reports, it's now on my "must do" list for our upcoming trip. Glad to hear you loved Garden Grill, we have ADRs there. I hope the low crowds you experienced early in the trip hold true for our first week in Feb. Thanks again - I really enjoyed reading your reports!

[pdrlkr]

Thanks for the Report! :smickey: