Dsnygirl
09-08-2011, 04:33 PM
Saturday, August 20th....
Today, my little family and I were going separate ways in the morning... my DH was off to golf with a friend, who'd gotten the two of them a SMOKING deal at a great local course. So, he was excited, and out the door before the girls and I were even close to surfacing from sleep.
We chose to head to Epcot today... my DH isn't a big fan of Soarin', so our hopes were to get there in time to do fp's AND standby, and go from there. Well, those plans didn't happen... even though we got there by 10:15 (yes, we slept in a big again... but I was determined to not be exhausted by our second day...) fp's for Soarin' were out past when we knew we'd be there, as we had plans in the evening for the HDDR, and some swim time beforehand.
So, instead, the girls waited in line to see Daisy and Stitch, I ran and got FP's for TT and after they were done, we got in line for SE. We met a lovely man and his family in line, and were able to have fun helping him out... he and his wife and their three (very) young children had made a spontaneous decision to come down just the week before, and hadn't been in years & years. We were able to give them all kinds of advice on rides and lines, it was very fun, and made the wait time go by very fast!
After our ride through, which we all thoroughly enjoyed, although it certainly was odd for me to be riding alone -- we decided to stay in the "after ride" area and do all of the different fun activities they have there for you. Often, we are in such a hurry that we skip right through here, and knew we'd missed out on quite a bit! The girls (and I) had fun doing the reflexes test, then they played shuffleboard and saved Paris from losing all it's electriciy... ;) ... and then it was time for some crazy car driving, and saving the universe! I had to step out for a few minutes... I wouldn't say that I was already used to the Florida heat by this point, but I certainly was used to summer warmth in general, and found the a/c in there WAY too cold. I was literally shivering as they were playing, and had to go outside to warm up!! Crazy...
From there, we headed to Test Track... so fun, wished I could have gotten FP's again for us to have done it twice!
By this time, the girls and I were feeling a bit hungry... so we headed to the Electric Umbrella for some lunch, and not long after, it was time to head back to the resort for some swimming. We made a trek through MouseGear on our way out... just LOVE that store, and of course, bought a few necessities... :blush: ... and then we were on our way.
At this point, we encountered the one not-so-great experience on our trip... we got to our room to find ourselves locked out. Our room key worked just fine -- but when our Mousekeeper had left, somehow the safety latch had swung closed on the door, and we had no way in. We could only get the door open a few inches, and there is no way to get the latch off the door -- trust me, we tried everything short of voodoo. :blush: (guess that means they work, though, right??)
After many, many calls to the front desk (and during which time my DH had arrived from golfing... tired & hot, just like us, and very ready for a swim...) we finally had an engineer come and let us in... and for having had to wait an hour and a half (yes, really... we called the first time at 2:58... we weren't let in until 4:30... :confused:) the fact that he pulled out some tool that looked akin to a bent clothes hanger, and had us in the room in about 30 seconds... let's just say we weren't very pleased with the overall service! But, we pushed it aside, jumped in our suits and headed to the pool to try to get at least a quick swim in before we had to get ready for dinner and the HDDR.
Seemed like it was no time at all that we were on our way to Ft. Wilderness... again, another time we were VERY grateful for our car... and soon we were signed in, and waiting for the doors to open. We had a LOVELY dinner, although unbelievably, my 10 yr old didn't care for much of the food at all. :eyes: I mean, what's not to like about fried chicken, ribs, cornbread... beans... but she honestly didn't really care for it, and was most happy with the strawberry shortcake. We did, however, all LOVE the show, and thought Six Pence was the best of everyone. He had us holding our sides laughing, and I got some great shots of him and his faces/reactions. We were so glad we booked it, and I'm sure we will again.
After dinner, we checked in with some of our friends... we knew that our local friends were staying at Kidani for the night, having a party for their daughter, and that our other friends, who were staying at AKL, were joining them post-party for some pool time. We'd been invited to join in, as well, and I'd told them I'd check in after the HDDR was over, just to be sure they were still poolside. Sure enough, they were... so off we went... again, another thing having our car made possible... :) ... and soon we were all poolside, drinks in hand, talking and chatting and having a great time together. All of our children get on like they've known each other for years, which is terrific, and honestly, we all do, as well. It was a great, fun night, and over WAY too quickly. By 11:30pm, we were turning into pumpkins and had to head home for some sleep... but it'd been a great ending to our day!!
Link to Part 4.... http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?p=2209597#post2209597
Today, my little family and I were going separate ways in the morning... my DH was off to golf with a friend, who'd gotten the two of them a SMOKING deal at a great local course. So, he was excited, and out the door before the girls and I were even close to surfacing from sleep.
We chose to head to Epcot today... my DH isn't a big fan of Soarin', so our hopes were to get there in time to do fp's AND standby, and go from there. Well, those plans didn't happen... even though we got there by 10:15 (yes, we slept in a big again... but I was determined to not be exhausted by our second day...) fp's for Soarin' were out past when we knew we'd be there, as we had plans in the evening for the HDDR, and some swim time beforehand.
So, instead, the girls waited in line to see Daisy and Stitch, I ran and got FP's for TT and after they were done, we got in line for SE. We met a lovely man and his family in line, and were able to have fun helping him out... he and his wife and their three (very) young children had made a spontaneous decision to come down just the week before, and hadn't been in years & years. We were able to give them all kinds of advice on rides and lines, it was very fun, and made the wait time go by very fast!
After our ride through, which we all thoroughly enjoyed, although it certainly was odd for me to be riding alone -- we decided to stay in the "after ride" area and do all of the different fun activities they have there for you. Often, we are in such a hurry that we skip right through here, and knew we'd missed out on quite a bit! The girls (and I) had fun doing the reflexes test, then they played shuffleboard and saved Paris from losing all it's electriciy... ;) ... and then it was time for some crazy car driving, and saving the universe! I had to step out for a few minutes... I wouldn't say that I was already used to the Florida heat by this point, but I certainly was used to summer warmth in general, and found the a/c in there WAY too cold. I was literally shivering as they were playing, and had to go outside to warm up!! Crazy...
From there, we headed to Test Track... so fun, wished I could have gotten FP's again for us to have done it twice!
By this time, the girls and I were feeling a bit hungry... so we headed to the Electric Umbrella for some lunch, and not long after, it was time to head back to the resort for some swimming. We made a trek through MouseGear on our way out... just LOVE that store, and of course, bought a few necessities... :blush: ... and then we were on our way.
At this point, we encountered the one not-so-great experience on our trip... we got to our room to find ourselves locked out. Our room key worked just fine -- but when our Mousekeeper had left, somehow the safety latch had swung closed on the door, and we had no way in. We could only get the door open a few inches, and there is no way to get the latch off the door -- trust me, we tried everything short of voodoo. :blush: (guess that means they work, though, right??)
After many, many calls to the front desk (and during which time my DH had arrived from golfing... tired & hot, just like us, and very ready for a swim...) we finally had an engineer come and let us in... and for having had to wait an hour and a half (yes, really... we called the first time at 2:58... we weren't let in until 4:30... :confused:) the fact that he pulled out some tool that looked akin to a bent clothes hanger, and had us in the room in about 30 seconds... let's just say we weren't very pleased with the overall service! But, we pushed it aside, jumped in our suits and headed to the pool to try to get at least a quick swim in before we had to get ready for dinner and the HDDR.
Seemed like it was no time at all that we were on our way to Ft. Wilderness... again, another time we were VERY grateful for our car... and soon we were signed in, and waiting for the doors to open. We had a LOVELY dinner, although unbelievably, my 10 yr old didn't care for much of the food at all. :eyes: I mean, what's not to like about fried chicken, ribs, cornbread... beans... but she honestly didn't really care for it, and was most happy with the strawberry shortcake. We did, however, all LOVE the show, and thought Six Pence was the best of everyone. He had us holding our sides laughing, and I got some great shots of him and his faces/reactions. We were so glad we booked it, and I'm sure we will again.
After dinner, we checked in with some of our friends... we knew that our local friends were staying at Kidani for the night, having a party for their daughter, and that our other friends, who were staying at AKL, were joining them post-party for some pool time. We'd been invited to join in, as well, and I'd told them I'd check in after the HDDR was over, just to be sure they were still poolside. Sure enough, they were... so off we went... again, another thing having our car made possible... :) ... and soon we were all poolside, drinks in hand, talking and chatting and having a great time together. All of our children get on like they've known each other for years, which is terrific, and honestly, we all do, as well. It was a great, fun night, and over WAY too quickly. By 11:30pm, we were turning into pumpkins and had to head home for some sleep... but it'd been a great ending to our day!!
Link to Part 4.... http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?p=2209597#post2209597