lettripp
07-31-2012, 07:50 PM
We woke up at 5:00am at my parents’ house. They graciously volunteered to cat-sit and to be our “Park and Ride.” DH’s parents arrived around 5:20 and my father drove the four of us to Bradley. We made it to the terminal just in time. The flight was quick and it seemed our pilot wanted a “break check” on landing. Fastest stop ever!
We boarded the DME and arrived at Wilderness Lodge just before lunchtime and the room was ready before we checked in! WL was already becoming a new favorite of ours, but more on that later. Once we got to the room, we dropped our stuff, groceries arrived and we headed out to Epcot via the boat to MK and the monorail to the park.
Determining what the most “Disney” thing to do at Epcot for our first attraction was, was the subject of debate for weeks. This ended up being a last minute decision, as we ate at Sunshine Seasons, saw the epic line for Soarin’ and b-lined for Finding Nemo. Actually, b-line isn’t the appropriate term. Weaved through tour groups was more like it. Little did we know this would be an all too common theme on this trip, as maneuvering around tour groups is an art it took a week to perfect.
DMIL loved Nemo and we had one of the funniest “Crush” encounters of any trips yet. I think I counted at least 3 very grown-up jokes that went over kid’s heads. Amazing! After touring around the tanks, we journeyed into our imaginations with Figment and watched Captain EO. I have to say I appreciated it more this time around… because I wasn’t laughing hysterically at the level of cheese. We also managed to watch the pre-show video this time and that definitely made me appreciate the show more.
Next up was a shopping trip. DMIL and DFIL had both forgotten hats and bought matching ones at Mousegears. Actually, DFIL bought two hats and MIL found earrings and sunglasses she liked too. I have to say, I was actually excited about a lot of the merchandise this trip as well! More on that later too!
After shopping we went back to Soarin’ and used Fastpasses we had grabbed earlier. DMIL is not a fan of roller coasters or heights, but we thought she might be able to handle Soarin’… and we were only half wrong. After the ride, we learned that she loved it but would never do it again. She saw it as a fear she overcame, and ended up buying a T-shirt to remember it later. Next, we ignorantly tried to see if she would ride Mission Space (green side) with us. She saw the ride vehicle in the line, an turned around to walk the other way. DFIL loved it and agreed to ride orange with us too. He made fun of me for screaming the entire time. We finished our time in Future World with Mission Space and left for our ADRs in the World Showcase.
We had dinner at Le Cellier that night. Note to future self – Share a bowl of soup before the steak. The food was amazing but we were quite full after. I had the filet and DH had a different steak, the name of which we are currently debating. With no room for desert, we headed to Mexico for margaritas and found a place to watch Illuminations. DFIL and DH opted for beverages from the Tequilla bar while I was craving a Fiesta Margarita. We camped out in front of Norway and loved every minute of the pre-show and the show itself.
Normally I would say: And then we went home and went to bed. Oh no, that’s when the night got even more interesting. On our way out of the park, a group of very intoxicated kids (and when I say kids I mean obviously underage) were walking out. One of them dropped his beer bottle (again, shows that they didn’t get their alcohol in the park) and it shattered. Then his friend tripped him and he rolled in the glass. We heard him yelling and went over. His friends were useless… sloppy and incoherent. We got him out of the walkway and to elevate his arm, which had a 2 in wide shard of glass sticking out of it. He was bleeding all over the place, from his hands and obviously the huge gash with the glass. I immediately ran for a cast member when I saw the blood. It took them too long to arrive. Seriously. The kid was bleeding fast. Anyway, a security guard finally came over and tried to put pressure on the wound… with the glass still in it. Pretty soon he was surrounded by 5 other managers and medical personnel. We said goodbye and left, not needing or expecting thank-you's from the kids, but the Cast Members were very appreciative of our help and expressed it enthusiastically.
But no, wait, there's more! When we got back to the hotel we found that DH’s medication had been stolen out of his luggage. Still have yet to determine if it was TSA’s or Disney’s fault, but it hasn’t turned up. Luckily, Disney works with a medication delivery service and he was able to get a week’s worth of meds the next day.
We went to bed as soon as we could, after a very eventful first day.
We boarded the DME and arrived at Wilderness Lodge just before lunchtime and the room was ready before we checked in! WL was already becoming a new favorite of ours, but more on that later. Once we got to the room, we dropped our stuff, groceries arrived and we headed out to Epcot via the boat to MK and the monorail to the park.
Determining what the most “Disney” thing to do at Epcot for our first attraction was, was the subject of debate for weeks. This ended up being a last minute decision, as we ate at Sunshine Seasons, saw the epic line for Soarin’ and b-lined for Finding Nemo. Actually, b-line isn’t the appropriate term. Weaved through tour groups was more like it. Little did we know this would be an all too common theme on this trip, as maneuvering around tour groups is an art it took a week to perfect.
DMIL loved Nemo and we had one of the funniest “Crush” encounters of any trips yet. I think I counted at least 3 very grown-up jokes that went over kid’s heads. Amazing! After touring around the tanks, we journeyed into our imaginations with Figment and watched Captain EO. I have to say I appreciated it more this time around… because I wasn’t laughing hysterically at the level of cheese. We also managed to watch the pre-show video this time and that definitely made me appreciate the show more.
Next up was a shopping trip. DMIL and DFIL had both forgotten hats and bought matching ones at Mousegears. Actually, DFIL bought two hats and MIL found earrings and sunglasses she liked too. I have to say, I was actually excited about a lot of the merchandise this trip as well! More on that later too!
After shopping we went back to Soarin’ and used Fastpasses we had grabbed earlier. DMIL is not a fan of roller coasters or heights, but we thought she might be able to handle Soarin’… and we were only half wrong. After the ride, we learned that she loved it but would never do it again. She saw it as a fear she overcame, and ended up buying a T-shirt to remember it later. Next, we ignorantly tried to see if she would ride Mission Space (green side) with us. She saw the ride vehicle in the line, an turned around to walk the other way. DFIL loved it and agreed to ride orange with us too. He made fun of me for screaming the entire time. We finished our time in Future World with Mission Space and left for our ADRs in the World Showcase.
We had dinner at Le Cellier that night. Note to future self – Share a bowl of soup before the steak. The food was amazing but we were quite full after. I had the filet and DH had a different steak, the name of which we are currently debating. With no room for desert, we headed to Mexico for margaritas and found a place to watch Illuminations. DFIL and DH opted for beverages from the Tequilla bar while I was craving a Fiesta Margarita. We camped out in front of Norway and loved every minute of the pre-show and the show itself.
Normally I would say: And then we went home and went to bed. Oh no, that’s when the night got even more interesting. On our way out of the park, a group of very intoxicated kids (and when I say kids I mean obviously underage) were walking out. One of them dropped his beer bottle (again, shows that they didn’t get their alcohol in the park) and it shattered. Then his friend tripped him and he rolled in the glass. We heard him yelling and went over. His friends were useless… sloppy and incoherent. We got him out of the walkway and to elevate his arm, which had a 2 in wide shard of glass sticking out of it. He was bleeding all over the place, from his hands and obviously the huge gash with the glass. I immediately ran for a cast member when I saw the blood. It took them too long to arrive. Seriously. The kid was bleeding fast. Anyway, a security guard finally came over and tried to put pressure on the wound… with the glass still in it. Pretty soon he was surrounded by 5 other managers and medical personnel. We said goodbye and left, not needing or expecting thank-you's from the kids, but the Cast Members were very appreciative of our help and expressed it enthusiastically.
But no, wait, there's more! When we got back to the hotel we found that DH’s medication had been stolen out of his luggage. Still have yet to determine if it was TSA’s or Disney’s fault, but it hasn’t turned up. Luckily, Disney works with a medication delivery service and he was able to get a week’s worth of meds the next day.
We went to bed as soon as we could, after a very eventful first day.