Tigerinvestigator
08-02-2012, 02:29 PM
Day 2 Arrival at WDW
We managed to get out of St. Augustine very early and met almost no traffic going to Orlando. Even I-4 was almost empty. We went to the Official Ticket Center and paid cash for our tickets 7Day Park Hopper with Water Park and more option....that place is the best and a sponsor of this site. Quick stop at Walmart and moments later...........”WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR” We were entering the gates of WDW. We had the typical everyone pointing at hotels and attractions and signs and monorails and no one was listening to anyone else just filled with excitement. We arrived at the Contemporary resort for our one night stay. We have always wanted to stay in the tower and decided this would be our chance when we added a night on the front end of the vacation. Check-in was smooth and our room with a Bay lake view on the 6th floor was ready. Great location right next to the elevators, great view of Bay Lake, Bay Lake Tower, and the pools. I absolutely love the smell of the Contemporary. It still smells like it did in the 1970's when I was there as a child. This stay brought back so many great childhood memories of playing in the Food and Fun Center, and catching the monorail to the MK. The room was huge and beautiful. Very modern with a great TV that we never used. We voted to make this a tradition with one night at the tower whenever we could afford it.
We then caught the monorail over to the TTC....in route we spyed the new AVENGERAIL which the kids thought was awesome. I prefer the basic monorail...but I'm old so....anyway. Walked over to the Polynesian enjoying the landscaping. The Poly is my personal favorite resort. I have very fond memories of the hill above the beach playing with my grandfather in the 1970's. He has since passed on. I remember getting off the monorail as a child late at night very sleepy and walking across those seafoam green and blue tile floors in the great ceremonial house....anyway back to the present. We toured the grounds and then saw that Kona Cafe had no wait for lunch so we enjoyed a fantastic lunch by the window that looks out at the monorail station. It was perfect. The crab cakes were awesome and I had the BBQ tacos. After a great meal we caught the monorail to the MK. Crowds were not bad at all. We walked through Tomorrowland and rode COP (We love this show) which just added to the memories from my past. We caught the TTA peoplemover and it was pleasant with a nice breeze. We then walked the back path past Space Mtn. To the new Fantasyland. Goofy's rollercoaster looked great as did the train station and Casey's water playground. We talked about how great the new area will be when completed as we walked through the walled up land. As we got to Liberty Square it began to rain hard. We took shelter in the breezeway between Frontierland and Adventureland. A few mins later the rain stopped and we walked into The Tiki Room. I really like this old version better but the kids thought is was dull compared to the one they have grown up watching with Zazu and Iago. From there we walked onto POTC my favorite ride. We then decided to head back to the Contemporary to rest since the MK was open until 2am. We made the walk from MK to the CR for the first time ever and then I retired to our balcony while DW and the girls headed for the CR shops and arcade. I enjoyed just sitting and watching and had that tremendous feeling of “this is my first day of vacation and I still have more than a week in front of me”. YOU CANNOT BOTTLE THAT FEELING! Headed back to MK a few hours later via the monorail. This time we stopped at the firestation and got our Sorcerer training and cards (this is a really cool addition to the MK). We then had reservations at the Plaza for dinner. It was nice and the food was good. We had a view of the castle. After I had to run back to the CR to change shoes while the girls did Dumbo. We rejoined shortly after and walked through Tommorrowland riding the TTA again and then rode IASW, the Jungle Cruise, and POTC again. We called it a night a little early and took the monorail back to the CR. It was a great first day and we ended it as we would most every night of this trip......on the balcony looking out over WDW!:thumbsup:
We managed to get out of St. Augustine very early and met almost no traffic going to Orlando. Even I-4 was almost empty. We went to the Official Ticket Center and paid cash for our tickets 7Day Park Hopper with Water Park and more option....that place is the best and a sponsor of this site. Quick stop at Walmart and moments later...........”WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR” We were entering the gates of WDW. We had the typical everyone pointing at hotels and attractions and signs and monorails and no one was listening to anyone else just filled with excitement. We arrived at the Contemporary resort for our one night stay. We have always wanted to stay in the tower and decided this would be our chance when we added a night on the front end of the vacation. Check-in was smooth and our room with a Bay lake view on the 6th floor was ready. Great location right next to the elevators, great view of Bay Lake, Bay Lake Tower, and the pools. I absolutely love the smell of the Contemporary. It still smells like it did in the 1970's when I was there as a child. This stay brought back so many great childhood memories of playing in the Food and Fun Center, and catching the monorail to the MK. The room was huge and beautiful. Very modern with a great TV that we never used. We voted to make this a tradition with one night at the tower whenever we could afford it.
We then caught the monorail over to the TTC....in route we spyed the new AVENGERAIL which the kids thought was awesome. I prefer the basic monorail...but I'm old so....anyway. Walked over to the Polynesian enjoying the landscaping. The Poly is my personal favorite resort. I have very fond memories of the hill above the beach playing with my grandfather in the 1970's. He has since passed on. I remember getting off the monorail as a child late at night very sleepy and walking across those seafoam green and blue tile floors in the great ceremonial house....anyway back to the present. We toured the grounds and then saw that Kona Cafe had no wait for lunch so we enjoyed a fantastic lunch by the window that looks out at the monorail station. It was perfect. The crab cakes were awesome and I had the BBQ tacos. After a great meal we caught the monorail to the MK. Crowds were not bad at all. We walked through Tomorrowland and rode COP (We love this show) which just added to the memories from my past. We caught the TTA peoplemover and it was pleasant with a nice breeze. We then walked the back path past Space Mtn. To the new Fantasyland. Goofy's rollercoaster looked great as did the train station and Casey's water playground. We talked about how great the new area will be when completed as we walked through the walled up land. As we got to Liberty Square it began to rain hard. We took shelter in the breezeway between Frontierland and Adventureland. A few mins later the rain stopped and we walked into The Tiki Room. I really like this old version better but the kids thought is was dull compared to the one they have grown up watching with Zazu and Iago. From there we walked onto POTC my favorite ride. We then decided to head back to the Contemporary to rest since the MK was open until 2am. We made the walk from MK to the CR for the first time ever and then I retired to our balcony while DW and the girls headed for the CR shops and arcade. I enjoyed just sitting and watching and had that tremendous feeling of “this is my first day of vacation and I still have more than a week in front of me”. YOU CANNOT BOTTLE THAT FEELING! Headed back to MK a few hours later via the monorail. This time we stopped at the firestation and got our Sorcerer training and cards (this is a really cool addition to the MK). We then had reservations at the Plaza for dinner. It was nice and the food was good. We had a view of the castle. After I had to run back to the CR to change shoes while the girls did Dumbo. We rejoined shortly after and walked through Tommorrowland riding the TTA again and then rode IASW, the Jungle Cruise, and POTC again. We called it a night a little early and took the monorail back to the CR. It was a great first day and we ended it as we would most every night of this trip......on the balcony looking out over WDW!:thumbsup: