…that kept getting longer!
Recently, someone told me that things are chaotic lately (until yesterday, actually) because Mercury was in retrograde.
Well, I’m not a believer in astrology (that’s so tyicasl of gemini’s), but this was the most interesting trip to Walt Disney World. I’ll add pictures (unless you already see them , then I obviously did already!).
Here was the plan - the kids had a couple of half days at school, and Disney had this new Pirate and Princess Party. We had done MNSSHP a couple of years ago (and I did it on my own while on a business trip last year), and we had Pirate outfits from our recent DCL voyage and Halloween.
So we left at about 4:30 AM on a Thursday morning to catch our 6:30 flight. No problems there. Had to drive around a bit for a parking spot at Midway (decided to park there, as it was a short trip!), but other than that, we were soon in Orlando.
The first odd thing happened to me getting off the Magical Express bus. I swayed a bit, and dragged my elbow down a hinge on the door. So as my wife checked in at SSR, I used the arm of a chair and soe paper towel to stop the bleeding! Luckily, I had some bandages in my toilertry kit.
Even though it was early, a room was ready in Congress Park - 2547 on the first floor, with a great view of DTD West Side. The room also came with a pair of mae ducks who would swarm anyone on the patio and quack at them mercilessly. Obviously looking for handouts!
We went to Epcot first. We had a dinner reservation at Canada, and I couldn’t remember if I put in in my PDA as Central or Eastern time. So I called 407-WDW-DINE and found out to my surprise that they had made the reservation for the next night, along with our reservation for ‘Ohana! I know I requested it properly, especially as I typed it right into my calendar. They could find no space at Canada nor any other Epcot restaurant. I asked if they could call the manager at Canada, was put on hold, and then told that there was still nothing that could be done.
So my wife and the girls went to Norway to get lunch (a great value on theDisney Dining Plan as we were), and I went to Canada.
The actual staff at Canada was very understanding and wrote me in with no trouble!
I joined the family in Norway and had a great lunch. Our oldest daughter practiced her videography (she got a neat little Canon DV camera for Christmas - much easier than our older Digital8 Sony) on the Viking exhibit. She especially liked the dragon ship, being devoted to all things draconian.
After I took the girls on the obligatory Innoventions trek (Where’s th Fire and the new Too Small To See were pretty neat actually), we wandered back into World Showcase. We went to see the Canada film (first time for the girls). After a great meal at Canada, we headed back to the room.
My youngest daughter (8) had never been to DisneyQuest,and my oldest (12) had only been to the one in Chicago, the last trip on closing day I believe (9/4/01). I took the girls there while my wife shopped at the Marketplace (not much shopping - the place was packed she reported!).
We ended up staying at DQ until almost closing. We really wanted to do it, since my oldest had fond memories and rumors are that its days are numbered.
My youngest (usually the more daring) was obviously tired, as she barely made it through Virtual Jungle Cruise and Pirates of the Carribbean, and bailed out on Ride the Comix. She did like Animation Academy and Aladdin’s Carpet, though. AstroBlasters wasn’t too bad either (I was gunner, and she drove, being exactly the required 51″). It is sad though to see how the place has deteriorated. Only one Songmaker booth was working. The one attraction that wasn’t in Chicago (where you guided RC cars through a temple) is no more. The system of scanning your card (which then identified the thinjgs you made) is no more (we didn’t buy anything, but I assume you just review all the things made while you were there for yours. The store didn’t seem to have a single item unique to DQ.
Still, this place was way ahead of its time technologically, I think. You still don’t see things that work this well (and even without much upkeep, apparently). It’s a shame the third one (Philadelphia, I think) fell through. Good to see an “urban entertainment complex” in the Disney Annual Report though. Even looked like it might have been Chicago…
After that, definitely time for bed - a long day - if only we knew what was in store!
More to follow!
Here are some pictures until I get a full entry up.
“Natale con i tuoi e Pasqua con chi vuoi“
The day began late for most (although I woke up fully awake at 3 AM!) with breakfast in the room. It did take us a while to find the cookware in the drawer under the oven (and a call to housekeeping!).
Then off to Magic Kingdom. We shopped a bit on Main Street and then headed over to pirates. J4* and the kids rode while I found a needed bathroom. The kids loved it (even J12, who we had to remind was not afraid of the ride!). She spotted the ship in the distance by the load area and declared it the Flying Dutchman.
After they rode, we met up and watched Jack Sparrow’s pirate academy. J8, who is in love with Johnny Depp, was especially taken.
My folks (D&M) joined us later as they were still puttering about the room when we left. We all shopped for a bit on Main Street and then took the monorail to the TTC and then switched (monorail waiting for us!) to Epcot.
First order of business was Spaceship Earth. Always a good way to kick off Epcot.
We ate at Electric Umbrella, as burgers sounded good. We hadn’t eaten there much, but the burgers are pretty decent.
After lunch we split up, as I had the duty of taking the kids into Innoventions, which they love. After about 53 years inside there, we went to Wonders of Life. This pavilion has been cosed of late, and was thought closed for good. J12 had been there when she was about 5 I think and J8 had never been. J8 was amazed that it had been closed. ”This is a very beautiful building,” she declared inside.
The exercise machines were closed (including the bikes that made it look like you were going through Disneyland on a Big Wheel), but we played at the Sensory Funhouse and then did Cranium Command (J8 had listened?to it on the Inside the Magic podcast and really wanted to see it. She loved it. Then I took them to the Making of Me, which I affectionately call the sex movie (”It’s not about that, it’s about making babies,” J8 proclaimed). The kids liked that as well.
Then we all met up outside the International Gateway for the Disney Vacation Club Merry Mixer. This was neat. There was a drawing for a neat DVC gift basket, characters, a dance contest for the kids, cookies, cider, an exclusive pin for sale, and tables showing the offerings of DVC, the Disney florist, Disney Photopass and the upcoming pins (yeah!).
On exiting, we all got a pewter ornament - very nice!
Then we walked to the Beach Club, took the bus to MK (M was shopping, so D&M got on the bus after us, but we all ended up on the same boat to WL).
After a brief stop at our villa, we headed to Liberty Tree Tavern for dinner before Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party at MK. It was good, but the beef and green beans were too spicy and too much garlic (on the beans) for D. J8 was a bit of a terror, but once dinner was done, she was happy as a clam.
We did most of Fantasyland. We all had our picture taken (in our matching sweatshirts from Disney Ink Shop) I split off to watch the fireworks, and my folks headed towards Adventureland, where they rode pirates and couldn’t believe how much it had changed (but approved)!
After the fireworks, I met with J4* and the kids and we did Tomorrowland. They had already done Stitch (amazingly a favorite of the kids’). Then we walked towards the front of the park. It was about 10:30 now. J12 and I stayed to watch the parade. We cut out right before the end and headed back to the room. A late night, but a good one. The weather could not have been better all night!
See you tomorrow.
Day 1 – Tuesday December 19
Cast of Characters
J40 - your humble narrator (dad)
J4* - his wife
J8 - Darling daughter (8 of course)
J12 - Ditto DD 12
D - Papa (J40’s dad)
M - Grandma (J40’s mom)
This is the story of our short pre-Christmas trip with the family (J40, J4*, J12, J8) joined by my parents, D (Dad, and his initial) and M (Mom and hers too!).
K, our trusting and deeply, deeply stupid dog was in the car of our vets, and B, our trusty hamster, was being watched by my grandmother.
Had an early flight out of Midway, so we got the family and my parents up at about 4. It would be a long day.
No traffic going to Midway, and parking was easy. There was a small line at the Skycap, much better than the line to check luggage inside.
On the flight J8 sat next to an unaccompanied minor (a fascination of the kids since seeng the movie of the same name, which I admit was not as painful as I thought it would be enering the movie theater). We shared our DVD player with him, and J8 had someone new to talk to.
We arrived at the Wilderness Lodge about 1. Our room 251*) was ready, but was unfortunately non-smoking (D & M will just have to stay out on the balcony!)
We dropped our stuff off – the bulk of the luggage would come from Magical Express later.
We got the bus to the Studios and started our park day. We rode the Great Movie Ride, a favorite of J8, although the finally functioning alien (first time she had ridden where he actually worked correctly) was more than she would have preferred.
The plan was to spend a few hours and then go to Raglan Road for lunch (most likely taking a taxi to avoid a Disney bus transfer). As it was, we ended up eating at Backlot Express around 3 (they somehow charged us 7 meal credits for our 6 meals - which I later had fixed at the hotel desk).
This was our first time on the Disney Dining Plan, and I realize that it does require a bit more thought! Sure in concept it seems easy, but keeping straight the points and just placing the order for 6 folks can stress brain cells that always seem to turn off when out of work and at Disney! Still, it appears it’ll work out well for us.
Did Muppets and called to move our Raglan Road priority seating (they still apparently use that system as opposed to ADR’s) to 8PM. Disney Dining couldn’t do it, but I called information fo the Raglan Road number and did it with them.
Watched the Spectacle of Dancing Lights. It doesn’t have the feeling of going on forever as the old Spectacle did, but the Dancing part really makes up for it!
We returned to the Wilderness Lodge, where our luggage had arrived, and shortly left again to go to Downtown Disney.
We had the WONDERFUL VWL DVC sharing tree delivered. This is a tradition on the disboards, where one family donates a tree which is then passed from family to family before being shipped back o the donating family.
The folks who put together our tree, magicalmcwho on the disboards, did an amazing job. For now though, we left it in the box (singing to it “Oh. Christmas box, oh Christmas box…”)
Every once on a while you get the Disney Bus to Hell. This was that time. We boarded at 7:30 (after waiting a while for a Downtown Disney Bus). An hour later, we had made the 5 mile journey to Downtown Disney! This guy would not have made it as a CTA driver. Of course the route we took was about the longest you could drive (I’m sure that was just some Disney flow control), but if he could have maybe used the accelerator a bit!
We arrived (J8 a bit cranky after falling asleep on the bus). D loved the place, being a great fan of al things Irish. The meal was great, and the DDP was a great value here! J8 was tired, but ate well. She and J12 perked up when we went to Once Upon a Toy to build light sabers. This was confusing at first, but once you get started, it makes sense. Basically, you stick a bunch of stuff on your light saber base and just make sure the button is accessible. I made a double bladed one (although only one blade lights up), and we got out free pins (the kids were Jedi, I was Sith). The receipt is very long, as they have to list every part you use!
Back to the room (return bus trip – 10 minutes!). Set up the tree and went to sleep.
DAY 2
The plan was an early meal at Boma, then Animal Kingdom. Well, I woke at 7:19, so I called to switch our res from 7:30 to 10. The Nightmare Before Christmas pin that was supposed to come out today was delayed, so no real reason to get out early.
We took a taxi to Boma (about $18 on the meter). Breakfast was great, but noticed this year there was no chocolate village in its usual place! Wonder if the 50th celebrations cut back some budgets this year? Had out favorite quinona. It’s a grain dish, like say cream of wheat, but completely unique, Topped with brown sugar and sesame seeds (at least I think that’s what they are!) it’s great.
The family aside from me went to Animal Kingdom. Again, that bus driver from AKL to AK would fail on the CTA – he stopped loading right in front of us when the aisle was comfortably full – from taking Chicago busses, I know you can squeeze another 30 people on after that! Safer too, as you all get tightly packed! I returned to the room to wait for our order from Garden Grocer. They are great! They did forget one item that I added to the order later, but left it at the hotel a few hours later. It’s obvious they are very busy, but the service was fantastic.
While I waiting for them, I decorated the tree. Boy, had I the time I could festoon the entire room and balcony with all the lights included. What a great job magicalmcwho did!
About 1:30, I went to Fort Wilderness to pay for our Hoop De Doo tickets. I decided to pay cash for those instead of using our DDP credits, as it requires 2 table service credits per person.
Getting there, I took the boat (which went to MK first, for about a 20 minute trip). At night, the same boat went FW-MK-WL instead of WL-MK-FW. After getting the tickets, I took the bus back. A nice short trip! The best options to get between FW and WL seem to be the busses (but ask in case routes change!). The Wilderness Lodge bus from the Settlement (the stop nearest Pioneer Hall) goes straight to the WL.
However, the Studios and Epcot busses from WL stop at the Settlement first (but ask the driver!), making a really quick trip. The Settlement is the stop closest to Pioneer Hall, so if going to FW for Hoop, make sure you get off at that stop.
When I returned, D called. He and M were in line for the Finding Nemo show while the J’s were on Kilimanjaro. I told him I wouldn’t make it, but when I returned to WL, the AK bus was waiting! It was 2:35, so I got on the AK bus. After 5 minutes we stopped at the Grand Floridian, and about 17 minutes after that, we were at AK. I got to the theatre at 3:08, and went in through the exit, catching the show from just before Bruce the shark came on.
What a great show! The songs and pacing are great, the jokes are funny (I liked the penguins especially) and technically it’s a marvel. I stood at the back (which is a great view – the family was at the front, but I probably had the better view). I made my way out and waited to the rest of the family.
We took the bus to FW. It stops only at the Outpost, so we had to take the Purple bus to the Settlement, but as one was right behind us, there was no additional wait.
Hoop De Doo was great. Food (fried chicken and ribs) was fantastic, and the show was especially good. We saw it back in June ’04 with the same cast. Tonight, they were really great. “Six Bit” even broke up the male lead at one point. If you haven’t seen this show you should. It’s corny, but the cast is really talented and sells the material really well.
When they brought the strawberry shortcake to share, they put a plate of it in front of J12 – her eyes lit up thinking it was hers alone! We had 2 others at our table, so she ended up getting most of it anyway.
We returned to the room and relaxed. The kids and I had a promised lightsaber duel (the Jedi vanquished the Sith) and D, J8 and I watched Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (D had never seen it) on the DVD. Can’t wait until the Villas get the widescreens like the WL rooms have now!
Off to bed.
DAY 13
This was our final day at sea, but of course that did not mean we were without things to do! I posted to the blog. Resolving my wireless usage was much more trouble than it should have been. The first rep told me that had to investigate, and then left me a message that everything looked fine! Well, of course it showed I used all my time - that’s the point!
Twice I could not log out. With their wireless you get a pop up window with a butdidn’t even get this window). I clicked it and got “page could not be found.” As a backup, you are supposed to go to 1.1.1.1/logout. Guess what? That took me to an ever-reloading blank page!
I did finally get a manager at guest services and later the Intenet manager to OK crediting me up to the time I had purchased (I was shorted 45 minutes). The access was sometimes slow and spotty. There was a link for printing services, but this too took me to Internet Neverland. Skype was blocked completely.
Took the kids to the clubs and later after a relaxing morning, met up with J4* at the Spa for our sole treatment - the “Exotic Rasul” (the treatment formerly known as the Surial Bath). Little had changed in 5 years - there is now one mud and one sea salt scrub instead of the 3 muds they had in ‘01. Still fun.
Oddly, although I made reservations online for Thursday at 2PM, the spa had us in their system for Friday at 4:30! Fortunately, this was no problem, just odd.
After that we got ready for dinner at Palo. The lovely Zita from Hungary was again our server as she had been at lunch. Being lobster night, we were offered lobster tail here as well, and even a side dish of pasta to taste. J4* had the chocolate souflee for dessert - don’t mess with it until they pour the sauce! Learned that on the last cruise! They hate when you do that!
Poor kids - stuck in the kids club with hot dogs & mac & cheese. They’ll survive!
We had some wine left from dinner the night before - took the sommelier a bit to find it, but she did in a few minutes.
After dinner, we got the kids and went to see Disney Dreams. In 2001 I thought this was fantastic, but now I personally found it the weakest of the three musical shows. Not to say it’s bad, but it has stronger competition.
Before the show, some tween boys were already lined up for the big 12:01 AM Prem-EAR of ”Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.”
After the show, the girls (including J4*) headed back to the room. I got ready to wait for the film, taking my pin trading bag to keep my busy. The crowd was small at first, but progresively grew. I was waiting near a great group of 20-something couples who all shared the same dinner table (our table was just the 4 of us). One was in the mirror image of our room, 5524.
The center section of the theatre filled immediately when they let us in a bit after 10. Surprisingly, there were a lot of seats on the sides until near midnight, but every single seat filled by the time the film started. I amazingly sat next to a couple that live not 10 miles from my house!
The film was a lot of fun. My mini review:
PotC 2 is not nearly as cohesive and driving as the first, but does engage with perfect visual effects and much (if cartoonish) action. It is long at over two and a half hours, but it seems that some of that length is the introduction of elements that will only come to fruition in PotC 3. The plot seems a bit overly complex at times, and actions not always consistent with character (or logic). Still, it does carry you along reasonably well. It seems they wrote more than one film and less than two for the end of this trilogy, and what we have now is the leftovers that won’t fit into 3 with some padding to give it ballast. The scene after the credits is cute, but not as worth the wait as the first film, and a bit anti-climatic after the ending (which did indeed get the theatre roraing with applause). When the credits start, go to the bathroom - you’ll be in time for the joke scene afterwards, most likely.
After that, I was wide awake, so went about the ship for a bit and then back to the room.
DAY 14 - Castaway Cay
Woke after a few hours of sleep. The kids wanted to see Pirates, but knew they wouldn’t make it at midnight, so we went to the 9AM showing after a quick breakfast. Much more sedate crowd at this hour! The kids did indeed like it - we stayed for the final scene (I actually ducked out early the night, well really a few hours before).
Then off to Castaway Cay. Only thing on the agenda was the stingray activity at 3 PM. The weather was perfect. The first sire we saw was the Flying Dutchman from the film. It did look cool. Later I could see the back (like any movie piece) was unfinished.
I forgot my photo ID leaving the boat (yes, it is another country!), so had to run back to the room- and I do mean run! They were doing a generator test, so the lifts were all out of service!
I finally got off the boat, mailed some postcards for that special Castaway Cay postmark, took some pictures of the Dutchman, and met the family for lunch.
The kids were at each other again (glad to see many other siblings doing the same all vacation! At least we wre not suffering alone!)
Lunch was good. Hamburgers, hot dogs, ribs and salmon burgers.
After lunch we swam for quite a bit. We brought the noodles I bought along (but forgot the cheap inflatables we bought). Later in the day, we found a few abandoned inner tubes and mats. J7 loved the tiny shells in every handful of sand.
At 3 we headed to the teen beach for the stingray encounter. First, a Living Seas Cast Member (secunded to Castaway Cay to live for a year) explained features of rays. Then into the water. This is much more organized than Stingray City. The rays are much smaller, and all have their barbs trimmed. The are trained to enter a floating horseshoe shaped table and hover over a Mickey-shaped target for food. J11 still wanted nothing to do weith these animals, so retreated to the shore. J7 on the other hand loved it. She was the first to volunteer to feed the ray.
After the feeding, there was freetime to snorkel or juyst wade with the rays. The snorkelling was uneventful, as the waters are cloudy with kicked up sand and lack the startling clarity of the Caymans. Also, aside from the passing ray, there is not much to see.
We returned to the ship. We found we were very lucky with the weather, as it poured all day at Castway Cay the day before.
Before dinner, J7 went back to the club and I joined J11 to see the end of “Cars.” The theatre we saw it in before in Chicago turned off the sound during the credits, so the funny scenes at the end were all silent. Glad I saw them - they were pretty funny!
We ate at Parrot Cay again and delivered out tip envelopes.
After dinner, I packed and the women went to the final show.
We got all the luggage not needed for tomorrow out before the deadline of 11PM and went to bed.
DAY 15 - Homeward Bound
The girls got up too late for breakfast at Parrot Cay (they also slept through the character meal the day before - no big loss there!). We ate instead at Topsiders, whose “continental buffet,” I happily found had many hot items as well.
We got in line for the exit (the boat was not cleared until almost 8:00), and proceeded off the ship. I suggested hanging out in Preludes until the line died down (we had a late flight), but J7 wanted to stay in that line!
We got a porter and he very effeciaently helped us with our luggage. Really did a great job. We were off on the Disney bus to the airport (both Jackie and I seperately thought we could just hop over to MK, but that would have been an expensive little few hours!).
I had checked in on the boat for Southwest, and again got mixed groups - adults in A, kids in B this time! It must have something to do with doing a few in a row like that - not way I could have both times signed on just at the end of A! As the printing didn’t work, I had to reprint them at the Southwest kiosk at the airport - no big deal. We waited until we could check luggage (4 hours ahead of the flight). Wosrt part about MCO is you still have to carry your luggage from the checkin counter to the x-ray machines yourself. Most airports seem to have adapted to the post-9/11 machies, but not MCO.
We had lunch (hhhmm, Arthur Treacher’s is still alive somewhere - under the Nathan’s banner, so must be in the east. Loved their fish and chips as a kid). Did a little last minute shopping.
Had an euneventful flight home and were picked up by my dad. My mom prepared a meal of dungeness crab and ribs. No meatballs.
A great trip overall.
DAY 12
Started the day with breakfast at Topsiders – sat outside, as the heat was not too bad.
We went to the Buena Vista Theater for out tender tickets after breakfast – we ate as much as we could, preferring to avoid any complications with native water and washed fruits and vegetables.
The tender to Cozumel is much shorter than to Grand Cayman, and it looks like the pier at Punta Langosta will be complete soon (Wilma ripped it in half). While we were in port, only the Norwegian Cruise Line ship was docked at a pier.
We looked arounf the Punta Langosta mal for a bit and took a taxi to Chankanaab for our self-booked dolphin excursion. J7 really wanted to see the dolphins up close, but the Disney excursion still went to the mainland, as the Cozumel franchise had just reopened.
The taxi driver pointed out the devastation left by the hurricane. It is amazing. Equally amazing is how much has been rebuilt (using workers from the mainland who are housed in tent cities, he said). He also promoted dealing directly with the locals, both in excursions and shopping, to maximize help to the local economy, and to save money.
The vegetation, formerly lush jungle, is still mostly bare. Many sandy beaches are now just rock, feet below their previous levels. Walls and entire buildings were destroyed by the 61 hours of the hurricane and the 20’ storm surge.
We reached Chankanaab, obviously very much still under construction. We paid our fee ($38 total for the 4 of us, in addition to the dolphin fee we prepaid at http://www.dolphindiscovery.com ). We waited for our encounter to begin, and toured the small shop there. Some nice merchandise (some of which we bought) at pretty much American souvenir prices.
As we waited, we saw rain clouds move in. By the time we were in the water (which as advertised is only waist deep. Also note you can wear water shoes, which is good as you stand on a metal grate), the rain was upon us. Still, it was great being so close to one of these amazing animals (Tatich was ours). J7 was in heaven. J11 was nervous about loosing her balance in the slight bobbing waves, especially wen she had to go to the edge of the platform to touch the dolphin. J7 on the other had was ready to jump off and float away with Tatich in her life vest.
After the encounter (about 40 minutes in the water, but really well worth it), we made some purchases (no photos or video today because of the rain, but luckily I had my Pentax Optio waterproof digital camera).
We took a cab back to downtown, wanting more to go back to the ship than explore the rest of Chankanaab, which we could have done with our entrance fees.
It was raining again right after we bought a couple of items at Los Cinco Soles (yes, we could have saved money walking a couple of blocks into town, but with the rain and the kids, we decided to forgo any adventure).
We sailed back to the Magic in the rain and ordered some room service.
We then got into our pirate gear (too early, for sure, but I was eager to say the least) and after a bit went to the Castaway Club reception. Quite nice – complimentary hors d’oeuvres and drinks with the crew. They loved our outfits. Got a picture taken and went to dinner. Also had a pcture taken with Jack Sparrow. The women in the family felt more at ease seeing at least a couple of other families in full pirate wear, but most were in pirate themed items, or just the bandanas given out at dinner.
After dinner, the kids and I pin traded with the crew (a scheduled event) while J4* grabbed a table near the Goofy pool for the Pirate party. We waited for a while, watching the crw try to pul the cover over the Goofy pool (it had apparently jammed). They were successful after much effort and much consultation with those with walkie talkies.
We played a few games in Quarter Masters (a 1000 point card for $10, and most games 100 points). Before the party, J7 took it upon herself to hold a spot by the stage, taking breaks to have her picture taken with Capt. Jack, now nearby. I went and waited wt J7 as J11 nodded off in her chair.
Right before the pre-party started, J7 had had enough and suddenly wanted to go back. No problem there – it was another big day. So I stayed alone to videotape the party, which was cute, if loud and crowded. Mickey swung in from one stack to the other, unleashing a modest fireworks display (still impressive considering you are on a ship at sea).
I headed back to bed, finding removing my costume trickier than I thought (also bled into the new tank top I had bought - drat! Oh well.
Day at sea tomorrow. Also have to resolve my Internet access bill. It ran out earlier than it should, because twice I could not log out at all. Guest Services says they will credit me for additional minutes I use now to get to what I purchased. Also noticed Skype is now blocked. Drat – wanted to use that!
DAY 11 – JULY 4th
One note on yesterday. The ship did not leave Key West until 1 AM (it historically leaves much earlier). Wonder if this is a permanent change.
Today was our busiest day. Two excursions – one booked through Disney and one on our own. The first through Disney was the Stingray City Tour (G08). I had heard good things about this, but was worried for a couple of reasons. One, the water on the sandbar was usually waist deep, but could go up to six feet. Second, I was worried about getting from the boat to the sandbar, as we are not the best swimmers.
Both fears were unfounded. Te water was only about 2.5 feet deep and the boat (a double decker catamaran) was parked directly above, so you climb down the ladder onto the sand. We had you remove our water shoes (I think to give better sensation to avoid accidentally stepping on a ray.
We were the first tour of the day (at 7:30), so we had breakfast in the room (ordered the night before by hanging a card on our doorknob). Not being in a suite, our choices were just continental fare, but it was good enough to get us going. We met in Rocking D Bar and headed to the tender deck. We sat on the top deck of the tender, at first not realizing there was a lower deck.
After the short trip (passing the rusted hulk of a Cuban vessel in port), we were lead to a small
We arrived at the Catamaran (Emerald Eyes), crewed by a really nice group of 20-somethings. It had small bathrooms (for “number 1” only), a snack bar, and seating on 2 decks. The trip took about 45 minutes, during which time they review the proper handling of a ray and so on.
As I said, getting onto the sandbar is easy – the ladder itself is the hardest part. Disney requires all to wear life vests when leaving the boat. They are inflatable, so you need not blow them up if they get in the way. Snorkels and masks are optional.
J7 and I really enjoyed it. J4* and J11 were a bit creeped out by the huge rays gliding past. J11 went back on the boat after a few minutes, but said she enjoyed it anyway from afar. The rays came quickly to the food they gave us at first, sucking it out of my hand with the force of a vacuum cleaner. It did seem that after the first 15 minutes or so that they were not as interested in the food. There were only a handful of boats there, so it wasn’t crowded at all. I hear at times there can be 1500 people on the sandbar.
We had a group photo taken, and J7 and I had a picture taken holding a ray. The photos are $15 for 4×6 ($20 and $25 for 5×7 and 8×10) and are mailed to you after the cruise. The photo service only takes cash.
J7 also bought a stuffed toy ray for $5 when we got snacks for the trip back (they do take charge with a $15 or $20 minimum, depending who you talk to).
Arriving back at port, we could see it was raining back by town and the Magic. We took the bus back (although if we wanted, we could have walked to
Back in town, it was raining, but there were ample awnings to walk under. We looked at the stores with items a bit over our budget (Lladro Cinderella scene $25,000 CI). I’m told if you have the budgets for things like Rolexes and such, that there are good buys here.
We went to Hard Rock Café for lunch (got a pin too). My All Access card got us a 10% discount, as this is only a franchise store. The prices are similar to American HRC’s, but the exchange rate hurts. With 15% gratuity automatically added, the bill was about $58 CI, which was $75 US. The bill shows both US and CI, but note that it appears they add the gratuity, so the final slip just shows the total US price with an additional line for tip (so you’d be tipping over 15% if you add a tip there).
We did a little shopping and checked in for our next excursion, the Atlantis Seaworld Explorer, a “semi-submarine” (a.k.a. glass bottom boat). We had booked this on our own. Disney does offer it (at a slightly higher price), but not at a time that corresponded with our earlier excursion. I was afraid we’d be rushed, but the
The Seaworld Explorer was great. You climb down a ladder into the lower level, which has a long carpeted bench between walls of windows. On our excursion, a lot of stuff was on the port side (left), so I’d suggest if you are a group sitting as we did, with some on the port and some on the starboard, back to back. That way, you can turn and look out the other side without annoying a stranger.
It was very relaxing and a lot of fun. You see a couple of shipwrecks and a lot of Cheeseburger Reef. A diver feeds fish outside, which is quite entertaining. I highly recommend this tour.
We then bought some rum cakes and headed back to the boat. Don’t buy liquor in the Caymans, as they will only send it back to the boat, and Disney does not accept those shipments.
We relaxed for a bit (greatly needed, as J7 was in one of her moods most of the day – prompting at one point J4* to say, “Stop it or I’ll beat you and in this country I’ll probably get away with it” – no offense meant to the child abuse laws of the Cayman Islands, of which we (and most importaly J7) have no knowledge!
We went to the pool where soon there was a 4th of July party going on. It was pretty fun actually.
We had dinner at Parrot Cay. Finally finished our wine! They had a special 4th of July menu (fried chicken and ribs) in addition to the normal menu. We all got souvenir champagne flutes and the Captain made a toast (a Dutchman toasting American Independence on a ship registered in the
After dinner, we stopped to wait in the atrium for the balloon drop (red, white and blue balloons had been hanging there all trip). J4* went to take the glasses and souvenir menus back to the room. When she returned, there was no getting back to us, as a horde of people had formed all around us. J11 was a bit annoyed, especially as they sang “American Pie,” which she says some boys back at school sing repeatedly to her chagrin. We also sang “Born in the
As soon as he balloons hit the floor, I was off with the girls to get into line for the show that night. J4* joined us, and we got great seats, having beaten the crowd to the theatre.
The show was “Twice Charmed,” in which Lady Tremain and her daughters turn back time to keep Cinderella from having a happy ending. I thought it was really well written with Broadway quality songs. The talent was a little uneven (what do you expect on a cruise?), but Cinderella and Lady Tremain had great voices. J7 especially loved it. I could easily see it being expanded into an actual Broadway show.
After that big day, sleep came fairly easily.
DAY 9 – Key West
A few notes I forgot – boarding, we were wearing matching red Mickey Hawaiian shirts/tank tops. Several people asked about them (just from the Disney Store), and one dubbed us “the cute family.”
We ate breakfast at Topsiders, the buffet on deck 9. After that, I went to the DVC member celebration, while the kids went to their clubs and J4* went to a crab cake making seminar. I really recommend the DVC (Disney Vacation Club) gathering for all DVC members that go on the cruise. We saw several staterooms decorated with a DVC magnet (I think these might be people sailing on points). At the celebration, I was given a couple of these magnets, 4 hats (one for each member in our party), and a Pluto DVC pin.
There were other giveaways, for a mesh bag (jokingly called a swimming suit by the MC), a beautiful towel, and a tote bag. I won the tote bag (leading to tote bag build up! We already had a Castaway Club one in our stateroom from being previous cruisers).
We met for lunch (again at topsiders) and went ashore.
Immediately upon leaving the boat, I was spotted by one of the DVC staff for my DVC hat and given a Goofy DVC pin. Maybe I’ll get someone to turn in my referral card and I’ll get the third pin they have.
Key West was very humid. I liked it overall. Sort of like New Orleans (pre-Katrina) goes to the beach. We walked about for a while and did some shopping. Bought a ½ lb nut and chocolate chip cookie (yum) and J11 had some Key Lime pie on a stick.
J7 loved the wild chickens everywhere – even a hen with a gaggle of chicks.
We took the Conch Train – a narrated 90 minute tour of the island. Our guide, Capt. Rick, was pretty good. It was interesting, and a great way to cool off in the open air cars. Rain looked threatening, but never arrived.
The shuttle didn’t launch again (doubt we’d see anything through the clods anyway!)
We returned to the ship and dressed for dinner. J4* got these great skirts for the girls they can just slip on. We didn’t dress J7, but insead got her a hamburger before going down as she wanted to be in the Nestle Jr. Chef activity at 6:15.
We ate at Lumiere’s. Very nice, and I thought the most comfortable tables of the three restaurants (I hadn’t been to Animator’s Palate yet, but am writing this the morning of Day 11). We bought a nice bottle of sweet Italian wine (which will last us at least 2 meals, I’m sure!)
After dinner, we went to “Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer with J11. When we cruised in 2001 this was a huge show with shipboard credit prizes and a free cruise for the last question. J11 was a contestant then (when she was J7 Mark I) and did pretty well. I was able to help her and I think we won about $80.
This time, it (like it’s inspiration show) is a shadow of its former self. 5 questions, prizes a pin and a crystal. Still a lot of fun. This round, we didn’t get picked. Still had fun.
Took J11 to her club. Watched the sunset gathering at Key West from Deck 10. Great view of the crowds and street performers who gather each evening. The sunset itself was a bit obscured by the clouds, but it was a nice night. There is a tiny island off of Key West with huge houses on it. Hard to imagine living there, where almost every need would require a boat trip!
I stopped back on Key West to post some postcards. At night, Duvall Street shares much with Bourbon Street! I walked to Hard Rock. I had purchased an All Access pass there (as I thought it might help if we needed a quick meal in the Caribbean).
I didn’t even realize it had $20 credit on it, so I used $12 of that to buy a 4th of July Hard Rock Key West pin.
J4* and I played Mouseketeer again. This time I was picked (well, actually J4*’s number, but she deferred to me!). I won.
I had to use my lifelines to get which of the listed princes had brown eyes (it was Snow White, as opposed to Aurora, Cinderella, and Ariel). The final question was tough:
Which animated feature has the most songs?
A. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
B. Cinderella
C. Alice in Wonderland
D. Jungle Book
C, final answer. Yeah!
We picked up kids (they seem to like the clubs!) and returned to the room for bed.
DAY 10 – At Sea
J4* took the kids to topsiders for breakfast and then to their clubs.
I went to the Cove Café for some Internet time. The shuttle I found was scheduled for July 4, but there was a troublesome crack in the insulation.
Us adults met at Palo (OK, not quite accurate. I had said we’d meet outside Palo, the adults only restaurant. I was early and they offered to seat me and bring J4* to me. Unfortunately when J4* arrived, there was no one at the podium so she, assuming I’d be late as usual, she waited outside for about 20 minutes).
Brunch was wonderful. I concentrated on the Alaskan King Crab (after all, have to support those guys on Discovery Channel’s “Deadliest Catch!”)
J4* went to the shopping presentation and I went to the art auction. It was fun to watch. No really serious bidders, but one lot of prints by Rembrandt, Goya, Picasso and Dali went for $6250. A few Disney items too, but nothing that really interested me, even if I had the money.
I did some shopping. They had a lot in my size, and of course with no sales tax! I bought a tank top and a waterproof camera case.
I picked up the kids (just in time for J7, who paged me on the way). She had apparently suddenly started sobbing for her mom and dad. It was a long day for her. Up until then, they said she was having a great time – she got to make “flubber,” an important goal of hers!
We dressed for dinner (formal tonight – got to wear the tux I bought, although there were quite a few dressed in just suits and even a few dressed casually. Plenty in formal wear too, though). Had pictures taken in the atrium (the shortest line was on Deck 4).
Dinner at Animator’s Palate. I had a wonderful filet mignot. Our server chided me for ording the no sugar added pound cake for dessert, but t was light and quite good.
J7 of course had to go to the bathroom right when the “show” started – when the restaurant changed from black & white to color. She made it back for the finale, though.
After dinner, we shopped a bit more waiting for the doors to open for the Golden Mickeys. We cursed each time folks opened the outside door near us, as a wave of humid would come crashing in.
The show was really good. It’s a series of Disney numbers themed to an awards show, with video intros from Whoopi Goldberg, Angela Lansbury and Tim Allen.
Back to the room and to bed!
Day 7
I had one personal goal this trip: to get the Pirates of the Caribbean pin released for the upcoming movie today.
I had planned to get up early and get to the MK at opening, returning before the family got up. After all, I always wake up early on vacation.
I woke up to see a clock reading 8:03. I jumped up, got dressed and went down to the bus. Actually made it in plenty of time. The previous pin in the Pirates series had sold out, but I knew this one would last for a while, as it was only released inside the park. Still, I wanted to get my pin business done before everyone else was up and ready to go. I got to the MK about 20 minutes before opening. Even at this early our, it was a hot day, and many families were already reaching the boiling point. I heard more than one parent say, “THAT’S IT! We’re going back to the hotel. (of course none of them did!)”
I got my pins. Waiting for the bus I met Sandy, a mom who was also on our cruise. She was staying with her family at Fort Wilderness in their RV. She had an appointment to get her nails done at the Beach Club, and figured the MK was a good place to grab a bus.
A good assumption for some resorts, but for whatever reason, not the Yacht & Beach Club. Bus after bus dropped off, but didn’t pick up. Finally they did dispatch a bus for us. Like the one that took me from MK the other day, this one went to the Contemporary, Wilderness Lodge and then made a special trip to drop us at the Beach Club before going on to the Studios.
She was really fretting, coming close to her appointment time (10:30). She started by leaving Fort Wilderness at 9!
We did get to the Beach Club about 10:15, so all ended well.
The kids were still getting up. We all got on our swim suits and went to Stormalong Bay. This mini water park, coupled with the walking distance to Epcot, makes the Beach Club one of the best Disney resorts.
Bought the kids a couple of noodles ($4 each), as the tubes were all out, but at $3/hour for a tube, probably a better deal! J7 had to make an emergency potty run, which cut the swimming a little short.
Returning to the room, I stopped at the cruise desk. I had done most of my check in online, but they had left a message tat they wanted to encode our room keys. I didn’t want to keep J11 waiting (and she didn’t either), so I quizzed her on our room number and location and let her go back.
While waiting there, I noticed that others were turning in some of the forms that you can’t do online, so I went back to the room to get them. J11 was not there. Immediately I feared the worse and went off to find her. I called Security. I went to the 3rd floor of the Beach Club (instead of the Villas), where I thought she might be. My cell phone was charging, so I was out of communication. I called the room, where of course J11 had arrived a minute after I left. She had indeed gone to the third floor of the Beach Club, immediately realized it, and went back to the room.
I went back to the cruise desk, but it was already closed, so I’d have to do that tomorrow morning.
We went back to MGM after that. News copters were buzzing the park, as Rock’n Roller Coaster was open again. We hadn’t heard about the incident there until after we returned yesterday, but I had noticed that the ride was listed as closed (which I thought odd at the time).
Were one of the last in line to be let into the Indiana Jones stunt show. Note that getting into the show doesn’t mean you’ll get a seat! We found some spots on the little wall at the very back, our view partially blocked by the support column. The show is probably the best preserved example of the Studios at opening – I don’t think they changed a word since J4* and I saw it on our honeymoon on October 3, 1989! The kids had never seen it (J11 had not wanted to before because off the noise), but now they both liked it a lot.
We ate at the Backlot restaurant outside of Indy. J7 wanted to take me on the Great Movie Ride (we had a female gangster “hijack” our vehicle) and J11 and J4* went to Sounds Dangerous. Afterwards, I asked them why they thought the sneezing elephant could get you wet when you are supposedly listening to a hidden mic. J11 suggested that the sensitivity of the mic had something to do with it.
I had wanted to do Millionaire, as it closes August 19, but there was no time, as we had reservations for California Grill at 6.
J11 got a cool jersey I had seen the night before. It had Maleficent on front and back (with “Disney Dragons” on the front and a large D on the back) with Elliott and Mushu on the sleeves. Shame it only came in kids’ sizes!
We headed back to the BC. I had to pick up my pin book for trading at the Contemporary after dinner.
On the boat to the BC, we had the same skipper who put kids in detention yesterday. Today, he had a Fastpass good for 6 (for Land, Maelstrom, Mission Space or Honey, I Shrunk…) for the first to answer a trivia question.
First question: What is the slowest ride at Disney World?
Peter Pan.
“Good peanut butter, but no.”
Dumbo.
“Ah ha! Dumbo - you see, but no.”
Small World
“There you go, good guess. No.”
Finally someone got the answer: Carousel of Progress.
That winner decided they couldn’t use the Fastpass, so he started another round.
Month, day and year Epcot opened. My hand went up. “October 1, 1982” Yeah!
Got my pin book and we walked into Epcot. We didn’t have time at this point to use the Fastpass, so I found a family and gave it to them. I hope they found it useful. Took the monorail and transferred to the resort monorail at TTC.
We got to the Contemporary – at first we went to the 15th floor, before realizing California Grill checkin was now on 2. When we checked in, they found exception with my shorts. I had chanced into some black shorts, which were Rebok, not really dress shorts. I just forgot, as I had actually been wearing some nice khaki shorts all week! Still, I had a nice camp shirt on, and they weren’t jeans or cut offs. Thankfully, the hassle ended once we got to the table. We were fine.
We had the deluxe sushi platter for an appetizer. It was wonderful – huge pieces and very fresh. J4* had the scallops, I had just a salad (I was still hot – no rain today, but lots of hat and humidity).
For dessert, I ad this banana butterscotch thing. Featured frozen banana custard, very good. Was hoping for a crème brullee, but none on the menu. J4* had Cherries, Chocolate and Cherries, which was a chocolate soufflé like thing and a cherry mousse.
J4* and J11 went to the MK and J7 and I went to pin trading. Made some good trades, and J7 liked the kids area, although she didn’t win the raffle for kids at 9.
We went to MK. Noticed a new (to us at least) announcement on the monorail upon arriving at MK:
“Please proceed to the exit…”
“…and watch your head.”
We sat on Main Street next to the Indian and tried to call J4*. Couldn’t get her, so on this humid night (it was even humid at pin trading), we decided to go into Tomorrowland. We went on Stitch as the line for Buzz was a little long. I called J4* from inside Stitch’s preshow, and found they were in that line for Buzz!
After being burped on again, we met up and all went on the TTA. J11 wasn’t scared of Space Mountain at all this time, because the lights were all on! Something must have happened, as the cars still on the lift hill were full. Last time we saw it like this was on our honeymoon, when Space Mountain was under rehab.
J4* and the kids headed out. I headed over to get in at least one ride on Haunted Mansion (as my “Chicago brave” kids wouldn’t!). I did and took the bus back. On the way, we were treated to Epcot testing the fireworks for the 4th of July. They looked great!
DAY 8 – Houston, we have a problem
We stated this day after returning from MK, as we now had to get packed. Good thing we didn’t stay for the whole Extra Magic Hours!
The kids went to sleep, and J4* and I washed clothes and packed. In the wee hours we finished and went to sleep for a bit.
At 8 the next morning, I went to the cruise desk to make sure everything was in order. They put stickers on our keys to show we were using the cruise transport.
I got some gelato at the Marketplace (having wanted to try their gelato bar). It was good, but of course I got a spot on my newly cleaned shorts! Luckily, had time for another wash & dry before the bus.
At 11:30, we were walked from the Solarium at the Beach Club to the bus. Traffic was awful, probably due to the scheduled space shuttle launch this afternoon. It did get better once we were closer to the port, as we saw hundreds of cars parked on the sides of the road to watch. The trip took about 2 hours instead of the usual 80 minutes or so. Listened to the Inside the Magic podcast when the Cruise video wasn’t playing (http://www.distantcreations.com/insidetthemagic).
Boarded and eventually found our room (5024 – a “secret porthole” room because it’s priced like an inside cabin, but has an obstructed porthole). I unpacked while J4* took the kids to lunch at Topsiders buffet. Really only enough room for one to unpack in those rooms!
I joined them. Afterward, I got my camera to see the launch while the kids got into their swim suits. They had the feed from Nasa on the jumbotron over the Goofy pool. Unfortunately, all of our technology cannot overcome cumulus clouds, so the launch was scrubbed by weather att minus 9 minutes. Shame, the view would have been spectacular.
The kids were upset for a different reason – J7 was too short for the Goofy pool (she likes to touch the bottom) and J11 too tall for the Mickey (she couldn’t get enough leg room, she said). After this crisis brewed for a bit (they also didn’t want to split up and we adults weren’t in our suits), we went back to the room to change for the boat drill.
After the drill, we watched a bit of the departure party from deck 10. The girls were mortified by our joining in dancing, much to our delight!
After that, we checked out the kids’ clubs (but not the new Ocean Quest, it was closed at that particular time).
We dressed for dinner (Parrot Cay tonight – a restaurant we skipped on our last cruise, the 3 night in 2001).
First, let me say the food was good. I had the mixed grill – steak, lamb, sausage. Wonderful. J11 liked her cold melon and papaya soup.
Then the trouble began. I may have mentioned J7 usually has trouble at least once a vacation keeping her food down. She gets excited, maybe gets a little too full and seems to have a delicate gag reflex. We told her again and again that such incidents on the cruise would be bad, as they might quarantine her, thinking it an illness.
Well, she almost made it through dinner, and she almost made it to the bathroom. I felt so bad for her. Luckily, it wasn’t in the kids’ club, and hopefully, it’ll be the last time. I told the crew about it so they could clean the trash can she mainly got it in. I took J4*’s dinner back to the room, and saw they had roped off the area around the can, and a man was cleaning wearing a mask and long gloves. It resembled a toxic waste spill seen. I half expected a crew in full environmental suits to enter with disinfectant sprayers and perhaps gieger counters to assure she had ingested no plutonium. Seriously, better they handle any such thing in this way. They hand you disinfectant wipes before each meal as well. Certainly don’t want a disease ravaging the ship.
Back at the room, the mood was grim for a while, but gradually lightened. J7 and I got some room service (what to tip on a $0 bill?). The tuna salad was bad (oil based, too many vegetables), but the cheese plate and the cake of the day (marble cheese cake) were great.
J4* took J11 to the Ocean Quest 411 at 10PM, and I picked her up a half hour later. The simulator there was great. The crew was telling kids to be gentle (I read on the boards that a kid broke the steering wheel the last trip).
Jess was making a stop motion film with toy dinosaurs on a computer. A boy was “helping,” but didn’t quite get the concept. She was moving her triceratops frame by frame while he was just plopping different creatures in shot. Only produced a second of film so far, but I bet J11 will ply with that quite a lot.
Off to be rocked to sleep.
DAY 6
To recap – we are:
J40 – me 40 year old
J4* - my wife
J7 & J11, our daughters, 7 & 11.
We are currently enjoying a week long trip to Walt Disney World and a week long Disney cruise. Join us, won’t you?
What did we do this day?
Having not blogged for a bit, we are trying to forensically reconstruct this day. Here are some notes, not necessarily in the order we did them.
We went to MK in the morning. Checked around Pirates, but it is still closed. I bought a at for my pirate night costume on the cruise, and J4* bought a pair of pirate Mickey ears. We saw a bit of the Capt. Jack Sparrow pirate training show – very cute. Reminds me of the Jedi Academy at the Studios.
With the crowds expected for Pirates, it seems the often closed El Pirata y el Perico has returned as a Mexican counter service restaurant. When I last ate there it was the daty they had reopened it as a table service buffet to help provide more MK table service for Dining Plan participants. Much better this way! With tacos or taco salad, you get a shell with meat, all the other toppings are at a nearby bar. Note that sour cream is only behind the counter, so you must request it.
Went on Stitch. The kids love Stitch and so love this attraction. I think perhaps because it’s about as much “thrill” as they feel they have complete control over. I personally liked Alien Encounter. I could see how this could be more enjoyable, if it just had a tad better story. As it is, it seems crippled by Eisner era budgeting.
Did the TTA, another favorite, although J11 cowers in fear during the passage through Space Mountain. She was amused that her VMK wristband (she likes VMK a lot, although we’vve had trouble getting it to run lately). She did the thrill seekers quest (OK, we had to cheat and find the answers online) and the High School Musical one (no “cheating” required! She knows that down cold. The in park answers we found quickly in the park),
We went back to the room. Having not rained today, it was hot and humid. J4* went to Epcot to do a little shopping (one of the joys of the Beach Club – running into Epcot at a moment’s notice!).
I was determined to finally cook my purchased meat (never got around to grilling at SSR). I had confirmed there were grills at the Beach Club Villas – a small picnic area by the BCV pool. Now I needed some tools. At SSR, the rental place, “Horsing Around,” lent them to DVC members. I asked at the Beach Club Marketplace, but they referred me to the Conciheerge. They in turn told me they tools were in a drawer by the grill, and if not, call housekeeping.
Soon after J4* left, the weather became threatening. No! I have charcoal, I have meat. I must grill!
As our room was in sight of the grill, I instructed my daughters on yhte use of a cell phone and went down to grill. J7 learned the lesson well, as she called my phone with the one I left her approximately every 30 seconds.
Started the grill. No drawer, hence no tools. Called housekeeping between J7’s diligent calls. No idea – they transferred me to private dining (a.k.a. room service). After a few minutes, I gave up.
Called J4* to try to let her know I had had the girls lock the door. Unfortunately, he call dropped before she heard that, so I had to call J7 to let her mom in!
Using a fork, I managed to cook all the meat I had purchased! Made sure it was all well done, to make up for any sins that transferring it between hotels might have caused.
We ate. The rain was never more than a sprinkle, so I grilled unmolested by the elements, mostly.
After this early dinner, we relaxed. J11 had decided that she could earn more allowance as a dishwasher, and had been trying to wash dishes for the past few days. So now, with more than a stray glass in the sink, I thought I’d let her really do it.
I showed her how to load the dishwasher. When I started to show her how to add the detergent, she informed me she already had added soap. We found that she had filled the soap receptacle with Palmolive. We have a dishwasher at home, she’s seen us run it. She knew we had never used liquid soap.
I at first thought little of the mistake until J4* said we should really get that out. I tried as best as I could, but there was still a little in the cup.
I thought it would be OK, so we started the dishwasher.
Was it “I Love Lucy” or “The Brady Bunch” (or both) where the washing machine suds up the entire house? Well we were soon living in that world.
Heaps of foam welled up from the bottom of the machine. We stopped it, and called housekeeping.
A great housekeeper named Cladonise (excuse the spelling – probably got that wrong) came up to help. At first she asked if we had Downy (we didn’t). Apparently that will kill the suds.
All that was left to do was empty it out with a bowl and repeat until it would start a cycle without foaming over.
Much work and a few towels later, she had it right as rain.
After that excitement, we decided to head to MGM for Fantasmic (a show that J11 had been afraid of. We were on the way to do it last trip when a downpour stopped us). We had a great Friendship boat driver on the way over. He picked out the “bad kids” on the boat (not ours, amazingly?) and placed them in “detention” at the front. He let them go only after the oldest did 20 pushups! The detention kids were actually as amused as the rest of us at the whole thing.
I went to get in line for the 9 PM Fantasmic about 7:30, ad te rest went on the Great Movie Ride. There was some gnashing of teeth after that, as J11 wanted to do Narnia, but J4* help that there really wasn’t time before they needed to join me (which was true).
I had decent seats – Scar row X – a pole blocked a little, but not very much. The show was enjoyed by all. The night was clear and getting cooler. The only bad part was that Maleficent never became the dragon. The dragon’s head peeked out of the mountain, but apparently could advance no more. J11, a dragon-lover, was disappointed, but I told her just a reason to see it again!
Narnia was still open for its last show afterwards, so we went on. J11 was in heaven. The cast member playing the Witch does resemble the actress in the movie very much. They must have a few with the requisite facial structure!
Back home and to bed!
The first pictures from the trip are up at:
Our photo album
DAY 4 – The Buses Strike Back
DAY 5 – A New Hope
The plan for day 4 was simple. Typhoon Lagoon in the morning, a barbeque lunch at SSR and La Nouba at night.
So we arrived at the Springs bus stop at SSR at 10:35 EDT. We waned to do Typhoon as it was a perfect warm day with a low forecast of thunderstorms (although I found out later that was revised – read on, dear reader). Also, J11 was sure she would try Shark Reef this time.
We saw all sorts of busses. Epcot, Disney MGM Studios, even 2 for Animal Kingdom/Blizzard Beach.
But no Typhoon Lagoon. I started having each bus call the base to ask where the missing bus was. The answer was always a few minutes away. I even used the house phone to have the operator check. They told her a few minutes too. She at least was close to right at that point.
In all, we waited 49 hot minutes for the bus. 49 minutes that stressed the usually friendly (but always fragile) détente between J’s 7 & 11.
We arrived at Typhoon Lagoon about 11:22. After we were under way, the bus driver (amazed that it had been more than the normal 20 minutes between busses) said he called and found that a bus had broken down. Amazing no one else apparently knew that.
We stated out some seats near the lockers we rented (which were next to Shark Reef) and hopped in the lazy river.
Two stops later, we were instructed to exit the river because rain was coming. The skies were still blue and full of puffy clouds, but we realized it did take a while to clear the waters of guests. So after about a half hour in the water, we raced to the nearest stand to get food (figuring others would soon get the same idea).
We ate standing, unable to find seats. The rains did come as we made out way back to our towels and beach chairs. It was quite a downpour, but we heard that other areas of Disney got hit quite worse.
The rain stopped, but apparently the front was still in the area, as we sat listening to continual announcements that the water attractions were closed. I went off for a moment to find the others huddled into a full shelter (that they were previously just outside of). Apparently some lifeguard (let’s just call her the Surf Nazi) ordered them there.
Oh, I have no problem with a policy that when thunderstorms are in the area people must be out of the open. However the policy wasn’t being universally enforced by all the lifeguards, just this one apparently. Others on the other side of the shelter were left unwarned in the open, even as a gaggle of red suited tanned lifeguards chatted right next to them. Also, as J4* pointed out, if they won’t let you stand except under a wooden canopy perhaps there should be more such shelter.
After an hour or so (which seemed much longer) we were allowed back in the water. The park was less crowded, so that was a good thing. We finished our circuit on the river and headed for the big pool. The kids got progressively bolder after an initial wave knocked them both down, leaving red marks on the parts of their bodies that happened to hit the pool floor.
At one point, they stopped the wave machine because the lifeguards had to check out someone (which turned out to be nothing). The pumps apparently need a cycle to get back into it, leading the crowd to chant “WAVE, WAVE…” during the interval.
When the waves restarted, the first was a tiny one foot swell that caused the entire crowd to boo.
Chicago brave J11 decided against Shark Reef, and I decided not to do it alone at this point. I did spend a while sitting on the wall at the end of the wave pool – the waves breaking up on you there can be pretty fun!
We returned to SSR at about 4:30, just enough time to get ready for La Nouba. Once bitten, twice shy, I called a cab while waiting at the bus stop. He beat the bus there, so we took the can to the West Side – a $7 trip, and I gave him $10 total to help make up for the short ride.
We made the show in plenty of time and had great seats – Section 202, row AA 1-4, right behind the aisle, just left of center (house left, not stage left). The kids had never seen this show. J4* and I did in ’99 (that was an experience – J4* seat was broken and they tried to give us seats all the way in the back (we were in the center section, halfway back – this when all seats were the same price – but that’s a whole different story!). They have seen Cirque in Chicago (and will again this summer). It was great. Those Chinese girls are still a little creepy, but amazingly talented (if you’ve seen it, you probably know what I mean). I imagine they just clone them.
After the show, the weather was again threatening, so we made a beeline for indoor food. House of Blues wasn’t taking names, so we continued on to Raglan Road. What a great place! We waited at the bar for our table (much relief to our Chicago/part-Irish sensibilities – on a trip to Indianapolis we couldn’t even sit in one whole half of a restaurant, because that was considered
”bar area.” If you can’t take kids to the bar, where do you rest your infant when you go out? ).
The music was live, great, and loud (albeit acoustic). A dancer accompanied the band, dancing on a special table (with patrons seated at it!). J4* had the salmon, I the loin of bacon (a very lean ham steak, basically), J7 the fish and chips and J11 the Dakely Duo – sausages battered and served with a mustard sauce. It was very nice. If you like Irish music and a good pint of Smithwick’s, this is the place to go.
Back home after a walk through Downtown Disney and to bed.
DAY 5
J7 has been unusually combative at points this trip. Suddenly today, she was a joy. Hopefully she realizes that this is a good thing!
This was moving day – SSR to BCV. I packed as the rest got up. I put the fridge food in an insulated bag from Publix (Keeps ice cream cold after 3 hours! It says) and a rolling cooler we brought. Bell Services arrived to take out 17 bags (some of these just small items, like the charcoal I’ve yet to use!) and the rest of the family went of to Epcot (got to get those puppets the rain stopped!)
I took the first bus (Magic Kingdom) and got off to find the YC/BC bus. One bad part of transferring at MK is the side of the sign you can see exiting doesn’t tell you the destination of the buses. So you have to walk and keep looking backwards to see. I found the YC/BC stop and waited. A bus pulled up. He told me that even though he was at the stop, his marquee didn’t say YC/BC, but he’d get me there, probably after taking us past the Contemporary and WL. He checked with a supervisor in a van and sure enough, he had to go to CR/WL. We did so (picking people up for MGM) and then went to the Beach Club to drop me off. I didn’t ask for this, and I’m sure the folks waiting at the BC and those on the bus were all confused, but this small detour was really helpful to me.
I checked in – no rooms ready – drat! – and took the boat to Epcot. Met the family by China in WS (got the puppets!) and we journeyed on. We stopped to eat in Italy for the first time. It was quite nice. I had Ceasar Salad with shrimp (nice and hard to mess up. Could have been larger, and the “crouton” was a rectangular cracker, which wasn’t bad actually). J4* had some delicious buttery lasagna. The kids had pasta, and I commented J7’s meatballs better than my mom’s, for which J4* felt sure I would be rained on.
Glad to a giant lizard again menacing the small Germany railroad village (on a previous trip, a horde of the man sized beats descended on the town, accompanied by Volkswagen sized birds). Love that garden railroad setup!
We caught most of the Voices of Liberty in the rotunda at the American Adventure – they are really worth stopping!
Back to BCV - called and the room still not ready. We waited in the lobby. Kids watched cartoons and J7 traded a pin with Art, the doorman. We switched after a while to the Game Room in the BCV – a wonderful spot to watch cartoons and kick back. Finally, at 4PM exactly, the room was ready. A nice 1 bedroom overlooking the canal and BCV pool.
We relaxed in the room (J4* went out on the balcony to read, not understanding this doing nothing on vacation stuff!). The food looked not too much the worse for wear. The ice cream was soft, but as advertised unmelted after several hours (of course kept in a fridge at Bell Services during most of that time. The meat was a bit oxidized, but should still cook up fine.
For perhaps the last time, we took J11 to the kids club (they serve ages 4-12, but older kids are in the minority). J7 and J11 actually love this time in the kids area. The Sandcastle Club at BC is nowhere near as elaborate ass their usual haunt, the Neverland Club at te Poly, but they reported having a good time. J11 looked a bit silly on the kindergarten chairs playing video games, but a few hours of video games for her is just fine.
J4* and I went to the Boardwalk. We ate at ESPN, which we always like for a quick bite. Not as good as the ESPN Zone’s that it spawned, but still OK. We left, with a flock of Mets and/or Red Sox fans circling our table by the bar.
We walked down to Jellyrolls/Atlantic Dance, but they were not fully open until later. So we caught the next boat (Epcot) and walked around – caught the tale end of Off Kilter (they do rock), and went shopping. We got J7 a book she had been eyeing as a reward for such good behavior today, picked up “Leroy and Stitch” and “High School Musical” (J7 watching Leroy now). Also got a pin trader outfit for J7’s Pal Mickey. Very cute. I picked up the Stitch Independence Day jumbo pin.
We walked back, picked up the kids and relaxed yet again. Good night
DAY 3
Today was Animal Kingdom day. J7 loves animals, and infact aspires to be a zookeeper (and after taking pictures at “Flights of Wonder,” a photographer as well, she says).
Up early today for an 8 AM breakfast at Boma in the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Of course there is no bus direct to the Animal Kingdom Lodge, so we hopped the first bus we saw to Typhoon Lagoon. At the next stop within SSR, we saw an Animal Kingdom bus, so switched to that. Doing the resort-to-resort bus transfer, it doesn’t make that much difference, as the travel time is more when the bus to your next destination shows up, rather than distance, This was true in this case, as we waited about a half hour at Animal Kingdom for the Animal Kingdom Lodge bus. Still, we made it there about 8:15, and there were plenty of empty tables at this hour.
We will have to stay here someday. It’s truly a beautiful resort, even without the benefit of animals outside your window.
Boma is a great breakfast. They ask upon checkin about food allergies, for those concerned. Everything was great. J7 and I especially liked the quinoa. It was a soupy porage-like dish, with a sprinkle of what seemed to be some sort of brown sugar and sesame seeds.
After our meal, off to Animal Kingdom. We headed to Expedition Everest. A lot of construction walls in Asia, probably for the new restaurant as well as a few other things it seems. The Finding Nemo show building is going up as well, and looks to be pretty large. The Everest area looks every bit as cool as it does on TV. Definitely a draw, as the park was much more crowded than it seemed last year.
J4* rode while I and the other “Chicago brave” folks checked out the shop. There was a shirt emblazoned “Scream like a girl’ that caught my eye (and my wife’s too I found later). Apt for me, as I (on the rare occasion I get up the courage for a thrill ride) do just that. In fact five years ago on Tower of Terror, I amused my friend Liz and her family who rode with me, as they had never heard a human scream like that. They were especially amused when I stopped, they soon realized, merely to catch my breath and scream some more.
We chickens headed over to Rafiki’s Planet Watch. The kids really enjoy this. I enjoyed the freshly cleaned bathroom (and the cool high power hand dryer there that actually blows your skin around!). Seriously, I like it too. They were treating a small bird for an eye infection while we were there. I did refrain from joining my daughters in the goat pen. J7 would be there still had we not moved on.
We met up with J4* who reported the ride is very fast. She liked it, although not so much the heights you reach (she said you can see all the other “mountains” of Disney). You do only catch a glimpse of the Yeti, as designed.
We saw “Flights of Wonder” for the first time. Last trip, J7 didn’t want to do it, then reversed herself of course after the last show. It is a good bird show. We’ve seen quite a few over the years (there’s a good on at the Ren Faire near us), but it ranked right up there and did feature more exotic species.
We had time to “Festival of the Lion King.” First time we saw it in the enclosed theatre (and first time J7 remembers it, having been 3 the last time). Still a great show, if unchanged aside from the air conditioning.
We stopped at the bridge to Camp Minnie Mickey to get a picture of the Dragon Rocks waterfall, last vestige of the Beastly Kingdom promo on the boat ride back in ’98 (we never saw that, taking ’98 off from parks to have J7!). J11 loves dragons, so she was very interested. Maybe the Dragon in the park’s logo will finally appear someday!
Now the temperature was climbing and we were dragging a bit, so back to SSR for a lunch of cold cuts and fruit. We relaxed in the room for a few hours (it too a bit to get there waiting for buses – we went to the 12:40 FotLK and were not back in the room until 2:30). Our timing was excellent, as a huge thunderstorm rolled in about 3.
While it was still showering, we headed out to our 6 PM reservation at Jiko in the Animal Kingdom Lodge. We took a bus to Magic Kingdom this time, and luckily the Animal Kingdom Lodge bus was waiting. We were there in under 40 minutes total.
We had never been to Jiko before, but would gladly go again, J7 and J11 ordered of the kids’ menu, but that even featured salmon, chicken breast and filet. J4* and I aren’t big wine drinkers, but we ordered glasses, as we had heard the South African wines here were great. She had a chardonnay and I a pinotage, a grape native to South Africa. Both were very nice. I used my “order the second most expensive glass” methodology to good results. We’d never make it through a bottle, but we did get fresh glasses as they had none open of what we ordered.
For appetizers, we ordered the “Taste of Africa” flatbreads and hummuses (hummusi?). Very tasty and plenty of hummus for dipping (outlasted the bread, but went well with the normal table bread too). The cheeses were all surprisingly mild, but very good. The sweet chutney that came with them was delicious.
J4* and I both had the scallops. Fantastic! Served on a spicy mix of onions and tomatoes with cilantro and on top of a rectangle of some cornmeal type bread (I’m sure allearsnet.com could inform you exactly what we ate!).
After dinner, back to Animal Kingdom. First to “It’s Tough to be a Bug,” with J7, newly 3D brave after her success at “Honey I Shrunk the Audience.” J4* and J11 shopped. Headed to dinoland where J7 was disappointed (and we secretly glad) to find the Boneyard closed for the night. J7 could live in the Boneyard. Some trips, we think perhaps we should forgo the hotel and just stay there with her.
At dinner J7 had announced she would try Dinosaur, but J4* brought up some of the scary parts and ended up talking her out of it. In retrospect, J4* realized that she was remembering some things from Universal’s Jurassic Pak ride. Still, it was probably for the best as when J4* rode the ride (a walkon during Extra Magic Hours evening), J7 was uncharacteristically afraid of Cretaceous Trail, which featured dinosaur statues and occasional “dino noises.” While the typically scared J11 would go in, J7 refused, so we stayed away.
After J4*’s ride (which she pronounced J7 could have handled, had he kept her resolve), we wandered back to Asia. The animals were all in, but the park did look nice in the setting sun. The violent storm left the evening cool and refreshed, so it was a good night.
J7 announced it time to return to the hotel, so we did. Even with few rides the kids would do open, we did enjoy EMH in AK. On this beautiful night, it was nice just to enjoy this beautiful park.
Back to SSR and bed!
My wife, the beautiful J4*, points out correctly that I have glossed over a few key items
One is my dancing. Oh, I’m happy here at WDW. There is music in the air. So I encourage my family to dance with me. Anywhere.
The other is my wildlife photography. J7 loves animals. I, being a biology major once upon a time, have a fondness for them too. So what has most caused me to whip out the camera? A wandering princess? The imposing sphere of Spaceship Earth? No. A bunny and a frog. It was a cute little bunny in
The frog joined us at the bus stop at
That brings me to last night. We took the bus to Downtown Disney. I became covetous of a Chernabog crystal sculpture (the figures from “Ave Maria” march across a bridge imbedded in the crystal of Chernabog’s bald mountain base - those Fantasia-challenged, see below!). We were urged on by the kids to World of Disney (or WOD) to see the new Adventure and Princess rooms.
The Adventure rooms are petty neat. Large displays of pirate skeletons and a talking pirate animatronic (urging you to buy, of course! Of course he also repeatedly says, “Take what ye can, give nothing back!” so one wonders if that could be a suggestion to shoplift!). The kids made pirate hats - you buy the base hat and snap on patches and medallions. Cast members there tell me that many people don’t realize there is a charge for each doodad - the $10 base hat and $7 base bandana can easily become $20. The kids will put these to good use on pirate night on the cruise.
The princess room is kind of boring. They have an animatronic too, but it’s a creepy looking girl dressed as a generic princess. The big draw here is the Bibbidy Bobiddy Bootique, a makeover for girls (it appeared very popular with long haired girls, who were clustered about the entrance, although at this late hour no one appeared to be inside.
We left, with pirate hats and a watch for me (I love this one with a Velcro wrist band - I had one that I wore until it fell apart, and somehow managed to loose the replacement I last bought).
Back on the bus. Speaking of busses, we noticed an odd phenomenon. Both on the bus there and the bus back, there were folks seeking the Polynesian. One was a family trying to get to their dinner reservations. Apparently, they were instructed to go to Downtown Disney and get on the bus at stop 3, which they did. They didn’t connect with the fact that multiple buses stop at stop 3, and that the sign saying “
They, however, were not alone. Returning at 11 PM, another family was apparently on the wrong bus. The parent(s) sent their boy up to the driver to ask if the bus they were on was going to the Poly. A move I can understand - always better to have the kids do the dirty work when you can! 
So those not frequent Disney bus riders, note the big orange letters on the front and side of the bus. They will tell you where the bus will go, and only where the bus will go, not just the next stop. If the sign hasn’t changed fro where you are now to the destination, ask before boarding. Being trapped in the bus system is a circle of Disney Hell a few levels below being trapped on small world.
Today, Boma for breakfast, AK and then Jiko (first time!) for dinner. J7 loves AK, so this should be a good day for her!
Finally a moment to get organized and set down some of the chronicles of JMC2006! Well, dear reader, our journey begins…
DAY 1
Up early. With not knowing for sure what group we will be entering the plane with, getting to the airport on time is more important than ever. And although Midway is only a dozen miles from our home, it is a dozen miles that have the potential for unforeseen delays.
My dad drive us (his driving style more, um, interesting than normal this early summer morning - but thank God for him! He does so much for us and I really appreciate it.
We arrive at Midway with plenty of time. We check our luggage, and proceed to the gate - B1 - nice and close! I ask and yes, we can all go in group A with J7! That’s great, as we have more carry-on than usual and J7 & 11 need an adult with them for those stressful takeoffs and landings!
Flight was fine, a bit bumpy at the end. J11 listened to her iPod Shuffle, and J7 and I watched Pirates of the Caribbean until she fell asleep (than J11 watched). J4* was across the isle (tried to get her in the exit row behind us, but apparently if you have kids on the plane you can’t sit in the exit row, even if the kids don’t. Makes sense, actually.
Raining in Orlando when we landed - the suitcases all damp, but luckily little inside got too wet. Next time we travel in the summer, we should put all the stuff in the soft sided luggage in Space Bags or Ziploc giant bags (we did bring some of those along - great for dirty clothes, etc.)
Picked up the car a new Cadillac DTS. Needed a car to get groceries for the week, and for 1 day, the Caddy was only $50. Drove great and had tons of buttons to fiddle with. Favorites were the heated back seats (much to J7 & 11’s delight) and the cooled front seats. I want every chair I have to be air cooled!
First stop - mousesurplus.com. Really neat place! A little show room and amazing warehouse of Disney discards. Unsold merchandise, signs, and even park vehicles (including a monorail and the buss from “Speed”
Checked into DoubleTree (than;s Hhonors points!). Really nice little place by Downtown Disney. Very friendly. Little desk just for kids to check in. We had a surprise of a couple chocolate covered strawberries in our fridge for being repeat guests.
Went off to MK. Kids exhibited their “Chicago courage.” In Chicago, they (from a family of basically trill ride chickens, except J4* who will try, but not seek out thrill rides) had been all about trying Splash and Test Track and maybe even Mission Space Green. We set foot in the park and that evaporated! Oh well. Maybe they will get the courage up.
It was a while before we actually set foot in the park though. We had to renew our passes, bought with the DVC discount. Well, the ticket worker at the MK accidentally rang them up as Florida resident, then backed out the value (off our vouchers and into her drawer). She was thinking she’d just redo the renewal with the $1200 credit she now had, but she didn’t have authority to the DVC screen! So much waiting (for which we got 2 coupons that work like Fast Passes on any ride - being thrill averse, we still used one on Peter Pan!), a supervisor and calls, we had a resolution. We had to go to MK Guest Services and meet the supervisor, who was driving over there with out vouchers, old passes, DVC card and $1200 from the drawer. We got there and everything was all set. We had our new vouchers!
So we went to Fantasyland, did Philharmagic (from the front in seats J7 picked, which my wife said she liked better. I found it a tad hard to focus on some things, but overall agree), Peter Pan and ate at Geppeto’s. We sat waving at the small world boats going on their never-ending voyages… The food was definitely OK, and better yet, paid for with Disney Visa Rewards! They had replaced the sub par pasta they had our last trip there with a turkey and bacon panini.
Went on small world ourselves. Oh the horror… Seriously, the ride was looking pretty good.
After a while (my phrase for I don’t recall exactly what we did), we shopped Man Street and headed out before Spectro. Back to the hotel (got to watch Illuminations finale from our car).
Back to the hotel and quickly to sleep!
DAY 2
Kids slept late - didn’t stir until about 9. I got up, loaded the car and went to Saratoga Springs to check in. DoubleTree made one mistake and left me waiting for a bellman for about a half hour, but I still got off plenty early.
Got to SSR and there were rooms available - plenty! I had my pick, so I took The Springs. Got a 1 bedroom on the first floor (great for carting in my luggage). The view is of the Theater, which is hosting Disney Magic Music days again (as it was on our trip last year).
Back to DoubleTree. Dropped the family at Epcot and went to Publix. I had forgotten the directions to the nearest one, but TA DA - there is that little blue OnStar button! What a great service. Makes me want yo buy a GM (even though sis-in-law works for Chrylser!).
Did some shopping - figure we’d have a few meals in the room, and grill one night. Sure I have too much food, but at Disney prices, it’s still a bargain. Only I forgot the charcoal. And the buns, And the hot dogs. But I did get breakfast stuff, snacks, steak and burgers. Rest I’ll just get at Artists’ Palette.
Drop the car off at the Dolphin (you just leave it with the valet and he writes you an Alamo receipt) and off to meet the family at Epcot.
J7 did overcome one fear and did Honey I Shrunk the Audience - and she even asked to do it! Yeah! I met them in World Showcase. We went for lunch at San Angel, which was OK, but certainly not as good as most Mexican I’m used to. Still, can’t beat the atmosphere (and the remaining Disney Rewards coupled with the Disney Dining Experience discount softened the blow!).
We went around - J4* and J7 did Maelstrom (another thrill for J7!). The kids (whom we empowered with $100 each to spend) really wanted to get those marionettes from China. So we scooted over there, and on queue as they were selecting them, the skies opened. The rain that had been predicted all day came. Luckily, we scurried under the cart and donned ponchos (which we remembered this time - yeah!). So puppet purchasing was delayed. We’ll be at the Beach Club later in the week where such Epcot purchases will be much easier.
Saw American Adventure. Still a great show, although it really needs to be updated past Kristi Yamaguchi. Continued around - got J7 some marble pop in Japan (soda with this marble in the neck that seals the bottle - it’s fun and designed so the marble cannot escape). Saw folks grouping for the candy lady. We skipped that, as with her only making 5 or so pieces a show, it seems to get dominated by the groups that gather early. Me, I’d prefer to see all 5 go to different families, but that didn’t seem to be the case last time we saw it.
Made our way out. The rain had ended for a while now, and the very second I stepped under the canopy of Pin Central, the heavens emptied out again! Once more into the ponchos and back to SSR. I went to get charcoal (Scottish lass working the counter did not know what I meant at first - she was thinking charcoals to draw with!) and a new key as mine had become demagnetized (I think having it next to my ringing RAZR phone did it!).
The kids started watching Nanny McPhee on the DVD player in the room and I started this blog. They ran to Artists’ Point (where J7 unfortunately failed in her quest to, um, keep every meal on vacation down! I hope she manages on the ship! I think the excitement just gets to her.)
They are back, and I am done - for today!
My wife always uses cute, Disney inspired code names for the rest of us. Guess I should too. Hhmm. Can’t just copy hers.
I’ve got it! What would any good sys admin do. Here we are:
Me (J40)
Wife (J4*)
Daughter (J11)
Daughter (J7)
OK, so it what it lacks in poetry, it makes up in pragmatism.
Anyway - we leave tomorrow for the land of oh the anthropomorphic rodent.
So I made sure I was online at southwest.com at 9:34 AM this morning (our flight is at 9:35). Sure enough, couldn’t print out boarding passes yet. So I waited a minute.
Bingo. Got in with J7 in group A. Normally, that’s what I’d expect. For those unfamiliar, Southwest (the airline from which our plentiful American Express and Diners Club points we earn many free flights) does not use reserved seating. Instead, you get a group, and are allowed to pick the seat of your choice. Of course, in practice, this leads to long lines an hour or more before takeoff as people jockey for the correct seat. Not as big an issue travelling alone, but with kids it is indeed possible not to find the needed number of seats together. And as J11 needs to grab on to my arm during takeoff, and J7 would talk a stranger into a frenzy, this is key. Normally, almost all of the passes the first few hours online are A. No problem.
Until today. Enter J11’s confirmation number (because of our free flights and such, we each have our own confirmation numbers). B
What? J4*, J40, B. Hhmm.
Call Southwest. If we ask at the ticket counter, they might let us go on together (wonder if J7 could fend off all takers for 3 seats near here? She just might… No, bad idea). OK, we’ll see. if not, we’ll just have to camp out at the front of the B line.
Find out from my favorite Disney board (disboards.com) that this sort of thing can happen when the flight connects from elsewhere. At 9:35? Well, maybe someone is getting up really early tomorrow to fly to MCO via MDW.
Well, we will get there. Not as bad as when we went to Disneyland in ‘01 and American said I boarded while I was at the car rental return with my boarding pass in hand. Worse yet, they split us up, so J11 (then J6, not to be confused with this year’s J7 - maybe this nomenclature needs work…) was seated next to some stranger, while J4* (then J3*, oh you get the idea) was with J7 (yes THIS year’s J7) and I was forced to wait for the next flight.
But that’s a story for another time!
So got to finish working from home and get packed! Early day tomorrow!
Welcome to my Disney blog. The impetus to create this is our upcoming family trip to Walt Disney World, followed by a 7 night Western Caribbean cruise aboard the Disney Magic.
Itinerary:
June 24 - arrive in Orlando via Southwest Airlines. Stay one night (for free - thank you Hhonors points) at the Doubletree Downtown Disney.
June 25 - switch to our “home” Disney Vacation Club resort, Saratoga Springs.
June 28 - switch to the Beach Club Villas.
July 1 - board the Disney Magic
July 8 - home again, jiggity jig.
So stay tuned and follow us…