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!