Talls & Smalls' WDW Adventure

T Minus 11 Days

2008-07-31T15:16:00.000-07:00

...and counting!

Yes, guys and gals, its time once again for a vacation to Disney World! In the words of the Kool-Aid guy, "OH YEAH!"

I bet you're asking yourself "Who? What? When? Where? Why?" and I'm so glad you asked!

Who:
Beth - Disney nerd extraordinaire. Girlfriend of Mark. Short, terrible typist and pretty damn funny. I'm sure you know me.
Mark - Disney nerd extraordinaire... X's 2. Boyfriend of Beth. Tall, computer wiz and possibly funnier than even me. Plus he's a Disneyland CM so thanks to him we got some awesome deals on our vacation.
With guest appearances by... Dad (That would be my pop) and Debbie (That would be my pop's wife) for a few days.

What:
A much, MUCH needed vacation.

When:
We will leave out house on May 3rd and arrive on Orlando on May 4th. We leave in just 11 freakin' days!

Where:
Were you not paying attention? Walt Disney World, people! More specifically... All-Star Sports. Sure its not anywhere near my "Top Ten Places I Must Stay Before I Die" but it was cheap and available. Besides... as long as I'm with my Marffy (and its clean and safe) who cares! We paid a little bit more to stay in the "Surf Rooms" so that is pretty cool. I'm actually really looking forward to it.

Why:
Life's hectic, work sucks and Mark and I rarely get time off together. We miss each other and this vacation is going to be the perfect chance to have some fun...TOGETHER! And what better place than Disney World? Disney is how we met and we both enjoy it so much.

We've bought batteries, swim suits (or board shorts as the case may be), booked hotels and flights, bought shorts and sunblock... all that's left is to pack. And all that's left for you to do is sit back and await our return. And once that happens... let the trip reporting begin!

If you get bored waiting for us feel free to read last years trip report: WDW Jubilee

And I thought I'd leave you with this since we're flying on Delta... it seemes appropriate. Plus it was just so damn cheesy... I loved it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLyR4Gj4KKw

See you real soon!

Nine Days 'o Dancing

2008-07-30T13:56:00.000-07:00

So it's only 9 days, and 11 hours (as I write this) until we depart the airport for Orlando, FL! At this point we have all of the things purchased (I think... I'll have to check my TadaList ...) and everything is now falling into place as the day slowly inches forward.

As Beth mentioned in the last post, I'm Mark. I'll occasionally post on this blog, but for the most part this is Beth's baby, mainly because I get terrible's writers block. So that's why this post is about to end awkwardly...

Just like that ^

Ok.

May 3rd and 4th DAY 1: The Journey Begins

2008-07-29T17:08:00.000-07:00

Finally the day had arrived! The day we were leaving for our vacation! Ok so technically our flight didn't leave until May 4th at 1255am but since we had to LEAVE our home on May 3rd to get to the flight on time... that became our "Departure Day".

I worked a half day. Or at least I was scheduled to work a half day... but do you ever really WORK the day you leave for your vacation? I think not. Mark (the Lucky Duck!) got out of work that day at the last minute. Let me tell you... having to get up at 430am to go to work and then sitting there all day knowing your boyfriend is off while the minutes tick by ever so slowly to get to 11am so you can leave for the day... well its just plain torture. But finally 11am did come (though I was convinced it never would) and I headed home and didn't hit a single spot of traffic. Score!

I went home and took airborn as somehow in the two days prior to leaving I got a cold. And a pretty nasty one at that. We cleaned the house before we left to make sure we'd come home to a nice cozy place. Nothing ruins that "Fresh Vacation" feeling faster than coming home to a dirty house. Unless its work. After cleaning the cold took its toll on me and I crashed for a few hours. When I woke up we visited with Mable, The Wonder Kitty. I was nervous about leaving her for so long even though Mark's family would be watching her. But thanks to some helpful folks at Laughingplace.com I did feel a bit better about it.

Since we had cleaned out the 'fridge earlier in the day (no one wants to come home to sour milk and mystery meat when they get back from vacation) we decided to get fast food. We opted for In n Out. Yum! We took the food back home, ate and watched the Office. Soon I just couldn't breathe anymore. I was too congested so Mark took me to the store and we got some nasal spray. I was a little afraid to use it because it was a gel and that just sounds painful, squirting a gel up your nose... on purpose! But I did it and I was breathing easy in minutes!

Paul (that would be Mark's dad) called us around 10pm and said he was almost here. We said our goodbyes to Mable and gave her lots of kisses before we headed out. The trip to the airport was uneventful. When we got to the ticket counter to check in the ticket agent told us our flight was delayed... for 2 hours. We were going to miss our connection in Houston. They told us they'd have our new flight arrangements when we arrived. So we ended up waiting about 4 hours at the Ontario, CA airport. Finally our plane arrives and I swear the people getting off the flight tried to be as slow as possible. You'd think that they'd just want to get off the flight since they were getting in about 2am but I guess not. Fiiiiiiinally we were able to board and we were on our way!

Waiting (and freezing) in the Ontario airport for our delayed flight

We arrived in Houston about 2 hours late and with our connecting flight already gone. Poop. So, after singing "The Stars at Night" in Texas like I always wanted to do, we stood in a line as long as the Nile and waited our turn to be rebooked. When we got our new flight information we noticed a problem. Mark was on a 915am flight and I was on a 1030am flight. What?!? Noooo! So we tell them the problem and there is nothing they can do other than put me on standby for Mark's flight. We rush over to where Mark's new flight was departing and Mark bought me tissue as I had the sniffly nose from hell and I think I was driving him nuts.

They started boarding his flight and finally he couldn't wait any longer and had to board. We made plans on where to meet up if I didn't make it on the flight. The ticket counter agent had said it didn't look good. So I stood off to the side and they started to call stand-by's up one at a time. I waited and waited and waited. Finally I heard my name. YES!!!! They told me and another fella to follow them down to the plane. When we got to the door we were told to wait. And we waited and waited... come to find out there was only ONE seat left on the flight. Now I was worried that I'd miss my confirmed flight since they had me wait so long. But eventually they told the other guy to scram. I WIN!!! So I get on the flight and I fumble around for my phone, while trying to manhandle my luggage because I didn't know where Mark was on the flight and I wanted to text him to let him know I made it. I reach the seat the flight attendant directed me too and who should be in the seat next to me... My Marky! Hooray! During drink service the flight attendant asked if we knew each other before the flight. LOL! I guess that would be a little strange to see two people you assume are strangers getting cozy before the flights even over.

Soon the flight was starting its decent (thank goodness because my ears were killing me. Congestion and crazy cabin pressure don't mix, kids)and soon we were landing is sunny, humid Florida. YEAH! A quick stop at the potty and we were on our way to Disney's Magical Express. Checkin was a breeze and we were on our way in no time.

On the DME bus. Hurry up! I want to go to WDW!!

We had a much nicer CM (Stands for Cast Member if you're new here) checking us in this time. Our room was ready for us and we were in room 1126 (I think). It was pretty nice and I was pleased as I was worried about staying in the All-Star Sports (Thats ASS if you're playing at home. LOL!) But the room was quiet, away from the pool and facing lots of lush foliage.

We unpacked and tried to decide what to do. Our plan had been to go to the Magic Kingdom today for a while and meet up with someone Mark works with before going to our dinner reservations. And then the next day we were going to Typhoon Lagoon. But with the delay in our flights we didn't feel it was worth it to rush to the park for 2 hours before dinner. So we decided to just relax and skip the water park the next day and to MK then. We let Mark's friend know we wouldn't be able to meet up and then decided to take pictures of the resort. We were outside for all of about 4 minutes when we realized we made a fatal error in not changing out of our jeans first. LOL! What were we thinking. Back to the room for a quick change-a-roo and we were ready to explore. We definitely liked our area (The Surf area) the best. It looked to be the most up-kept.

Hooray! The maid left us a hidden Mickey!

In the room, finally!

2 minutes later we realized how stupid we were for walking around in 90-degree-humid-like-a-gator's-arm-pit weather when we could be in shorts.

Mark is like Donald Duck. He gets angry over silly things but he gets over it fast and he's super cute and lovable. Here is is with his doppleganger doing his Donald impression. LOL!

After we explored we caught the bus to Disney's Animal Kingdom (DAK) and then another bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge. I saw those Croc shoes everywhere. I told Mark how I keep hearing there're soooooo comfy. I couldn't believe how they were everywhere. We tried to decide if we could get over the ugliness for the comfort factor.

We had time to look around before checking in for our dinner at Boma. What a beautiful place! I loved how you could walk right outside and see the zebras. We spent a good deal of time just looking around and soaking up the fact that we were TOGETHER and got to be together for DAYS. It was very exciting. Finally it was food time. We had a nice attentive waiter who I decided was cool because his name was Seth and that rhymes with Beth. Its pretty easy to please me. LOL! We tried mostly everything. Everything was interesting, most was good. I'd eat there again. There was this really tasty meat pie of sorts that Mark and I really liked. And of course... dessert. We ordered a pot of coffee that was some of the best we've ever had and ate tasty desserts till our hearts content. And Mark fell in love with their canolli although I'm hard pressed to believe that that is African. LOL!

Cool! A zebra!

Waiting for our table at Boma

the best part of any dinner... Dessert! And coffee!

I was having trouble breathing again and I had to check my nasal spray so we headed back to the hotel to see if our checked bag had arrived yet from DME. It had! So nice and easy. I loved not having to deal with the liquid restrictions. We just put all our shampoo, makeup (mine...not Marks) sunscreen and what not in a small bag and checked it. And there it was... waiting there for us with a little help from Disney Magic. It was getting late and I'd been up since 430am the day before so we hit the sack to be well rested for our first day at the parks in the morning!

Content and happy after a yummy dinner and great company.

May 5th DAY 2: We Meet Mr. Freezy Breeze

2008-07-28T17:16:00.000-07:00

Saturday, May 5th, 3am… BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ! The alarm clock is going off. Didn’t we deal with this same issue the last time we were here? What possesses people to ruin other peoples first night of sleep? Is this common in all WDW hotels or just the Value resorts? Mark attempts to turn if off but has issues. I got up and tried to turn it off but its really hard to see at 3am. My eyes were all squinty. Finally with some team work we got it shut off. Ahhhh… now back to blissful slumber!

BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ! @&#$%!!!! I thought we fixed you, you stupid alarm clock!! I was tempted to unplug the darn thing and chuck it out our door but we did eventually fix it (for real this time) and slept until our ol’ pal Mickey Mouse gave us a ring-a-ding-ding.

When we did finally wake up for real we got ready and packed our backpack with the essentials like the little first aid kit I made, brushes and hair dealies to put my hair in a ponytail should I need to, cameras and sweatshirts (it was supposed to cool down to 65ish at night they said). Then we slathered ourselves with spf50 that Mark made us buy as he didn’t want us to turn into lobsters. I wanted 30 but Mark insisted on 50. He just doesn’t want me to surpass him in the tanning competition. After five coats of spf50 we were out the door for breakfast. Hey, does that mean we’re actually protected with 250 spfs? And what is an spf anyway?

Where was I? Oh yes, on to breakfast! Today was going to be a hot one we realized as we walked from our room to the food court. Guess what to food court is called. The End Zone! HA! At the ASS! Hee hee!! We’re so easily amused. We decided to go for the Breakfast Croissant for each of us and we bought the refillable mugs that were such a great deal for us last year. We headed out to the bus area and we were headed to the Magic Kingdom by 830am.

After the bag check and a quick line at the front gate (Hooray for the special CM entrance!!!) we were standing in front of the Mickey Planter and the Main Street Station just in time for the little Welcome show. Woo hoo for Clarabell and Horace! Those two just don’t see any action at Disneyland. The welcome show was really cute. It gave us happy little chills. Maybe that was Pixie Dust being sprinkled over us. Either way we both loved the show and had the song stuck in our heads for the rest of the day. We were ready for the day!

a cute little boy took this picture for us.

We decided to first stop in to what would be the Opera House in Disneyland but I believe is “Exhibition Hall” in WDW. I had heard that they often had characters there but I think they all slept in because they weren’t there yet. But no matter because we just took pictures of ourselves!

Steam Boat Bethy

Mark and the 7 dwarfs

We decided to head down Main Street and stopped for several PhotoPass pictures along the way. We decided our souvenir for the trip would be the PhotoPass CD so we wanted to make sure it was well worth it. After posing in front of Cinderella Castle we took a right and headed into Tomorrowland. It was so exciting to be there. After months of planning it was great soaking it all in. We decided to try the brand new Monsters Inc Laugh Floor (MILF!!! HA! I swear… these Imagineers and their acronyms). The queue was ok, nothing amazing. There were lots of banners hanging around that told you how to text in a joke for the show. So Mark texted in the corniest one he could think of. The line wasn’t long at all and soon we were seated and the show began. We enjoyed the show a lot this first time we saw it. Laughing at people looking embarrassed on a large screen is always funny (unless I’m the one on the screen). When it came time for the texted jokes they said they had one from Mark from Coronado, CA (Ahem… that’s Corona, CA!) and his joke was: Why did the turkey cross the road? Because the chicken had the day off. I thought it would be funny if they showed Mark on the screen. I expect people thought that joke came from a 5 year old and not a 6’4 twenty year old. LOL! But they didn’t.

Cinderella Castle PhotoPass picture

Mark at MILF ready to text his HI-LARIOUS joke.

I've given up on the Indian on Main Street in Disneyland. I've moved on to this one.

Space Mountain was our next stop. The line wasn’t bad at all so we got a Fast Pass the then went standby as well. I think those beams get lower every time we ride. I swear Mark was going to be decapitated several times in the ride. It adds to the excitement. We headed out of the dark, cool, air conditioned Space and into the Florida heat that was already pushing 80 at about 930am. As we strolled through Tomorrowland we ran into Push the Trash Can. He was very friendly and advised us to drink lots of water and to stay away from sugary sodas because they would just dehydrate us more. Thank you Push! We took his advice and bought a bottle of water (Only $2! Yippie! We’re not in SoCal anymore, Toto!) on the way to Splash. Splash was fun as always but I wouldn’t have minded a little more in the Splashing side. Did I mention it was hot?

I find this sign very...funny looking.

Here is Mark freaking out because I have my camera out on Splash. "Put it away!!" he's telling me.

When we got off Splash we realized our precious water was gone. So we filled up the water bottle with water from the drinking fountain. ICK! BLECK! PATOOIE! It was warm and it tasted like fart. It was like Hot Fart Water. Water with a smack of fart. Gross! But we drank it anyway because its better to drink HFW (Hot Fart Water) than to pass out from dehydration. With our water bottle freshly filled with HFW we headed to Big Thunder. I really like this ride with its flooded town and what not, but that first lift is scary! The train jerks like three times before it feels like it catches on the train. Me no likey that part. But the rest of the ride is way fun!

We headed over to Adventureland where we found a treasure. We found a girl selling those misty fans (queue Hallelujah Chorus) . We plopped down $15 and picked one out that looked like it had been nestling in its nice ice bath for a while. We turned on the little fan, set the nozzle to “mist” and we were in heaven! Then we took Mr. Freezy Breeze (as we named our fan) with us and we found Captain Hook and Mr. Smee! We snapped a few shots with them and then headed to Pirates. We waited in a short line (while misting ourselves) and we boarded in no time. The upgrades with the AA’s and stuff really helped this ride, I think. Disneyland’s still wins by a long shot but the additions really brought Florida’s version of this attraction up in my book. Also… the donkey in the Burning Town scene looks JUST like Eddie Murphy. How’d they do that?! Even though Eddie Murphy never made it into the Haunted Mansion attraction I guess they found a place for him after all. ::does best impression of Eddie Murphy’s laugh:: We stopped for a few minutes to watch the Captain Jack Sparrow Show. He was pretty good!

Mark and Mr. Freezy Breeze

Smee looks like he's trying to gag himself...

“Where to now?” Mark and I asked ourselves. “To Tom Sawyer Island!” we replied. We caught a raft that was being driven by someone still in training. Mark is trainer at Splash Mountain and the Rafts to TSI (or PLATSI as it is now) so this was of particular interest to him. He thought the girl did a good job and told her so. She did do rather well. My only complaint was that she had inch long candy apple red finger nails. That is NOT Disney look, young lady! After chatting with her a bit the three of us (that would be Mark, me and Mr. Freezy Breeze) decided to explore the caves. Eep! Those things get small! Mark was in front of me and at one point I was sure we were stuck so I shouted to Mark, “Spread you legs, I’m commin’ through! I’ll go get help!” That made Mark laugh and that was enough to push him through the tight spot. Fresh (muggy, humid, hot) air! We were free! Mr. Freezy Breeze misted all over us to show his excitement. We were parched. We found a water fountain for more HFW and found a shaded seat across from the Haunted Mansion and watched the river boat come up the river.

Exploring TSI

Mark fills up our water bottle with HFW. Ick.

After our rest we decided a little Mansion time would be nice. And after our visit through the ghostly abode we realized we were hungry. Pecos Bills sounded good so that’d just where we went. We both got the pulled pork sandwich. Inside the air conditioned building it was packed so we found a shaded spot outside to eat. There were lots of white birds there with long pointy beaks that I don’t know what they’re called. I finished my sandwich and went inside to use the restroom. When I came out, all my French fries were gone! I looked at Mark and he explained to me that while I was gone Mickey Mouse came and made the fries magically hop into Mark’s mouth. Mark tried to explain to Mickey that he shouldn’t eat them because they were mine and I might get mad but that Mickey Mouse just didn’t care. How could I be mad at Mark after that? I mean, its not his fault Mickey wouldn’t listen to reason.

Mark and the Mansion. We give the edge to Disneyland's attraction but the building IS cool looking.

We got on the train and rode to Main Street. We then headed to Adventureland and rode on Jungle. We had these two cute little boys on our boat who got to help drive. One little boy had his “rifle” and was shooting at any animals that looked dangerous. Mr. Freezy Breeze misted all over us once more as we made our way to the Tiki Room. *sigh* This attraction makes me so sad. I’m so glad we have the original version in Anaheim and not the sad excuse at an attempt to update what they felt was a “boring” attraction. BUT… this attraction was air conditioned so… hooray!

We wanted to use our Space fast passes so we made our way to Tomorrowland with a stop for HFW. I told Mark I felt like ice cream but he didn’t know where there was any. I told him to have no fear and to follow me! I have a 6th sense for ice cream. I found Auntie Gravity’s place in no time. We ordered and then entertained ourselves by watching the guy serving up the ice cream. He reminded us of Andy Samburg from Saturday Night Live. He had this huge mouth and every time he brought someone ice cream he presented it to them while making an absurd face. We’re hoping this was his intent otherwise it would have been rude of us to be laughing at him. LOL! The ice cream was refreshingly and after lugging around the back pack that seemed to be getting heavier by the second it was nice to take a break. After our ice cream we decided to ride the TTA. Mr. Freezy Breeze plus TTA equals happy time! We hopped on over to Space for an intergalactic adventure, FastPass style and then went on Carousel of Progress. Oh how I love this ride! Best song ever! After we finished singing about the great big beautiful tomorrow we headed over to the Air Freshener Ride, AKA Mickey’s Phillharmagic. I call it that because I swear in the “Be Our Guest” segment it smells like, well, bathroom air freshener. It was enjoyable. I like the Lion King part the best, I think. Next it was time to visit Zeke and Zeb and Ted and Fred and gool ‘ol Tennessee at the Country Bear Jamboree.

Yum! Ice cream time!!!

Whew! So much stompin’ and clappin’ and singin’ along made us thirsty and hungry. We skipped the HFW this time and headed for the Noodle Terrace. We got teriyaki chicken and some very tasty fruit infused iced teas. The teriyaki chicken wasn’t bad but it was missing a key ingredient. Teriyaki. Oh well, it was better than a burger.

My pretty picture I took of Cinderella castle at sunset.

We had time for another quick zip on the TTA and Space before heading over to Liberty Square to stake out a spot for Spectromagic. I popped a squat on the street behind the rope while Mark got us a funnel cake to share. He got back and we took our sweatshirts out of the 523lb backpack that we’d been lugging around all day. Even though the sun was setting the ground was scorching hot so we sat on our sweatshirts. With the humidity the evening was perfect and not chilly at all so no need to wear them. We ate our funnel cake and drank some more HFW while waiting for the parade to start. Spectromagic was a lot of fun. I was afraid of the creepy faced “spectromen” but I survived them. Chip and Dale (my favorite) were cute. The Chernabog float didn’t seem to be working though. I was very glad I finally got to see the parade since it was rained out last time.

We headed back to the hotel after that. We were exhausted and my cold was wearing me out. But what a fun day! We got to do and see some things we’d never done before and do some old favorites. It was very hot but HFW and Mr. Freezy Breeze helped keep it bearable. When we got back to the room we decided to re-evaluate the 2 ton backpack. Sweatshirts… You’re outta there! Mr. Freezy Breeze… You’re coming along for sure!

Us at the castle at dusk.

May 6th DAY 3: Our Gran Fiesta

2008-07-27T17:01:00.000-07:00

YAWN! Good morning world! Its Epcot Day!

We showered, beautified ourselves, slathered ourselves up with five coats of spf50, grabbed our refillable mugs, hoisted the (much lighter) backpack onto my back with Mr. Freezy Breeze and our HFW bottle firmly strapped to the back pack we were ready for a day of exploring the future and the world. But first… a stop for breakfast at the ASS’s End Zone (tee hee hee… it never stops being funny.) I had a Chocolate Croissant (which is possibly the best breakfast in the world) and Mark had a Bagle and we each had a banana. We were eating light because we had plans for lunch. After eating and drinking a refillable mug full of Power-Aid (Gotta keep hydrated. HFW can’t do all the work.) we were ready to leave. But wait! I realized we left the PhotoPass in the room. So we headed back to the room to get it and to leave our mugs in the room because the idea of lugging them around all day just didn’t sound appealing.

Now we’re ready. Onward to Epcot! We arrived soon enough to find the worlds longest bag check line ever. Three months later we arrived at the back check table and they peaked in our bags and sent us on our way. Special CM entrance…GO! And there it was, Spaceship Earth in all her glory. A quick stop at the Peter Pan topiary for a PhotoPass picture and we were ready to go. Mark had never been on Test Track before so we made that our first stop before the line got too long.

Spaceship Earth and the Peter Pan Topiary

Us with Tinkerbell

I’m not a huge fan of Test Track. I rode in 2000 and I thought it was just “meh”. But Mark really wanted to ride and I was more than willing to give it a second chance. The line wasn’t bad at all when we got there. We waited maybe 10 minutes before we were boarding our 6 passenger car. The ride was pretty much like I remembered it… bumpy, breaks, hot, cold, turn, turn, almost run into something, and then fast. Its pretty much exactly like my commute to work every morning… complete with the almost running into something part. (I live in Southern California… its just a part of life.) Mark said he didn’t hate if but it certainly wasn’t his favorite. He gave it a 6 out of 10 (I give it a 4). To compare, his other ride ratings for WDW are as follows: Splash = 8, Everest = 9 and Great Movie Ride = 10.

Haha! Emissions test... Mark passes that with flying color. And flying wind. LOL!

Our test Track picture. The little girl in the back looks a little scared.

We checked out the new Siemens Project Tomorrow. Mark drove the car of the future and then we did this cool 3D game. Vizzini from The Princess Bride was a skeleton and would talk to us to tell us where to put his parts. Mark and I made a great team and were awarded the title of Top Surgeons. Oh yeah! We know where the liver goes!

Mark drives the car of the future.

Now that we were done with the 91 Freeway… I mean Test Track we headed back to SpaceShip Earth. Now this is an awesome ride! You’ve got Jeremy Irons talking to you, some cool AA’s, Bar-b-que smell and fiber optics. Its possibly the worlds most perfect ride. Except for the people in front of us AND behind us snapping pictures the whole way. Ugh! Talk about ruining the illusion. After we got off I walked up to the people who were taking the pictures, yoinked their cameras away from them and smashed them to bits in front of them.

Nah… I didn’t really. But I had you going for a second, didn’t I?

We were feeling very proud of ourselves and ready to enroll ourselves into medical school but cooler heads prevailed and we decided to try out The Seas with Nemo and Friends. The seagulls out front are great! And the queue is really well done too. Lots of interesting things to look at and they really did a good job of bringing that “beachy” feeling indoors. I almost expected to see Pamela Anderson bounce by the lifeguard tower in slow motion. Boooooiiiinnnng! Boooooiiiiinnnng! We boarded our Omni-Mover Clam-Mobiles and we were off. What a cool ride! What a cool effect! I cannot wait to see how they pull this off for the Subs in Anaheim. And the Big Blue World song sung at the end… woo boy that’s catchy! Although, I will say, there is one mildly scary part in the ride. Mark hid behind me so I could protect him though. Haha!

The Seas with Nemo and Friends

Beth, Mark and friends.

I really wasn’t feeling well at this point. Darn you cold, GO AWAY! We decided to get some HFW and rest for a bit. We found a water fountain and lo and behold… the water was cold! And apparently coldness greatly diminishes the essence of fart found in Florida’s water supply. Epcot scores big points because they have cold water! Way to go, Epcot!

With cold (non-fart) water in hand we decided to try the new Gran Fiesta Tour in the Mexico Pavilion. There was no line as Jose, Panchito and Donald invited us to board. Now, we enjoyed the original ride quite a bit but we REALLY liked the updated version. It was funny, cute and how could you not like the Three Caballeros? This ride gets an A plus from us.

We wondered the World Showcase until we came to Italy which is where our lunch reservations were. We headed to L’originale Alfredo di Roma (Or Alfredo’s for short) and went to check in. The host was apparently irritated that that people were trying to check in before they were open because he snapped at Mark and many others who attempted to check in. But, I’m sorry, if your doors are open and you’re standing at the check in podium people are going to assume you’re ready for them. Anyway, aside from Mr Snappy Pants the rest of the meal was awesome. There was some rather loud crying from the child in the table next to us but once his parents finally got fed up and took him out it was a lovely meal. Our waitress, Eleonora, was very good, the appetizer of Mozzarella alla Caprese was very tasty and the Alfredo was out of this world. Mmmm! Now I want some more just thinking about it. I’m not a fan of the “cream sauce” alfredo that most of us are used to. This is the kind I like. Cheesy and buttery and oh-so-good!

Lunch at Alfredo's. Yummy!

The air conditioning was wonderful but it was time to explore Japan. I love love love their store there. We picked out some candy for dessert. We got strawberry Pocky, chocolate Hello Pandas and rice candy (because its only 99 cents and you can’t beat that). We stopped to watch the last half of the World Showcase Players in the UK Pavilion (it was rubbish!) before heading over to see Figment. I just don’t know what to make of this ride. Its weird. And Eric Idle as a moon is just plain creepy. I would have liked to see the original version.

Mark was worried about me because with the cold and all I was dragging. He wanted me to be well rested for our Extra Magic Hours at the Magic Kingdom that night so we headed back to the hotel at about 2pm. It appeared Mark was tired too because he fell asleep on the bus and didn’t wake up until he dropped his sunglasses. When we got to the room I took airborne when I got into the room and fell asleep lying across the bed.

“Beth! Wake up.” Mark was rousing me from my sleep. It was about 4pm. “Did you hear that?” he asked me.

“Hear what?” was my groggy reply.

“The thunder! It sounded like the maid dropped her cleaning cart off the top floor.” I had not heard anything but I looked out the window and it was POURING. And the wind was so blowey that the rain was literally flying both horizontal and up. More thunder and some lightning. Cool! We decided it was best to not go outside at the moment although I did try to convince Mark it would be a fun game for him to go outside and we could see how long it would take for him to get totally soaked. I was betting on 20 seconds. But he wasn’t keen on that idea. Instead we hunkered down for a while and watched TV while we waited it out. We found Anne of Green Gables on TV (Yeah! My favorite!!) and watched for a half hour until the rain stopped.

With airborne and advil in my system and nasal gel spray up my nose, I was feeling more rested and ready for Extra Magic Hours. We got our wristbands first thing when we got to the Magic Kingdom. We hit up Thunder first, with its herky-jerky lift hill and then ran off to ride the TTA. We rode Buzz and I won for the first time ever. I beat Mark by over 100,000 points. Woo hoo! I was very excited after that. I am the champion my friends and I’ll go on fighting till the end!!

Riding on the TTA

My awesome Buzz score

I have conquered you, Zurg!!

Lunch was hours ago by this time and we were hungry. We decided to give Casey’s on Main Street a shot. We got two hot dogs and two waters so we wouldn’t have to deal with the Magic Kingdom’s HFW. Oh look! They have sauerkraut at the condiment bar. Yummy! We ate outside and watched people feed the ducks and long-pointy-beaked-white-birds even though the sign said not to. But really, I have to admit they were really cute, especially all the little baby ducks that were around. Its hard not to feed cute things. Although, one lady did go a bit far by feeding a duck half her hot dog rather than a little piece of bun. That can’t be good for a duck!

We headed to IASW and we sat in front of a guy who obviously had no idea that using the back of our seat as a drum set might be just a teensy bit annoying. We thought another ride on the TTA might be nice. And it was. It was so romantic because as we were passing the castle, Wishes started. It was one of those perfect moments I think I’ll always remember.

Wishes was over so we decided to ride the Astro Orbiter or the Rocket Jets or whatever they’re called. All I know is they’re on TOP of the TTA platform just like ours should be. Hehe! That was a fun ride. Centrifugal force can be a bone crushing experience. After we wobbled ourselves off the spinny ride we got FastPasses for both Space and Pooh. Don’t ask how. Its top secret.

Wheeeee! Centrifugal force is fun!

I needed ice cream again and this time my 6th sense lead us to the Main Street Ice Cream Parlor. While we were waiting for our ice cream a little boy came in and asked “How much is a cone without nothin’ on it?” LOL! I’m not sure what the answer was because we got our yummy dairy treat and headed out to eat it. After the last sweet, cold and delicious spoonful was gone we were ready to use our Space fastpasses. Unfortunately, Mark was a bad bad guest and stood in the wrong number for our rocket. LOL! Sheesh! Don’t you wish guests would listen better. Haha!

We used our contraband Pooh fastpasses and bounced along with Tigger. The castle looked beautiful on our way out so we stopped to get some pictures before heading to the bus stop. At the bus stop there was a man and his family in front of us. The man was very frustrated because the queue wasn’t set up right and lots of people had to stand out from underneath the covered awning and it was starting to sprinkle. So Mark, with his infinite knowledge of chains and queues and the like switched a few chains around and fixed it so the all the people were able to stand under the awning. I think the guy in front of us was Mark’s new best friend. The bus finally came. It was late and everyone was tired. So tired in fact that the little boy who belonged to the family next to me, fell asleep on my shoulder. LOL!

Two sets of partners.

May 7th DAY 4: Limos and Love Bugs

2008-07-26T16:43:00.000-07:00

Today was the day my Dad and Debbie were to arrive! Woo hooo! Mark and I got up and got ready. Mid-ready-getting we got a text that my dad and Debbie’s flight arrived. Cool! We finished getting ready and watched some tv (how cool is that channel that just shows Disney cartoons?! Very cool!). Soon another text came through “We’re in a limo!”

What?! They’re supposed to take Disney’s Magical Express just like us. How’d that happen? We’d have to wait to get the full scoop. Once they got to the hotel (Can you imagine pulling up to the ASS in a limo?) they checked in and freshened up. Mark and I head to the food court to get breakfast (chocolate chip pancakes for me and strawberry pancakes for Mark). Soon after Dad and Debbie come in. Hurrah! Hugs all around. They went to get breakfast and came back for more visiting.

Apparently after they checked in for DME, they were lead out towards the busses and asked if they were ready to go. “Yes!” they said they were and the CM told them that was great but they wouldn’t be taking the bus today and lead them to a limo. How lucky is that?! They got a certificate and everything. What a great way to start off your first trip ever to Disney World. Talk about a magical beginning to your vacation.

Dad and Debbie were only here for 3 days. We wanted to give them a good overview of everything since we knew that there was no way they’d be able to do it all in that little of time. We had asked earlier when we were in the planning stages what Must See things they had to do. They had a short list… Everest, Mission: Space and Spaceship Earth. Unfortunately Spaceship Earth was closed JUST for the 3 days they were visiting. LOL! Oh well. Other than those things they said they were at our mercy and to take them where ever. MUAHAHAHAHA! I hope they’ve rested well before the trip because we’ve got 4 parks to smoooosh into 3 days.

It was noticeably cooler today. In fact I slipped my sweatshirt back into the backpack just in case I needed it in the evening. Our first stop was Animal Kingdom. We headed out to the bus stop just as the bus was pulling up. This would be the start of the excellent luck we would have with transportation while Dad and Debbie were with us. It must have started with the limo.

Dad and Debbie on the bus to Animal Kingdom.

Once we arrived and Mark got us all in (isn’t he the absolute greatest!) we headed right for guest relations to get Dad and Debbie Anniversary Pins. At the time of the trip, they were just about two weeks shy of their one year anniversary.

PhotoPass at DAK

Our first stop was Expedition: Everest. The line wasn’t bad at all. We waited maybe 15 minutes before we were boarding. I think this is the world’s most comfortable coaster ever. Big seats, the floor of the coaster flush against loading platform and a lap bar instead of uncomfortable Over the Shoulder restraints. The only thing that would make it more comfortable would be if you were strapped into a Barcalounger. We all agreed it was an awesome ride. That Yeti AA is just poetry in motion! It was a great way to start off attractions for Dad and Debbie.

Oooooh! Look at all the strange creatures.

Getting ready to meet the Yeti.

Expedition: Barcalounger

We decided to head to Dinoland. Mark and I had to ride Primeval Whirl because that ride is just the best. Sure it doesn’t LOOK like much. I’ll be honest, themeing is not its strong point. But where is lacks in story and detail it makes up in nausea-inducing spins and giggle-inspiring hairpin turns. Wheee! We all got off the ride a little dizzy. Then we headed to Dinosaur.

Lookin' cool on Primeval Whirl

This is what my father and Debbie look like getting tortured. LOL! I think they like it.

Indy has spoiled me. Dinosaur is just loud and dark. It seems like such a waste of a cool ride system. Granted, this time we went, the meteor effects seemed to be working better but you still can’t see much of anything. How cool would it have been if they put the same kind of detail into this ride like they did to Indy. You could see the whole landscape and really experience the “time of the dinosaurs” rather than the ride that’s there now… “Roar, dark, flash of light, roar, dark.” I just think it COULD have been so awesome! They should make me an imagineer. I have big ideas!

We were going to do the Safari but the line was too daunting. Off to MGM we go! Again, the bus was just arriving when we got to the bus stop. Dad and Debbie are good luck! Once we arrived our first order of business was Tower of Terror. Debbie had never been on the Anaheim version and she agreed to go on it for my dad. The line was about 20 minutes. It seemed to Mark and me that the sound in the library was way quieter in Florida. But on the plus side you seem to load into the elevator infinitely faster. It was a fun ride and Debbie enjoyed it as well.

YAR!!! Dad and Debbie are pirates.

We dashed over to Rockin’ Rollercoaster. Ugh! Lovebugs everywhere! I had been worried about these little creatures because I heard they were everywhere in May. But aside from splattered all over the front of the DME bus, we hadn’t encountered any… Except for now. In case you don’t know what love bugs are, once they reach maturity they spend the rest of their lives… er… copulating with their mate. I’m not sure if their was some sort of plant over by Rockin’ Rollercoaster that they liked or if they just like to make crazy insect love to Aerosmith but those things were “doin’ it” all over the place over there. We finally got inside and away from the Herbies, as Mark called them (Get it… Herby… love bugs. LOL!) and we were ready to ride. Psh... Dad and Debbie's second limo ride of the day. LOL! Here’s the weird thing. Remember how I have that darn cold. Well I was feeling much better but when I rode this ride…. It hurt my tooth. Weird, huh? I still had a lot of sinus congestion and my ears had a lot of pressure so that’s what I assume caused it. It was strange but my tooth felt back to normal as soon as we “pulled up to the concert venue”.

Sometimes you look at a picture and you realize "Dude! I'm really short!!"

Dad and Debbie wanted to do the Back-lot Tour. So we did that. They asked Mark and I to be in the pre-show thing where they douse you with water to show how some effects are done but Mark refused. Party pooper! LOL! I suppose I could have done it by myself but that wouldn’t have been as fun. So we all stayed dry while they found some other suckers… I mean participants, to play along. I will say, I found the backlot tour a little more interesting thing time because there were actually people working in the costuming section when we drove through unlike last time.

After the “tour” we walked through the Streets of America (sets that are designed to look like famous areas in the US) and headed to Hollywood and Vine. We had made “reservations” to do the buffet/ Fantasmic! dinning. This is an excellent deal. For the same price as everyone else eating the buffet, you also get priority seating to Fantasmic! We had a nice server who was originally from Riverside, CA which is not even a hop, skip and a jump from where Mark and I live. How cool. It really IS a small world after all. (HA! Now you’ve got that song stuck in your head. Oh wait… so do I. Shoot.)

Dinner was very enjoyable. I think the food was even better than the last time we ate there. They had some tasty chicken and beef dishes and Mark’s favorite, the creamed corn-corn bread which we all loved. And the deserts were all very yummy. We got our seat voucher for F! and headed out side. Brrrrr! It was actually a little on the cool side.

We went to the Great Movie Ride and our “driver” looked like he was about 12. But he did a good job! Unfortunatly, I cannot say the same for the girl we had as our gangster. She talked fast, did a horrible “gangster accent” and mumbled into the mic. Still, I love this ride. I love how unique it is and how it hasn’t been copied in any other park.

By this time, it was actually chilly out. Mark attempted to wear my sweatshirt but can you believe the sweatshirt designed to fit my 5’3 body wouldn’t stretch to cover his 6’4 frame? We decided to go see the Voyage of the Little Mermaid. We told Dad and Debbie we’d never seen it before so we couldn’t be held responsible if it sucked. I’m glad we put that little disclaimer in! Now… I wouldn’t exactly say it “sucked” but it was… peculiar to say the least. The opening “puppet” scene was pretty cool but the lame lasers and monsoon-like rains were what put it over the edge into kooky nuttersville. I’m still sorting out my feelings about it. We may have liked it a lot more if it had been HOT outside.

We perused through the Animation Studios but there wasn’t anything there we hadn’t seen done better at California Adventure’s animation place. Dad and Debbie decided to get beers and they bought Marky and I hot cocoa because we were chilly. We did some shopping before heading off to the SDSFDE (Super Duper Secret Fantasmic! Dinner Entrance). We found some good seats with minimal heads in front of us so we could all see. Mark and I shared my sweatshirt over both our legs and we all did the wave a few times. Or maybe I was the only one to do the wave. Its funny to see fathers use their children as human pom-poms during the wave. They’ll lift them up, shake them all around and go “Wooooooo!” and the kids love it. LOL! Finally the show started! And again I have to say, we’ve been spoiled by Anaheim. True, having actual seats are nice but the rest of the show just lacks that… “oomf” you know? It’s missing the “huzzah”, the “sparkle”, the “magic” of Disneyland’s. Plus they rely on the mist screens way to much. I don’t think we’ll need to see this show next time we’re in Florida. But I’m glad Dad and Debbie got to see it so they could make their comparisons.

Dad and Debbie got popcorn and Mark and I took some great night shots of MGM. Then we headed out and waited in what was truly the longest bus line I’d ever seen. I guess Dad and Debbie’s Transportation Luck took the night off. We did eventually make it back to the resort so we could collapse on our beds and dream of Steamboat Willie driving his cardboard steamboat from Florida’s Fantasmic!

Us and the big hat. It is ugly in the day time but I rather like the way it looks at night.

Dad, Debbie and the Hat

SMOOCH!

May 8th DAY 5: Ohana Means Family

2008-07-25T14:41:00.000-07:00

Brrrrrrrrring!…

Brrrrrrrrring!…

With the incessant ringing and delightful wake up message of Stitch, we are ready to begin day 2 of the super-expedited tour of Walt Disney World with my dad and Debbie. After we get so fresh and so clean clean for the day, we head out to the ASS’s End Zone (really does that ever get old? I think not) for some breakfast. Mark had the French to….

*Static and Flickering*

Hello! It’s Mark. You know, Beth’s boyfriend? I’ve hijacked this trip report because I wanted to write one. Don’t worry, Beth will be back for another soon enough. For now I’ve taken over just like Dr. Seeker did to Mrs. Huxtable in Dinosaur. So sit back and enjoy the delightfully spelling error and tiggirl-ism free trip report.

So where were we? Oh yes French toast. Delicious. Beth had biscuits and gravy while we waited for John (Beth’s Dad) and Debbie. We enjoyed our breakfast while John drank his coffee despite the fact that it was just north of 340 million degrees outside. He says it keeps him cool… *shrugs*. Not too sure how that works.

Anyways, today was our day at the Magic Kingdom. Because of how cold it was yesterday, we decided to bring our sweatshirts along just in case (and thus insuring it will be insanely hot… stupid Murphy’s Law). We tried to find a place to stash them at the Magic Kingdom, but apparently they thought it was a good idea to remove all lockers from the park. We finally found a place that was outside the gates. We even got our locker for free because Beth was able to name 3 of the 7 dwarves. Perhaps taxing for the feebly-Disney minded, but a walk in the park for my adorable little geek. After playing Jeopardy for our free locker they gave us our key (key? What is this 1980? Who uses keys for lockers anymore… psh), we stashed our outerwear and galavanted into the park.

Outerwear propperly stashed, we're ready for our day at the Magic Kingdom

Our first order of business was to get John a birthday button for his 50th. He actually turned 50 last November but his birthday was passed over because he was taking care of Beth’s grandparents and their declining health. So we’re celebrating 50 now! Woohoo! We made a bee-line for Space Mountain. It was a pretty short wait and John really seemed to love the cheesy “curved-glass, move-y star and floating spaceman” effects in the queue. I personally think the queue is in need of updating between lame stars, video cameras in the exit and ball pen near the entrance. But it’s still better than Rockin’ Space Mountain… ZING!

After Space Mountain we headed over to the west side to round out the Magic Kingdom’s mountain range. Splash Mountain had just gone down, so we skipped it and hit Thunder instead. We went back to Splash and it was still down so the girls went to the restroom. In the meantime I talked to the cast members about how I work Splash here in California and they explained that they were in the process of resetting. I knew it should only be a few more minutes. The girls returned from the restroom and the ride had re-opened! Beth thinks that flushing the toilet must have fixed the problem. Heh… flushing cleared the log jam… It’s low brow I know, but it’s just my style.

So with the mountains in our rear view mirror it was time for more coffee for John. This is what happens when you tour around with people from the almost great white north. After quick coffee break, it was time for a foot stompin’ good time at the Country Bear Jamboree. Beth and I went last time we were here, but John and Debbie had not seen this show since it closed in Disneyland. Can’t believe it’s been over 6 years! The country bears ended and all the clappin’ and laughing at the raccoon in that bears hat really worked up an appetite! Beth and I got some lunch at the Columbia Harbour House. Beth had a salad and I had a tuna sandwich with some chili. It was very, very good. Too bad Disneyland can’t have decent food like this.

The quintessential "WDW Picture"

After our nosh, we hit Pirates so John could see the new Johnny Depp animatronics. It seems that the final AA of Jack Sparrow looks better than it’s Disneyland counterpart, but that could just be because it’s further away and the whole scene makes more sense. After Pirates we walked back through Adventureland and grabbed ourselves some dole whips and floats. It was Debbie’s first. I know its appalling that somebody has never had one before. We don’t have the vanilla swirl dole whips here, but Beth says we should because they are divine.

We went to Fantasyland hoping to ride Mickey’s Clean Bathroom Experience (Philharmagic) but it had just closed and people were pouring out of the theater. I swear it was like Pamplona and the running of the bulls except replace bulls with sweaty, tie-dye-tank top wearing tourists. So instead we decided to head back to Tomorrowland to ride the MILF (hehe), TTA and the Carousel of Progress. After that Beth and I stopped for a snack on pretzels. Sweet cream cheese for Beth and spicy cheese for myself. We did this while John and Debbie rode on Stitch’s Great Waste of Money. At this point we hopped a bus back to the ASS for some naptime before our dinner reservations at… drum roll please… OHANA! Beth and I had this last time we were in Florida and fell in love. So we decided to do this to celebrate John’s birthday.

Nap times over and we’re starved! Time for Ohana. We meet up under the giant star on the ASS’s backside (Man I’m on a roll…) then go catch a bus to the Magic Kingdom. The bus ride was uneventful, but the monorail to the Poly was much more exciting. As we are waiting to depart the Contemporary, there are many announcements being made about either sitting or hanging on if standing. So after a one hour lecture on how to ride the monorail safely from Jack Wagner, we take off! Zoom! WHAM! What the hell was that? Oh yes it was 12 year old kid who thought he was too cool to listen to the safety spiels and fell flat on his derriere when the monorail zoomed towards the TTC. He wasn’t hurt and had the most sheepish look ever. I thought I was going to burst with laughter and had to bite the insides of my cheeks to restrain myself in front of the kid’s family. We all had a hearty guffaw when we departed the monorail.

Before it was time to check in for our dinner arrangement, John bought Debbie a beautiful necklace (I think it was a palm tree) from the art store downstairs near the Poly’s lobby. While we were in there an Italian guy came in with his family and bought something that cost well over 20 thousand dollars. His kid was a brat, but I guess when you’re that rich you don’t have to pay attention to your children. At this point I’m sure Beth would like me to note that I was “freaking out” because it was almost time to check in. That’s probably pretty accurate. You see I love to plan and can be pretty anal retentive about things like this. So we went upstairs to check in after John and Debbie promised to meet up soon.

We were soon seated by our cousin and had a great view of Cinderella Castle which was perfect because Wishes would be starting in just under an hour! How perfect for John’s birthday. I don’t think I can stress how great the food is at Ohana. The BBQ chicken wings, steak and pork are excellent! The salad and potatoes are to die for as well! Words just cannot do this place justice. Great atmosphere, great food, and an awesome view of the Magic Kingdom and Wishes.

Before Wishes we got to see the Water Pageant from where we were sitting and of course were entertained by that lady who I swear did way too many drugs in the 70’s. Beth enjoyed some very, very expensive tequila that was 100% blue agave and we called it a night. We took a bus to Downtown Disney and caught a connecting bus back to the ASS so we could hit the hay and prepare for our big day at Epcot.

***Beth breaking back in here... Didn't Mark do an awesome job?! Sorry this one took so long to get posted. We've been waiting for Mark to add in pictures of the day but he's been so busy with school and workin' for the mouse that he hasn't had the time. So I added some today from work but all I had here were the Photopass pictures from this day. Anyway... give Mark a round of applause because that was an awesome post! I think I may be out of a job... he could be better than me!***

May 9th DAY 6: Tikki Takki, Tikki Takki! Oy! Oy! Oy!

2008-07-24T11:54:00.000-07:00

Whooooo doggies! Was it hard to get up this morning? Yes it was! Heat plus walking around for miles plus more fun than it should be legal to have all add up to equal exhaustion! But who cares about a little exhaustion when you’re at WDW? Not us! Will we let it slow us down? Never! Alright then… on with the show! You know the drill… shower, get beautiful and 50spf sunscreen. Except… today I decided NO SUNSCREEN! Because I was still just as white as I was before. I thought we’d at least get a little color. But no… here we were at day 6 in our vacation and I still looked like Snow White. And dad and Debbie hadn’t worn sunscreen once and they were just fine. So we skipped to the giant star to meet up with the Double D’s (dad and Debbie) with skin sans screen and primed for frying.

Breakfast was regular pancakes for Mark and chocolate pancakes for me… of course! Again with Dad and Debbie there, we had perfect bus timing as the Epcot bus was ‘rounding the corner as we stepped out the door. We headed next to All-Star Music (ASM just isn’t as funny…) to pick up some more people. As the bus pulled up, a lady had been kneeling on the ground at the bus stop. She was getting up and used one of the black temporary “poles” that make up part of the bus queue to support herself. You know the kind I’m talking about, they use them a lot at movie theaters and airports too. Anyway… she used that to balance herself only it wasn’t bolted down and she fell back onto her knee. She scraped it up a little but it was nothing major. BUT when her and her family got on board… were they ever loud! I have noticed on this trip that SOME (not to generalize too much) east coasters never learned to use their “indoor voices”. This lady and members of her family were split up on the bus so she was shouting to them across the whole bus and everyone in the bus “I CAN’T BELIEVE I DID THAT! WHY DID I GRAB ONTO THAT? IT WASN’T CEMENTED DOWN. THAT WAS STUPID OF ME! CAN YOU BELIEVE I DID THAT? I CAN’T!!” Aaaaaaaallllll the way to Epcot. LOL! But I did get to give her some antiseptic ointment that we’d been carrying around in a little First Aid kit I made in the backpack so I was pretty excited to get to use it.

Dad and Debbie at Epcot

We finally arrived at Epcot and ran away from Loud Lady and family. Unfortunately we could not take Dad and Debbie on Spaceship Earth because it was closed for the 3 days they were there. So we took them to ride the Nemo and Friends ride. Fun! Afterwards we took time to look at the cool sea life. I especially enjoyed looking at the dolphins and sea turtles. It was a very hot day out today so I suggested we stop at Club Cool or whatever its called now. I made sure to have the camera ready for the "Beverly Reaction". Heehee!

These pictures are PRICELESS!

We hit up Test Track next and then dad really wanted to do Mission: Space. This ride worries me. I don’t like it all that much in the first place because its too small inside plus now I get to add into it the fear that if you have some unknown condition this ride may cause death. Not a fun thought as I’m already freaking out because I think I can’t breathe. But for dad, Mark and I decided to do it. Debbie sat it out and tried to get some more color on her legs. The rest of us did Team Orange (or whatever the MORE intense of the two is). And we all survived. Mark and I felt it was way more tame than last time we were on it even though we chose the more intense mission. And dad enjoyed it so I’d say the mission was a success.

The fun part of Test Track... doing the Test Dummy Dance.

Hmmm... Hippie Mickey. I wonder what he's got growing in his garden?

We walked through the Butterfly Garden and then headed to the World Showcase. First we hit up the Mexico Pavilion and rode the Gran Fiesta Tour. We all really like this ride. And of course… the Three Caballeros’ song was again stuck in our heads. We headed to Germany and dad got a craving for red kraut. So he decided to see if Biergarten could get us in. And they could! We’d never been there before and it was so much fun! We loved everyone’s accents and the food was really good. The Oom-pah-pah band (which probably has a more culturally accurate name that I don’t know) was very fun and lively. Hearing them play the bells and the “Ricola” horns was a blast. I wish lederhosen would become fashionable here in the US because they’re just awesome. LOL! Lunch was great and Mark and I decided we’d for sure eat there again.

Mark gets into things with the German version of "cheers!". Tikki takki, tikki takki! Oy! Oy! Oy!

In Japan I saw the Kaki Gori place open. Its Japanese shaved ice. I decided I wanted some and everyone else thought it sounded good too. Yes, I KNOW we just ate a huge meal at a buffet but it was hot out and Kaki Gori is just frozen water so it doesn’t count (just like calories don’t count on vacation. It’s a fact, people). It was really good! It was almost as good as the shaved ice I had in Hawaii. And as we walked past one of the other food carts the Japanese girls gave us the thumbs up. I guess they approved! We also stopped to watch the candy lady make a panda bear in 3.2 seconds. It was pretty impressive.

The photopass guy made us do this...

American Adventure was next on our list. Mark and I sat on the nice cool marble ground to listen to the Voices of Liberty and then met back up with dad and Debbie to join the herd entering the theater. Moooooooo! The show was good. Last year when we saw it Mark fell asleep. This time he managed to stay awake and really enjoyed but all the excitement on Mark Twain and Ben Franklin put dad to sleep. At least he didn’t snore. LOL!

Poor Debbie's little feeties were hurting her at this time. I got to bust out my first aid kit again. Woo! Twice in one day!! We got her feet all taken care of and then we walked past a stand selling Crocs. Those crazy plastic shoes that everyone seems to be wearing at Disney World. I told her I heard they were really comfortable. She said my brother's girlfriend had a pair and she loved them. So she tried on a pair and proclaimed that they were indeed the worlds most comfortable shoe and bought a pair. Ok... I officially want to try on a pair now. I'm so intrigued.

We amuse ourselves while Debbie saves her feet in a pair of Crocs.

Oh la la! After dad’s Nappy Time Adventure we headed to France. Dad loves France so he was really looking forward to going here. He wanted a Kir. He talked about it all week leading up to the trip so I was hoping they’d have them there. A kir (in case you are in the dark on this one) is a aperitif. It’s made with Crème de Cassis and white wine. As we wandered through gay Paris we found a PhotoPass person who took some great pictures of us all.

Ahhhh... young love in Paris!

On the way out of France we found a little stand that served… Kir! Hooray!! The trip would be a success and even if it wasn’t… Dad wouldn’t remember because he’d of drank too much Kir. LOL! Dad ordered one for him and one for me. It was actually a Kir Royal as it used champagne. REAL champagne from France… thank you very much. It was very good and I shared mine with Mark.

Dad and I sip our Kir Royal.

He looks so Frenchy. He just needs a little jaunty scarf around his neck.

I feel so posh!

Off to Canada, eh? Land of moose, hockey and beer. And maple! Mmmm… that’s what I got in Canada. Maple sugar candy. If you’ve never had this before, then you have no idea how good this is. Its like kissing an angel. An angel with sugary lips. The CM who helped me purchase them told me I had to share them with 5 strangers. Psh! She’s crazy! I’m not sharing my maple-y, sugary goodness with Joe Shmo off the street?! But I did share them with my posse.

All sugared up we headed towards Ellen’s Energy Adventure to see Stupid Judy and to learn about Stupid Energy. While we were boarding our moving theater vehicles a family decided at the very last minute they didn’t want to sit for so long even though Granny Cast Member working the ride told us a million times to make sure we didn’t have to pee or have ADD before we rode because it was long. Anyway… the family starts to meander slooooooowly from the front car walking sloooooowly back taking their time to smell the roses. I thought Granny Cast Member was going to have a heart attack! “Hurry up! Hurry up! Your going to make the ride shut down! Hurry!” As they finally stepped out the door, and the lights dimmed and the movie started, Granny Cast Member said over the speaker “That was close… they almost shut down the whole ride.” LOL! It was exciting. Stupid Family.

No rest time for us today (besides… dad already got his nap in at American Adventure) because it was their last day and we had stuff to do. It was time for Extra Magic Hours at Animal Kingdom. Ooooh! Magical! Dad and Debbie wanted to get in another ride on Everest and it sounded like a great idea to us. Mark had to use the restroom so he sent us on ahead. The line was just about non existent and we were on and off in no time. Mark met up with is and we all rode again. Wheeee! Such a fun ride. We got dinner at Flame Tree which Mark had been wanting to try since before our last trip. It was pretty good but nothing amazing (Mark may feel differently). Mostly I liked the view we had of Everest from our seating area which was pretty amazing!

Our picture by Everest.

Photopass people like to make you do weird things... LOL! But that's ok because we like to do them

We were going to go to Down Town Disney to try the Ghirardelli place but there is no bus from Animal Kingdom to DTD. Who knew?! Probably lots of people but we didn’t know. Once we got back to the hotel we didn’t feel like leaving again. It was late and we were tired. But it was the last day for dad and Debbie and we were not ready to say good-bye yet. So dad bought us all drinks at the pool side bar and we sat at a table and drank and chatted. After a while Debbie did some last minute gift shopping and we tried to stay outside but out of nowhere it started to pour. So we ran inside to “help” Debbie shop. After they finished we said our good-byes and gave our hugs. It was so great having them come! Then I walked a slightly buzzed Mark back to the room. Long Island Iced Tea… does it every time. Oh and P.S. Not even a tiny sunburn for the whole day! YEAH! Take that 50spf!!!

May 10th DAY 7: Clarice and the Munks

2008-07-23T16:42:00.000-07:00

Mickey and Stitch called us at 8am this morning. Ugh! Need. More. Sleep. So we said “Screw you, Mickey!” (in a nice Disney way, of course…) and snoozed for another 45 minutes. Dad and Debbie were already on their way home. We decided that this would be kind of a kick back day. A day to recuperate before we ran ourselves into the ground tomorrow for our last full day.

MGM was on our list today. As we were walking toward the big ol hat we spotted them… Chip and Dale! ::jumps up and down and claps hands like a school girl:: Wheee!!! My favorites! And whats this?? Who’s with them?! Clarice! You know, the sexy girl chipmunk (or at least as sexy as a chipmunk can be)! Double Wheeee! So we had to get our picture with them and so we did!

Awesomeness! I was so excited to see Clarice!

We found Dopey!

Our first stop was to see the One Man’s Dream exhibit. I’d seen the movie before at DCA but Mark never had. The exhibits themselves were really well done and they had some really cool things in there like Walk Disney’s childhood desk as well as his office that those darn Florida people stole from us in California and I’m still waiting for it to return. ::gives Florida a dirty look:: But it was nice to see it again. I would suggest this exhibit to anyone interested in Walt himself. It was really fun to look at. And the movie itself was well done. It through me off because last time I saw it, Eisner did the opening but its since been changed (more appropriately) to Julie Andrews.

Mickey got grumpy with me because I put the backpack in the wrong spot for the picture. Sheesh! Sorry Mickey!

Walt's desk.

We had a mission to see Lights Motors Action! for Mark. But we were starving! What to do? We had lunch plans at the 50’s Primetime Café so we didn’t want to eat a lot. We headed towards the LMA area and found the “Herbie” food cart place. I’m sure it has a more creative name than that. They had humbow! Oh, I’m in heaven! Sure they called the humbow “Steamed Pork Buns” but it looked like humbow to me. So I got two of those and Mark got a huge pretzel and we took them into LMA with us. Oh my goodness! Those buns were the best snack ever. The day they come to Disneyland I’m renewing my Annual Pass just so I can go get one whenever I want with out having to use one of Mark’s sign-ins. I’d be there 4 times a week! They were that good.

The show was good. Its so loud. I sound old when I say that but… it really is loud!!! But Mark loved it and that’s all that matters. It was time for our lunch reservations so we headed off to the decade of poodle skirts and boys named “Skippy”. Our server was slooooooooow and boring. It was rather disappointing. She did try to pull off the act but just didn’t quite make it. It made me wonder if she was just new and didn’t have her “character” down yet. I’m going to say that’s what the deal was and give her a pass this one time. Aren’t I nice? I also had some sort of alcoholic beverage which may have made me more forgiving. LOL! Luckily we were surrounded by some really great servers so at least we got to be entertained by them harassing their tables. We both had the pot roast. Mine was really good. Mark’s said his was “meh”. And then we both got desserts. Good thing we’re doing so much walking on this trip! We decided we’d still eat there again even though this time was a less than stellar visit. I think, though, that we should go for dinner rather than lunch. I assume that’s when they’d have their more experienced wait staff working and there would be more people for them to interact with.

Mark waits for "mom" to call us to dinner.

I check out dessert on the nifty Viewmaster!

With full (really full) bellies we did a attraction marathon to complete everything we wanted to do at MGM. First off was the Great Movie Ride followed by the Tower of Terror. We stopped in one of the shops that has all the cooking items. Mark decided to take a closer look at some utensils that were hanging on a wall display. He grabbed a whisk with a Mickey head handle. He put it back but it wouldn’t stay and then fell off knocking off all the other utensils on the way down. He tried to catch them but they were slippery little buggers and went through his hands. He looked around to make sure no body had seen ut but since it made more noise than LMA every one HAD seen it. He started picking them up and putting them back and every third of fourth one fell back down taking more with it. LOL! It was like something out of a bad 80’s sitcom. We finally got them all put away and then held our breath as we walked out of the store.

Look! We found our home on a map at MGM! It was very exciting!

Then we got seats for Beauty and the Beast. I had heard this was really good but I was a little disappointed by it. I didn’t think the singers were all that great. They weren’t BAD by any means but they weren’t great. Just OK. Still, I’m glad we watched it. After the show we went to ride Rock N’ Rollercoaster. And it still made my tooth hurt. What’s up with that?! Stupid sinus pressure.

Here is Mark taking a picture of me to make sure my camera still works after I dropped it. Whoops!

We were done with this park. So long MGM! See you next time!

We headed to Downtown Disney to do souvenir shopping and to get dinner. We headed to Earl of Sandwich for dinner. We’d been wanting to try this place for a long time. I *think* Mark had the Cannonballs sandwich (meatballs) and I had the Scuddeto sandwich (salami, capicola, ham and mortadella with fresh sliced mozzarella, roma tomatoes and marinara). This place was well worth the wait. The whole ordering thing seems a little hectic as its different from most places you go to and they don’t really explain how they’d like you to place your order but it wasn’t all that hard to figure out and the food was awesome! I wish Anaheim’s DTD had a place like this. Next it was time to find some presents. The World of Disney Store had a really cool Pirates of the Caribbean display up. Mark and I found presents for his parents and sister. It was a little dicey there for a bit but we found things we thought they’d each like.

Christmas cards for 2007 perhaps? Hmmmm...

After looking around for a bit more we decided to head back to the hotel for an evening of drinks by the pool. We caught the bus back to the hotel and I was unfortunate to have a group of teenagers standing over me. Not that I dislike teenagers in general but this a group of the inconsiderate kind. You know the kind that let go of the handrail while they’re standing and the bus is moving and hit people in the head because they’re tickling each other and pushing each other. I thought I was going to have to put the smack down on Clumpy Deodorant Pit and her friends. Finally we made it back to the ASS and got away from Clumpy Deodorant Pit’s crew with out getting knocked in the head too many times and without her deodorant clumps raining down on me… I was very worried about that. LOL!

We headed to the pool and I got us some drinky drinks. And we spent the next hour or so talking about our favorite parts of the trip so far and getting a game plan in gear for tomorrow.

Relaxing with our drinks!

May 11th DAY 9: Science Never Lies

2008-07-22T17:11:00.000-07:00

*sigh* Our last full day! Vacations are always over too soon. But we didn’t have time to waste thinking about that! We had a busy day planned. We set the wake-up call for bright and early at 645am! As soon as Mickey called we hopped out of bed… at 730am. Oops. So much for that “early” thing. Oh well. We did the super speedy version of getting ready, hit the ASS End Zone for Chocolate Croissants and Crumbcake and made it to the bus stop just as the Animal Kingdom bus was ‘rounding the corner.

We made it to the park in time to see the opening show with Mickey and pals. It was pretty cute but verrrrrrrry crowded. We weaved our way through the tangles mess of arms, legs, fanny packs and strollers and made our way to the safari. It was a great one. All the animals were out and showing off. The giraffes were amazing and we got to see the cute little baby elephant we saw last time.

Mommy and baby giraffe.

Next we took the bumpy train to the Rafiki’s Planet Watch thing. Ok… are those little tiny monkeys some of the cutest things ever or what?! We pet goats at the little petting zoo thing which I loved. Pretty much, I love everything involving animals. Then we went inside and Mark met Rafiki and they bonded a little bit. We watched to vet type people work on a bird too. Then we went into a booth with a smooshy vinyl bench seat and head phones. You put them on, push a button and then the lights dim and you can listen to the relaxing sounds of the rainforest. “Swoooosh, chirp, kaw-kaw, BWAAAAPPPT!!!” Ugh! Mark tried to tell me it was just an elephant passing wind and it was perfectly natural but I didn’t buy it. LOL!

Goats!

Best Buds!

Bump, bump, bump! We headed back to the “main land” and got ourselves Fast Passes for Everest which had a time stamp of 12:50pm -12:50pm. Hmmm…. Looks like something’s out of whack but we didn’t care. We had a little fishy to find! We got ourselves some pretty good seats to watch the Nemo Musical. I thought the show was enjoyable. I think the best part is the “Big Blue World” song. So catchy!

After the show, Mark and I were hot and needed refreshment. Ice cream sounded like the perfect treat. We had decided we were going to watch the Festival of the Lion King. As luck would have it, there was an ice cream stand right there. We hopped in line and waited for our turn. And waited. And waited. I’m not sure what was going on but there were only about 4 people in front of us and we didn’t move for 10 minutes. We looked at each other and said “Screw this!” and left. So we got into the FOLK line sans ice cream. (Everyone say “Awwwwe” in unison and feel bad for us) Well, we couldn’t pout for too long about our ice cream deficiency. We had to stand outside in the hot sun! So we stood there and got melty and a little girl I never met before attached herself to my leg and then we felt the sweet bliss of the AC as the doors swung open and we parked ourselves in the giraffe section. Mark hadn’t seen the show yet but I really think he liked it. In fact, I think we both agreed that we liked it more than Nemo. Tumble monkeys and fire twirlers are always cool!

We opted for lunch at Pizafari since it was the one place we haven’t tried yet and I wasn’t a huge fan of flame Tree and Mark refused to eat at Tusker House ever again. Why didn’t we eat at this place earlier?! It was SO good! I can’t remember what we ate but I will tell you it was superb (for counter service). After our lunch we headed to Everest for our trip through the icy caverns. Whew! Luckily they didn’t mind that we missed our 12:50 -12:50 departure time. LOL!

Mark wanted to watch Flights of Wonder. I wasn’t too sure I’d like it. I mean I love animals… but these were birds! Not cuddly and there was a horror movie made about them. But anything for my Marky, so we headed over. I’m so glad we did! I really liked the show. Before we entered there was a guy holding an owl and he told us about it. Then…the owl pooped and the guy made us all say “Everyone poops!” to make the owl feel better.

Its okay, fella! Everyone poops.

Waiting for the bus.

After the show we said good-bye to the animals and headed to Epcot. Spaceship Earth had reopened but we didn’t notice any changes. We had a mission today at the World Showcase. I had really wanted to get one of those passports and get them signed at each pavilion and Mark was very down to the idea so we tried to track one down. It was a bit of a struggle but finally a Cast Member pointed us in the direction of Mouse Gears and we found what we were looking for. With our trusty passport and our new nifty Epcot button the it came with we were off to discover new lands and meet the people who lived there. I’m so glad we did this! It was really fun and a good opportunity to talk to folks. Plus it makes future vacation planning so much easier! Based on our exacting calculations (i.e. which countries had the nicest Cast Members) in the future we will be visiting the lovely countries of Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom and Japan. And we will avoid at all costs France, Italy, Norway and Germany. Tsk… its too bad too! I always wanted to go to Italy! Oh well… this was scientific and science never lies.

This is the only way we can visit France because they failed the scientific test!!

During this time we found a GREAT PhotoPass guy. I wish I could remember his name. He did a really good job, posed us cute and all his pictures that he took turned out great. And after every shot he’d celebrate with a “Woo hoo!” which entertained us greatly. We also got our wristbands for Extra Magic Hours. While we were waiting in line a rather dumb lady tried to get wrist bands for her family (who was NOT with her) and she was not allowed to. Now I understand if you tried to get the wrist bands for the members of your party who were not present if you didn’t know the rules but this lady complained (loudly) when they told her no that this happened to her the day before as well. Well DUH! If they already told you it wasn’t allowed before why would you think today was any different. Sheesh.

Food time! This time we decided to try Sunshine Seasons at the Land. Ooooh! It looks fancy and it was pretty tasty. Mark had some sort of Chinese food and California rolls and I had Caesar salad and soup. It was quite yummers but it was practically arctic in there. I had to keep my soup covered because the freezing temps were causing the soup to frost over. We ate speedy to avoid the frost bite and then headed over to ride Living with the Land.

Why is this ride so awesome?! I’m not sure. You’re just floating past plants. I mean it is pretty interesting but not something you would think was really “WOW!” you know? But for some reason we both loved it. Maybe it was the company. Maybe it was just a nice relaxing time together with out the normal “rush rush” of Disney World but for whatever reason, sitting on that boat with my legs stretched out and my head on Mark’s shoulder watching plants go by and learning about hydroponics was one of my favorite moments at Disney World.

We watched the Circle of Life show before heading out of The Land. Mark wanted to watch Illuminations but he knew I thought the middle part was boring so we came up with a genius idea. We headed to Norway just as the show was starting and found a place to watch back by the smoking area. We watched the fireworks and listened to the music and then when the boring earth came out and started spinning we headed into the Kring La Bakery where I got School Bread and Mark got an Apple Danish. By the time we headed out to eat our food the finale was just starting. Perfect timing!

We decided we needed more treats so I got Deep Fried Ice Cream in the American Pavilion which I thought was odd since the only places I’ve only ever seen sell deep fried ice cream is Mexican restaurants. That must be because us gringos suck at it. These CM’s were blah and kept taking amongst their selves instead of paying attention to us which is one of my biggest pet peeves AND the ice cream itself was yucky. I’ve never said that about ice cream in my life. So, although usually I love me some deep fried ice cream, I advise you to stay away from it at the American Pavilion. Yuck.

Not deterred by the unfortunate ice cream incident we went to Japan and got a crazy Super Fizzy Soda Pop Fun Time drink. Its sort of like… flavored water and then you smack the lid and this fizzy ball pops out and gets stuck in the specially designed neck of the bottle and then as you sip it carbonates the drink for you. Really, the Japanese are ingenious and have the most entertaining food. Plus it actually tasted good.

We got some more last minute photo pass pictures and then headed to the photo place to order our pictures on the PhotoPass CD. It was a great deal! We ended up with about 130 pictures and the CD cost $125 plus we got 3 free 5x7’s. With the CD we own the rights to the pictures so we can print them however and whenever we want. This was the best souvenir we could have got for ourselves.

It was very late so it was time to head back to the hotel. We waved good bye to Spaceship Earth as it was the last time we’d see it for a long while. I must have been very tired that night because my notes say “Darlong noises from my shoowy” and I have no idea what that means. It probably some hilarious story that I’ll never get to tell you guys because I was too tired to think straight. I do remember that we showered and packed up and fell asleep. We had to be up early because even though we were heading home tomorrow we still had big plans before we left!

May 12th DAY 10: M-I-C... See You Real Soon...

2008-07-21T16:39:00.000-07:00

645am and Mickey called. UGH! He was just way too chipper on the sad, sad day that we had to leave. Mickey?! Don’t you care that we’re leaving?? Don’t you feel sad?! But I guess he’s figure we’d just see him in Anaheim because he was not near a tearful about leaving as we were.

There was still packing to be done, clothes to be shoved into bags, souvenirs wedged into odd spots and one last look around our home away from home. Good bye little ASS room! You kept us cool, kept us dry and gave us a place to lay our weary bodies down after a long day playing. We closed the door one last time and wheeled our wheelie luggage to the front of the resort to check out and then to the DME counter to check in for our flight.

Only they couldn’t check us in because (LUCKY US!) we got picked for extra security. Ugh… we always do! Oh well… no use worrying about it now. We were on a mission for breakfast! But first… it was time to say good bye to a member of our party. Someone who had become close like family. Someone who was always there when we needed him, always by our side.

Mr. Freezy Breeze. We knew he would not fit in our luggage nor would he get much use when we got back home. And we knew that Mr. Freezy Breeze would not truly be happy unless he was misting and fanning all over some poor hot person, being their savior. We found a child who looked worth (and hot) and passed Mr. Freezy Breeze off to him and his brother. Fare thee well, Freezy! Fare thee well!

*sniff* Where was I? Oh yes… with our dear friend off on more adventures of his own, Mark and I took a bus to the Magic Kingdom. We headed over to the boat dock and were soon joined by two older people and their little grandson who liked to splash in puddles. His grandpa lovingly (we hope) called him a “pain in the ass”. Our boat arrived and we hopped on. Our Captain had BOTH rear his pockets pulled out of his pants and flutterin’ in the breeze. It was very hard to take him seriously. LOL! We didn’t tell him but just enjoyed the pleasure it gave us to see the mighty pockets flap as though they were propelling us along.

We arrived at Wilderness Lodge and disembarked. We headed towards Whispering Canyon and found it to be much less… whispering this time (HOORAY!). We were quickly seated and the fun began. Actually our waitress was a little on the… mellow side. Do we LOOK like two sticks in the mud who do not want to have fun? I think we must because we always got the lame-er people when it came to “fun” places to eat. Maybe they assumed we wanted a quiet, romantic meal since it was just two of us but honestly… if that’s what we were looking for we would not have chosen there to eat. Next time I’m forwarding a copy of my Trip Reports to all restaurants we make reservations for with a note attached:

“We are not, nor have we ever been, sticks in the mud. Please entertain us and feel free to abuse us in good fun. Thank you.”

So our waitress wasn’t very rowdy but everyone else was a blast and she was a good waitress non the less. Mark did get hassled by the guy who brought our food out for not helping to clear the table first. LOL! And of course it was exciting ever time someone asked for ketchup… even though Mark wouldn’t do it not matter how hard I begged him. Besides being a blast, breakfast itself was amazing. We got the breakfast skillet and it was wonderful! I’m glad we saved this for the end so we had something fun to look forward to on this day rather than just waiting for our departure time.

This was after straws were thrown all over the table but before Mark was chastised for not helping to clear the table. LOL!

On the way back to the dock.

After we totally stuffed ourselves on breakfast food, we took a boat to the Contemporary. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked the inside. Seeing the outside I always thought it looked dated, boxy and ugly. But, while it wouldn’t be my first choice to stay at, I didn’t hate it. I thought it was pretty okay. Mark used the restroom here and said it was very shaky when the monorail came by. LOL! Sounds scary!

On the way to the Contemporary. I had the camera switched to black and white on accident but it came out pretty nice!

I thought this little Indian (Hippie?) bunny was cute. He's on the tile mural in the Contemporary.

We took the monorail to the Grand Floridian. OH MY GOD! I loved it! I really thought I’d think it was too… snooty for me. Too snobby. Too… posh. But I totally loved it. It was bright and airy and amazing. I never wanted to leave. We checked out the “girlie bath product” store and Mark really wanted to use the cute little sink they had in there (though I’m sure he didn’t call it the ‘cute little sink’). So the woman who worked there showed him how to apply some salt scrub and rinse it off. He had very soft hands after that! I also may have accidentally splattered lotion a wall in there. We won’t speak of it. Maybe I’m NOT posh enough for the Grand.

Exfoliate! Exfoliate! Exfoliate!

We walked outside to see the lovely lawns and flowers and the beach. We rested for a bit on a porch swing and hammock. Did I mention I loved this place. I could have sat out there under the palm trees, gently swaying in the breeze coming off the lake for hours. Unfortunately we had to head back to the ASS. Now really, if you had a choice at staying at someplace called The Grand Floridian or the ASS which would you choose? LOL!

Ah! Now THIS is a vacation!

He said it was "too fancy" but he looks pretty comfortable to me.

I want to live here!

Back at the ASS, Mark and I pouted that we had to leave and tried to soak up some more sun. The DME bus came all too soon and Mark slept on my shoulder while I pouted some more. When we checked in at the airport I got the lovely surprise that I did not have a seat assignment. Oh hooray. I knew from years of working for an airline that meant the flight was overbooked and I was possibly looking at staying another night in Florida. And now that I was at the airport I was ready to go home and see Mable!

Sad to go home!

Mark and I decided there was noting we could do so we didn’t worry .We got food and plopped ourselves down in the terminal to see if I would be so lucky as to get a seat. We were bummed because it was doubtful we’d have the same luck as our out bound flight where the one open seat was next to Mark. Soon they made an announcement. Our flight was cancelled. *sigh* We already dealt with this mess on the way too Florida. They called our names and asked us if we minded going to LAX instead of Ontario. It was non-stop and they could seat us together. Hooray! We called Mark’s parents and they had no problem driving the extra way to LAX.

So it all worked out. We got home, tired and full of smiles. And Mable kitty was very glad to see us.

Best. Vacation. Ever.