A Fish's Tale - Return to a Dream
This is the story of my second trip to Walt Disney World. My first trip was only 3 days long and completely unplanned. But it was still incredibly magical to me. This time, however, I would fix the mistakes from the last trip. I stayed at a Disney resort and planned many things. Looking back, although my first time was so special, this trip was far superior. It was the 8 most magical days of my life, a time will cherish forever.
Day 1: July 28, 2003
I had gone to sleep the night before early because I had to wake up pretty early to go to the airport. At around 3:30 am, I suddenly woke up. I got up and I notice something was out of place... my left arm wasn't moving! Ahh! I must have been so nervous I slept wrong and cut off the blood flow to my arm. OMG! On all days for this to happen, why today?! I'M GONNA GO TO WALT DISNEY WORLD WITHOUT THE USE OF MY LEFT ARM!!! But then I shook around a bit and let the blood flow back into my arm. Very tingly and freaky to see me slowly regain control over my arm again. With that, I went back to sleep, but didn't get much more as my dad woke me up at 4 am. I made one last check of my bags and everything and was off to the airport at 5 am. My plane didn't leave till 8, but my parents dropped me off as they were going to work.
The flight was scheduled to leave Philadelphia at 8:10 and arrive in Orlando at 10:44, but it didn't leave until 8:25 or so and arrived at Orlando at 10:20. That was quick! Practically everyone on that flight was going to Disney. I got off the plane and called Rob (MKT). He was pretty shocked that my flight came so early. He picked me up at the airport and drove me to Super Target because I needed to buy some razors. I was told I couldn't carry them on the plane so I didn't bring any. I was pretty surprised to see how big it was. Back at home, we don't have "Super" anything. After that, it was off to All Star Movies. We got there at noon and they had my room already prepared. My room was in the Buzz Lightyear building. To Infinity and Beyond! After getting settled in the room, I grabbed my backpack and camera and me and Rob were off to our first park... the Disney-MGM Studios. Since it was a shortened day, I thought it would be best to go to the park I knew best from the last trip.
We spent a lot of the time just trying to absorbed the atmosphere there. We went over to the Voyage of the Little Mermaid... (What else did you think I was immediately gonna do first?). We got fastpasses and walked by the litle princess store next to it. Remembering the promise I made to Jer (DMC-12), I put on an Ariel princess tiara, grabbed a wand, and struck a princess pose. Rob took the picture, Jer, I hope you're happy. Hehe. We browsed around One Man's Dream for a bit but didn't watch the film. We then had some lunch, I had a hotdog and Rob had some chocolate cake that he couldn't finish even though he really wanted to, but it was way too rich for him. We then rode Star Tours. It wasn't that bad of a ride, I was actually expecting a lot more though. Oh well. We didn't do many attractions on that first day. But something we did do was go looking for characters. One of my biggest regrets from my last trip was that I met no characters at all. I wasn't gonna let that happen this time. As we were walking, I met my first characters, Mike and Sulley from Monsters Inc. Yay! We then went over to the Magic of Disney Animation and met Lilo and Stitch. Since we were the only ones there, Lilo and Stitch saw it fit to attack me! Stitch chased me with a water sprayer while Lilo grabbed my backpack, dug through it, threw my poncho on the ground. Those little rascals! We then went into a store and Rob said I should get an autograph book so I did. By the hat, they're were so many characters out. We saw Alice had a short line so we went to her. She was so nice! She asked if we were mad hatters. Rob said he was just mad. So Alice said I must be the hatter. She asked me where I was from, I said Philadelphia. She asked if I walked or fell down to the rabbit hole to get here. I told her the rabbit hole was the only way to go. Hehe! We took a picture and she was the first to sign my book, but she signed the second page. The first was reserved for Mickey.
We then went back to find Lilo and Stitch again to get their autographs but they were gone. Pooh! We went into another store where I found those pointy pink princess hats. I know Jer specifially asked for this one, so Rob snapped another princess pose of me. Haha!We then did the backlot tour. Rob was fascinated by the contruction so he got himself a disposable camera and took shots of the construction around there. We then went by Al's Toy Barn where all the Toy Story characters were. I met Jessie but the line for Buzz and Woody was so long. We ended up getting fastpasses there. Yes, fastpasses for a character meet. It was a new experimental thing. Odd thing was the character meet ended at 5 pm and the pass was for 5:20. Guess they haven't worked out all the kinks out yet. We then went to Voyage of the Little Mermaid. While we were waiting, I began acting all "mermaidy" and started to sing. Rob said if I didn't stop, he would hurt me. Hmph! Rob then took the fishing net on the wall and threw it over me and snapped a photo. Bad Rob! (I must say that Rob in person is just as zany as he is online, if not more so. LOL.) Rob said he really didn't want to see the show and said we should go to the Star and Motorcars parade. So we left, I would have to see Voyage another time. We sat at the end of the route and had some mickey bars while we waited. But thunder sounded and it looked like it was gonna rain so they canceled the parade. Ah phooey!Rob said we should go leave, it looked like it was going to be a big storm and that I needed rest.
So we left the Studios and went over to the Swan resort to try the Gulliver's Character Dinner. It was actually prety good and cheap. It only cost about 30 dollars for both of us. Rob had a burger and I had chicken. But none of us finished our food, it was simply too much! I'm only one little fish! The characters there were Rafiki and Timon. Rob said Timon was acting way too girly. Hehe. After dinner, Rob took me to property control where cast members get WDW merchandise for dirt cheap. I bought a beautiful artwork poster of Cinderella Castle that was normally $30 for only $8! After that, he took me on a tour of all the backstage warehouses. All this was behind the Magic Kingdom. I did not want to see the Magic Kingdom yet, I did not want to see Cinderella Castle. Not yet, not now. I wanted to save it for that special moment. Kinda like the groom not wanting to see the bride in her dress before the wedding. Hehe, well, that's how I felt. So as we drove by, I looked away and covered my eyes. After that, Rob took me back to the resort. I visited the shop there and picked up my gift for using the Fairytale package, a framed Mickey's Philharmagic litho and pin, which is normally $90 and they gave it to me for free! I also bought Angelique a little something... (but I'm not gonna tell her what. Hehe.). And that was the end of my first day. Something was odd though. It still didn't feel like I was really there. The feeling that I was at WDW still hadn't taken hold on me. Do you know what I mean? I still didn't feel that "magic" yet. I hope I would soon.
This is the story of my second trip to Walt Disney World. My first trip was only 3 days long and completely unplanned. But it was still incredibly magical to me. This time, however, I would fix the mistakes from the last trip. I stayed at a Disney resort and planned many things. Looking back, although my first time was so special, this trip was far superior. It was the 8 most magical days of my life, a time will cherish forever.
Day 1: July 28, 2003
I had gone to sleep the night before early because I had to wake up pretty early to go to the airport. At around 3:30 am, I suddenly woke up. I got up and I notice something was out of place... my left arm wasn't moving! Ahh! I must have been so nervous I slept wrong and cut off the blood flow to my arm. OMG! On all days for this to happen, why today?! I'M GONNA GO TO WALT DISNEY WORLD WITHOUT THE USE OF MY LEFT ARM!!! But then I shook around a bit and let the blood flow back into my arm. Very tingly and freaky to see me slowly regain control over my arm again. With that, I went back to sleep, but didn't get much more as my dad woke me up at 4 am. I made one last check of my bags and everything and was off to the airport at 5 am. My plane didn't leave till 8, but my parents dropped me off as they were going to work.
The flight was scheduled to leave Philadelphia at 8:10 and arrive in Orlando at 10:44, but it didn't leave until 8:25 or so and arrived at Orlando at 10:20. That was quick! Practically everyone on that flight was going to Disney. I got off the plane and called Rob (MKT). He was pretty shocked that my flight came so early. He picked me up at the airport and drove me to Super Target because I needed to buy some razors. I was told I couldn't carry them on the plane so I didn't bring any. I was pretty surprised to see how big it was. Back at home, we don't have "Super" anything. After that, it was off to All Star Movies. We got there at noon and they had my room already prepared. My room was in the Buzz Lightyear building. To Infinity and Beyond! After getting settled in the room, I grabbed my backpack and camera and me and Rob were off to our first park... the Disney-MGM Studios. Since it was a shortened day, I thought it would be best to go to the park I knew best from the last trip.
We spent a lot of the time just trying to absorbed the atmosphere there. We went over to the Voyage of the Little Mermaid... (What else did you think I was immediately gonna do first?). We got fastpasses and walked by the litle princess store next to it. Remembering the promise I made to Jer (DMC-12), I put on an Ariel princess tiara, grabbed a wand, and struck a princess pose. Rob took the picture, Jer, I hope you're happy. Hehe. We browsed around One Man's Dream for a bit but didn't watch the film. We then had some lunch, I had a hotdog and Rob had some chocolate cake that he couldn't finish even though he really wanted to, but it was way too rich for him. We then rode Star Tours. It wasn't that bad of a ride, I was actually expecting a lot more though. Oh well. We didn't do many attractions on that first day. But something we did do was go looking for characters. One of my biggest regrets from my last trip was that I met no characters at all. I wasn't gonna let that happen this time. As we were walking, I met my first characters, Mike and Sulley from Monsters Inc. Yay! We then went over to the Magic of Disney Animation and met Lilo and Stitch. Since we were the only ones there, Lilo and Stitch saw it fit to attack me! Stitch chased me with a water sprayer while Lilo grabbed my backpack, dug through it, threw my poncho on the ground. Those little rascals! We then went into a store and Rob said I should get an autograph book so I did. By the hat, they're were so many characters out. We saw Alice had a short line so we went to her. She was so nice! She asked if we were mad hatters. Rob said he was just mad. So Alice said I must be the hatter. She asked me where I was from, I said Philadelphia. She asked if I walked or fell down to the rabbit hole to get here. I told her the rabbit hole was the only way to go. Hehe! We took a picture and she was the first to sign my book, but she signed the second page. The first was reserved for Mickey.
We then went back to find Lilo and Stitch again to get their autographs but they were gone. Pooh! We went into another store where I found those pointy pink princess hats. I know Jer specifially asked for this one, so Rob snapped another princess pose of me. Haha!We then did the backlot tour. Rob was fascinated by the contruction so he got himself a disposable camera and took shots of the construction around there. We then went by Al's Toy Barn where all the Toy Story characters were. I met Jessie but the line for Buzz and Woody was so long. We ended up getting fastpasses there. Yes, fastpasses for a character meet. It was a new experimental thing. Odd thing was the character meet ended at 5 pm and the pass was for 5:20. Guess they haven't worked out all the kinks out yet. We then went to Voyage of the Little Mermaid. While we were waiting, I began acting all "mermaidy" and started to sing. Rob said if I didn't stop, he would hurt me. Hmph! Rob then took the fishing net on the wall and threw it over me and snapped a photo. Bad Rob! (I must say that Rob in person is just as zany as he is online, if not more so. LOL.) Rob said he really didn't want to see the show and said we should go to the Star and Motorcars parade. So we left, I would have to see Voyage another time. We sat at the end of the route and had some mickey bars while we waited. But thunder sounded and it looked like it was gonna rain so they canceled the parade. Ah phooey!Rob said we should go leave, it looked like it was going to be a big storm and that I needed rest. So we left the Studios and went over to the Swan resort to try the Gulliver's Character Dinner. It was actually prety good and cheap. It only cost about 30 dollars for both of us. Rob had a burger and I had chicken. But none of us finished our food, it was simply too much! I'm only one little fish! The characters there were Rafiki and Timon. Rob said Timon was acting way too girly. Hehe. After dinner, Rob took me to property control where cast members get WDW merchandise for dirt cheap. I bought a beautiful artwork poster of Cinderella Castle that was normally $30 for only $8! After that, he took me on a tour of all the backstage warehouses. All this was behind the Magic Kingdom. I did not want to see the Magic Kingdom yet, I did not want to see Cinderella Castle. Not yet, not now. I wanted to save it for that special moment. Kinda like the groom not wanting to see the bride in her dress before the wedding. Hehe, well, that's how I felt. So as we drove by, I looked away and covered my eyes. After that, Rob took me back to the resort. I visited the shop there and picked up my gift for using the Fairytale package, a framed Mickey's Philharmagic litho and pin, which is normally $90 and they gave it to me for free! I also bought Angelique a little something... (but I'm not gonna tell her what. Hehe.
). And that was the end of my first day. Something was odd though. It still didn't feel like I was really there. The feeling that I was at WDW still hadn't taken hold on me. Do you know what I mean? I still didn't feel that "magic" yet. I hope I would soon.
