Disney En Route Trip Report

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Mitzer

Member
Hello All... just arrived at Disney this afternoon and hoping to do my trip report while at Disney.

Left Atlanta this morning at 430AM and headed to Disney. Arrived by car here at 11:30AM, not a bad trip. Decided last week to move our reservation from AKL to GF. Arrived at the GF and checked right in. Got a wonderful room (booked standard) and got a water view (top floor with dormer). Not a MK view, but better none the less. Went and ate lunch at the Cafe here on property. Had the seasonal fruit and french onion soup (both good). My husband had the chicken salad sandwich, said was best ever. Spent the afternoon walking the property and checking out the new updates since we were last here two years ago. Got a wonderful surprise from my husband. While I was in the restaurant, he slipped out and gave the artist in the lobby a photo of Mitzi, our dog, and had a portrait in charcol done. What a shocker. I have changed my avatar so I could share what it looks like. The artist did a fantastic job and I have a special momento. Shopped a bit around the resort and then went swimming. Planning on meeting up with Pam (Kingdom Konsultant) for dinner at WL Whispering Canyon (she says hello!). Then it is off the shopping at Downtown Disney area until closing. Hope to give you more information tomorrow. Heading to spa to check out some of the treatments (and a bit of pampering). The weather is fantastic. Sunny, warm (not too warm) and a tiny bit breezy. Very nice.

Mitzer
 
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M

Mitzer

Member
Original Poster
It is almost noon on Sunday and I thought I would post while my husband is getting a much needed haircut. Last night we met up with Pam and her group at the WL (Whispering Canyon Cafe) to visit and celebrate her mom's 70th birthday. Had a huge meal and enjoyed the normal antics. This trip was especially fun as they incorporated my husband into the show. Made him gallop around the restaurant AND lobby on a wooden horse, with a funky hankerchief hat on, singing happy birthday to Pam's mom. I doubt he enjoyed the experience, but we sure did. We left there and drove over to DTD and did some late night shopping. Unfortunately it was grad night last night, so the market place was totally swarmed with people...that didn't seem to discourage us women though. We dropped Pam's group off around 10 and headed back to the hotel. I crashed as soon as we got back...totally whipped. I didn't even hear the fireworks at midnight from MK's grad night. My husband said he could see them from our room and they were wonderful.

Got up this morning to a 6:30am Mickey Wake Up Call. Showered and got dressed, ready to roll to the spa. Had room service deliver fresh fruit tray, assorted danish and coffee this morning. The blueberry muffins were to die for, very good. Walked over to the spa here and had first a hour massage that is the best I have ever had. If you are booking a massage at the GF Spa, ask for Tamara (she was great!...can't say enough good things). I left her feeling stressfree and relaxed...nothing sore, nothing aching anymore! Then I had a basic facial...about 20 minutes. It was a nice experience, not as good as the massage...but still enjoyable. The products that they use are fantastic though...so I picked some up to take home with me.

Heading to MK today until dinner. Meeting up with Pam again (my last chance to see her before she leaves for home tomorrow). Doing dinner at my favorite place, BOMA's. It will be her groups first dining experiencing there. So I am hoping they will like it. Then off for some more shopping and most like Pleasure Island (for us two).


Hook: The weather yesterday was fairer than today. Leaving the spa at 10am...it was almost 80F and the high should be in the low 90s today...so HOT! A bit more than I was expecting...but to be at Disney, I will deal with it :lol:.

I booked the Behind the Scenes Safari Tour at AK for Wednesday. I have done this tour in the past with my mother, but this will be my husband's first experience. I heard they just recently had a baby rhino...so I am hoping to get to see him/her. I was here when they had the baby girhaff, so that was one of my more memorable experiences. If anyone has the opportunity to do the AK tour and loves animals as much as we do, I really advise you to consider it. It is alot of walking, but is by far one of the best highlights from any trip I have made here.

More tonight or tomorrow, depending on how long we stay out.

Mitzer :wave:
 
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D

darin2

New Member
Mitzer

I booked my wife a one hour treatment at the spa as a suprise. I'm glad you enjoyed it, and I know she will too.

Darin


42 days and counting :sohappy:
 
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CamCodey

CamCodey

New Member
Hi!

Thanks for the "real time" trip report!! I'm glad you're having a wonderful time! The charcoal of your dog is absolutely beautiful! May I ask how much & where you can get this done? We lost our dog, Lady, 2 weeks ago...struck by a car, and it would be a wonderful momento, since we really don't have many pictures of her for some reason. :brick:

Have a wonderful day!
 
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M

Mitzer

Member
Original Poster
Originally posted by darin2
I booked my wife a one hour treatment at the spa as a suprise. I'm glad you enjoyed it, and I know she will too.
Click to expand...
Your wife is going to absolutely love you when you get here and she gets this surprise. I think you did a very good thing and will get tons of brownie points with her. My husband told me to make an appt for what I wanted to have done about a week ago. Although it wasn't a surprise, it sure was a nice change. I think I will add it to my schedule in the future. It is just a nice addition that I don't usually do for myself. If you can, call ahead and ask for Tamara, she was absolutely the best!

Originally posted by CamCodey
We lost our dog, Lady, 2 weeks ago...struck by a car, and it would be a wonderful momento, since we really don't have many pictures of her for some reason.
Click to expand...
First, let me say how sorry I am to hear this. This is exactly why we are doing this. Our dog is now over 11 and we love her dearly, and for so man y years we have been saying we would do this. I had it done by an artist named ALEX at the Grand Floridian. I don't know the schedule, but I lucked up with him. He is extremely talented and did it extremely fast..not long, really surprised. The charcoals start for one subject (small canvas) at $45.00. I asked for a larger portrait, something that would look great in my bedroom, so I went with the deluxe. They add more for that and to draw from a photo, so mine ended up $75.00 in the end and then we gave him a $10.00 tip...so $85 total. We decided to just print a copy of a photo from the computer before we left. We took several more, so that the artist could get a 3 dimensional ideal, since she couldn't be here in person. The photo here does not do it justice, so you can image how happy we are with our charcoal...it is just beautiful.

OK, now on to tonights additions :lol: ... left the GF at 1:00pm and took the monorail over to MK. Activated our passes and headed in. Ate a quick, SMALL, bite at The Plaza Restaurant on Main Street. I had a salad with fruit and my husband had the Philly Cheese Steak. We then split an enormous banana split (this could have been a meal in itself). After lunch (now 2pm) we went straight to tomorrowland. Did Buzz Lightyear first (twice) and walked right on. From there, we went onto the Wedway People Mover (our all time favorite relaxing ride) and took two trips around (enjoyed the breeze). The line for Space Mountain was kind of long, so we skipped and did the tea cups, not a good idea after lunch, but OH WELL.... Then it was off to Fantasyland and Peter Pan's Flight, Its a Small World, and a quick ride on the Haunted Mansion (well three rides). By now it was reaching 3:30pm and we had to meet Pam for dinner. We headed back to the marina to catch the ferry back to the hotel. Got back here by 4:00 and a quick refresh for dinner. Left and headed to the AKL and Boma's. To our surprise, MKtiggerman (ROB) was there for dinner too. HI ROB :wave: , it was great meeting you finally! We had a great and delicious dinner (and Zebra Domes!) with our buddy Rob, full of fun and laughter. I think dinner lasted about two hours and didn't seem like we were there long at all. We said bye to Rob and all headed back out. Resort hopping now. Pam's friend wanted to see the hotel here, so we came back to the GF to look around and shop. We stopped to see the Electric Water Parade and then over to WL for a quick stop. We then took Pam's group back to their hotel (I already miss you Pam!) and then back to our hotel. Came in the lobby and listened to the band for a while.

I can say that the MK was not totally deserted by any means, but it was not too crowded for a weekend day. We literarily walked on almost every ride. We didn't wait more then 5 mintues for any ride at MK...that is a first for us. Although they said the weather was going to hit 90, it wasn't too bad. I have felt much hotter and we had a small breeze and some overcast. In all, a beautiful day full of fun and friends.

Tomorrow...???...I suppose we will see what hits our mood when we get up. Either Epcot or MGM. I would love to see the new Mission Space building in person, so most likely Epcot. Night all...
 
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wannabeBelle

wannabeBelle

Well-Known Member
OMG Mitzer I cant believe that is a sketch!!! I thought it was a photo of your dog!!!! That is awesome. I am so glad that you are having a good time!! So tell us what is the venerable MKTiggerman like in person??? Looking foward to meeting you at the WDWMagic meet & Greet in December!!! Belle
 
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M

Mitzer

Member
Original Poster
Taking a much needed break from the heat, so I thought I would hop on and post about today. Started out bad, but got better. For those that know, I am diabetic...and had a major medical situation come up which made us miss our PS at 1900 Park Fare and three hours late to the park...but all is back to normal now. We arrived at MGM around 11:00am. Went straight over to RnRC and there was a 5 minute wait. I don't ride this ride, but this is my husbands favorite...so he rode it three times. Practically walked right on each time. Then we walked around checking out what was new and looking at the shops. Went over to Indian Jones and walked right in there also. Then over to Who Wants to Be a Millionaire...got to sit in the front (fastest finger) seats. My husband came in second the whole time. Was hoping he would get a chance get into the hot seat. Left there around 2pm and headed over to the Brown Derby for a late lunch. I was upset to see that Jeff, the piano player, is gone. They said Disney cut the piano out due to lack of funds in the budget for this entertainer. What a shame. Had the famous cobb salad and headed back to the main strip. Bumped into some good friends (Disney friends) of ours and sat there for about an hour chatting. Didn't get alot accomplished, but we are just taking our time this trip...more of a relaxing visit then packed full of everything. Came back to the hotel now to cool off. Going to run to MK in a minute to see if we can find the elusive Tigger and then to Narcoosee's tonight for dinner.

Belle: Rob is a great guy. He is so nice and very friendly. Glad we all had the chance to meet up. Thanks Rob for making time for Pam and me.
 
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M

MouseMadness

Well-Known Member
OMG!! Glad to hear you're okay! Oh, and the GF spa is a little patch of heaven on earth... glad you got to go. (If I know I'm going to get something scheduled, I plan it for the last couple of days... to work out all the kinks disney puts into you!:D ) Nice reporting... waiting for more!!
 
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M

Mitzer

Member
Original Poster
Well we never made it back to the MK last night. We decided to go to Narcoosee's early so that we could head over to EPCOT. I had a chef created vegetarian dish that was out of this world and my husband had the steak and lobster (said it was yummy). We left the restaurant and hopped on the monorails and over to Epcot to see Illuminations. In all my trips, I think I have only seen it once in its entirity. This trip was my second time. I love the show, well worth the wait and crowds. Prior to the show, we walked right onto TT, my favorite ride...not even single riders line...and rode that three times in a row (once for Creekwayne). Once the show was out, we went over to Mouse Gears and did a little shopping to allow the crowds to thin out. We stopped at a few places along the way to kill time. Got to the monorail and got lucky, got the front back to T&T and to the resort also. Got back here and did the most exciting thing my entire trip - laundry! :lol: . We got up this morning and were waiting for a fed ex package to arrive, so we took our time getting dressed and went to the cafe for breakfast. I had the fruit plate and a bagel, both good and a great assortment of fresh fruits. My husband had the four egg omelet with grits and hashbrowns, looked good. We then went back over to MGM (bus took over 50 minutes to get here :( , but we weren't in a rush). Once there, we went right over to Indian Jones (got right in and a good seat), then over to Star Tours, Muppets 3D and Little Mermaid (all...walked right on, no waits). We then decided to go through the animation tour, love this show. New show in production is Brother Bear (due in Nov) and they are coming out with Aladdin in IMAX on Christmas this year. Was happy to hear this! We stopped to get an ice cream (since we sort of missed lunch) and then over to RnRC and ToT. Walked around a bit, looking for our Disney friends, but couldn't find them. Left the park at 4pm and headed back to the hotel to freshen up. We are now getting ready to go to MK for a quick bite and SpectroMagic/Fireworks...since tonight is the only night we will be able to see it. Tomorrow is the AK Tour and a day at AK. This will be my last report from Disney since we check out tomorrow. I won't have internet access. We then leave tomorrow night for five days in Naples, FL for a wedding...so I will say bye for now and post when I get home next week.

I have to say that this was by far my most relaxing trip ever. I had a few unfortunate medical glitches :rolleyes: , but other than that, just a great and quiet trip. Sometimes those can be the best. We didn't overdue it, treated ourselves to some little extras and got plenty of rest (which is what we both needed). Also, we got to see a good friend (Pam) and meet another friend (Rob), so I really have to say I enjoyed this visit. Hope to meet more people in December at the meet.

Mitzer :wave:
 
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M

Mitzer

Member
Original Poster
Finally the conclusion....:lol: (only a week late)

We came back to the hotel around 4pm on Tuesday to get ready to go to MK for the parade and fireworks. My fed ex finally arrived, was suppose to be there by 10am, but with the bad weather Atlanta had that week, it was running late. For those that know, I am diabetic and I wear an insulin pump. My pump died on Monday morning and the company had to overnight me a new one from CA. So it was an ok, but stressful two days waiting. When we got back to the hotel, my package was waiting, so that was our priority. We left the hotel by 5:30 that evening and headed to MK to eat and see SpectroMagic. We were surprised that alot of the counter places were already closed...and we couldn't get in to any of the sit downs, since we had no PS...so it was hotdogs and fries from Caseys. Me being vegetarian, it was fries only, but it was ok. We sat on the curb right across from the bakery and waited...for 2 1/2 hours. At one point I got up to get some bottled water for myself, my husband and the elderly couples next to me...could barely stand up :lol: ...must be too much sitting. Got back and the parade was just about to start. We sat, drinking our water and ooohing and awing at the parade (I just love SpectroMagic). The parade finished and we headed to the docks to take the boat over to the resort. There was a little wait, for the next boat. We saw the fireworks from the dock at MK...was beautiful as usual. Got back to the resort and started packing to leave the next day.

Woke up on Wednesday morning early. Got ready and a quick bite to eat...then went to wait for the character meal bus to AK to pick up the tour (be there by 8am). The only bad part of the trip is this...we waited but never saw a bus. We waited close to an hour and with the 8am hour approaching fast...we decided to drive ourselves over to AK and not take the chance of waiting. We got there and met up with the tour with maybe 5 minutes to spare. Now I have done the Behind the Scenes Safari Tour at AK before, but my husband hasn't. We did the entire tour (took an amazing 4 hours...longer then I remember) and we got to touch/pet an alligator (and Sammy...like before)...won't say what Sammy is...in case anyone is going on the tour (don't want to ruin the surprise). The tour was better than the first one I did last year. This tour they added a little surprise on the end of it, which I really enjoyed...and it was now about 12:15 when the tour ended. We headed back over to the hotel and decided to check out and leave for Naples early.

We made it to Naples by 4pm and met up with family there. There was 19 of us from Atlanta, so we had a great 5 days with them. I know this isn't Disney related, but I have to say this...Steven Spielberg is building a house, well compound, not far from my husband's uncle's house. We were fortunate enough to get the opportunity to see the house and swim on his beach...it was great!!! It was by far the nicest beach I have seen anywhere. No wonder he wanted to build there...another highlight :D to our trip. Besides the beautiful wedding of my husband's cousins. This is really why we went to FL...we only decided to do a Disney add on later. But it was a great 9 days and I am finally home and in need of some serious sleep! The weather in FL was perfect, just a bit on the hot side...but in all....can't wait to go back!

Mitzer
 
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