Popsicletrees and Disneybird's Weekend 80th Birthday Trip

Our most recent trip to WDW was a long time in the making - 80 years. Actually it wasn't that long, but some extensive planning did go into this trip. It started about two years ago when my mom (Disneybird) wanted to take my grandmother to WDW for her 80th birthday. The original plan was to try to get as much of the family as possible to go down and surprise her on the actual day, but due to financial difficulties and some people just otherwise being bums not as many of the family members as we had hoped were able to make it, just the important ones.

To give more of a backstory I didn't know if I would be able to go for quite some time. I'm working on my Master's and part of the program includes a year long internship at a local high school. With my internship I'm not supposed to miss any days, and any time that I do miss I am supposed to make up. Combine all of that with trying to figure out if it would be financially responsible for me to even take this trip since I really have no income since starting my Master's and my husband would not be able to go because of work, I did not make up my mind until it was almost time to go.

Around September my husband told me for the hundreth time that we can afford this trip and that I should go, I decided that I would really start looking into it. My aunt, uncle, and cousin were going and flying Allegiant out of Chattanooga on a Friday night and coming back on Monday for $19 (excluding tax) each way. I talked to them about taking the flight with them and making sure that there would be enough room for me in their rental car from Sanford Int. Once that was settled I had to make sure that I could get out of going to school for just one day. I talked to my mentor teacher, and he was fine with me being out. So, with all of that said and done it was time to get ready for our December 4-6 trip to WDW.

Now that we are done with the boring stuff, let's get on with the show!

 

[becanya]

I can't wait! Disneybird is so nice to me...and you guys are practically neighbors to us Nashvillians!

 

[unkadug]

I'm certainly looking forward to reading this also.

This is similar to those news teasers they do on TV at 3:00, "Massive landslide affects local residents, news at ten oclock."

 

[popsicletrees]

December 3, 2010 - Departure Day

This was really a departure night, and I kept pestering (begging) Jordan to go with me right until the point where we walked out the door to go to the airport. He has only been to WDW once in January 2010. You can read about his first experience here. He kept reassuring me that he wanted to go, but he couldn't take off work right now since we were going to be out of town for a week over Christmas. So, as much as I knew I would miss him being there, I was looking forward to being able to spend some time down there with my mom.

We arrived at the airport in Chattanooga about an hour before my departure time. I had no bags to check and security took no time to go through. This was my first time flying Allegiant, but my aunt, uncle, and cousin only fly Allegiant. I really prefer Southwest, but since we don't live in Nashville anymore it is hard to justify a 2.5 hour car trip to catch a plane for a weekend trip.

I met up with my relatives (Disneybird, my dad, and my grandmother were already at WDW), and we waited to board. Our flight was supposed to leave at around 7:00, and it was 7:45 before we even boarded. Plus, boarding was a mess. Allegiant just started a new system much like Southwest's. Basically if you opted out of spending an extra fee to pick your seat you were assigned a number when you checked in and boarded according to your number. The majority of the flight did not pick their seats. It turned out to be a mass crowd surrounding the boarding area having no idea what was going on, and Allegiant had no crowd control system. This didn't help matters much. I know that this is discount flying, but I really did not like taking off an hour after our departure time when the plane actually arrived initially in Chattanooga on time. I will say that the plane was nice though.

So we arrived at Sanford around 9-9:30 and picked up our rental car before heading to WDW. The drive seemed like it took so long because of the anticipation, but it was neat seeing downtown Orlando and other places that I wouldn't normally see on my trips.

I was staying at the Contemporary with my parents and grandmother - the rest of the family was at OKW. We haven't stayed there in several years, and I was looking forward to checking out the renovations. We stayed at the Contemporary a lot when I was little, so this resort is everything Disney to me, and we knew that my grandmother would love to stay there again (or so we thought). I met up with my parents in the lobby and went to the foodcourt to grab a flatbread pizza for a late dinner before heading to our room in the wing.

I didn't take any pictures this night. I really wanted to take pictures of the room, but it isn't the same with everyone's stuff sprawled out. I really like the design of the new rooms. I like modern, clean lines in design, and these rooms were no exception. My only complaint was with the bathroom sink. The two sinks were huge, which wasn't a problem in and of itself, but there was hardly any counter space available for your toiletries. Oh, I also had to bring a nightlight from my parents' house for them. My mom always leaves the bathroom light on with the door cracked at hotels. However, the bathroom doors at the Contemporary are glass (don't worry it's not clear), so there was no way we were letting that much light in all night.

December 4, 2010 - Happy Birthday Mamaw!

We woke up early to get to Epcot at opening. Today was the taping of the parade at the MK, and that was the last place where we wanted to be that day. After getting ready my dad and I headed to the lobby to purchase our tickets and grab some breakfast. The hotel's system was down, so we couldn't purchase our tickets yet. I went upstairs to meet up with dad and was so glad to see sweet tea at the Contempo Cafe. I gave up carbonated beverages in July and rely on sweet tea to get me through the morning. So, yes I traded in my one, no calorie, diet coke a day for the empty calories of sweet tea, but in defense I generally just have a glass of crystal light tea in the morning for only about 5 calories. This trip though I was going for the real empty calories to get me through the morning, and I was just so glad to actually see it in the state of Florida.

We arrived at Epcot, and dad and I headed off to grab our tickets for the trip. He originally was only going to spend 1 day in the parks but decided to buy a 2-day non-parkhopper ticket. What a trooper.

By the time we got in the park and on our way it was about an hour after opening. We headed straight to Soarin' to find a 40 minute wait. It was really only about 15 minutes. For as much as my dad complains about going to WDW he really enjoys Soarin', which always kind of takes me off guard.

Since we only had a short time on this trip we really had to pick and choose what we were going to do, and we chose to go check out Nemo at the Living Seas.

When we were in line something happened that had us all laughing so hard. During our trips to WDW we always rent a scooter for my grandmother. Not to contribute to the continuing debate on here about scooter rentals, but she's 80. It's nice being able to have her keep up with the pace. Well, we had all forgotten just how dark that line is and didn't bother to turn on the scooter's light. So, we are zig-zagging through the line all following behind my grandmother and *whack* she smacked right into the line divider. We laughed so hard. Well, everyone except her. Of course, it always seems that whenever we have trouble with the scooter a mass of people somehow magically appears behind us. So, here we all are trying to back her up and find the light on the scooter. In the meantime we are honking her horn and adjusting her speed in our blind rush to find the light and move out of the way. We looked like abusive idiots laughing at this poor old woman stuck in a scooter who just crashed into a rail, honking her horn, and moving her back and forth, but I like to think that it brought us closer together.

 

[popsicletrees]

I can't wait! Disneybird is so nice to me...and you guys are practically neighbors to us Nashvillians!

She's nice to me too, and thank you for joining in! I lived in Nashville for 5 years too. I miss it so much.

I'm certainly looking forward to reading this also.

This is similar to those news teasers they do on TV at 3:00, "Massive landslide affects local residents, news at ten oclock."

Well, unfortunately or fortunately no massive landslides happened on this trip.


Ok, on with the day...

After exploring the Living Seas we decided to go check out Captain EO. Now, I don't remember much about this, but I do remember Fuzzball. My cousin Jonathon, who was on this trip, had a Fuzzball stuffed animal when we were little, and he was obsessed with it. He took that thing everywhere. For Christmas a few years ago my mom found him one on Ebay that didn't look like it had been drug through hell and back and got it for him. He told me as we were going into it that he still had both of them up on his dresser.

We sat through it and oh my goodness was it laughable. As soon as it was over I turned around to the rest of my family and said, "Now that is a man." It was good for a laugh by all of us and an even harder one when my grandmother told us that she thought that was really nice.

On our way out I stopped to take a picture of these fountains for Jordan because I'm sure we will spend quite a bit of time here on our next trip.

We made our way to WS because we had lunch reservations coming up soon at Biergarten. The adults wanted a picture in front of the Christmas tree first.

From left to right we have my old man, Disneybird, my uncle Norman, my aunt Pam, and my grandmother - looking good for 80.

Norman giving my dad a hard time:

As we made our way around I pointed out the Tower of Terror blending in with Morocco.

We stopped for a few minutes to watch a mariachi band in Mexico.

 

[popsicletrees]

We stopped in Norway for a few minutes to do some shopping. Before we left for our trip my brother-in-law asked my mom to get my sister a sweater for him from Norway. He said that she really liked them and wanted something to take to work so she can wear it around the office. So, mom asked me to help her with our search. I called my brother-in-law while we were there and told him that they only had 4 cardigan type sweaters, and I would send him a picture of each of them so he can decide which one he wants us to pick up for him. Personally, I do not like the kinds of sweaters there. They are really expensive, and I was surprised that she wanted one. So, we sent him pictures anyways and told him just to get us an answer by the end of the day.

Let me just take this chance to mention just how absolutely beautiful the weather was today. It was somewhere in the low 70s and sunny. It was perfect jeans and t-shirt weather.

We made it to Germany about 30 minutes before our lunch reservation and just looked around the shops until time to eat. Mom took me into the caramel shop, and while some of the things in the cases looked amazing it was easy to resist because I'm just not a fan of caramel.

It was time for our reservations at Biergarten. This was a first for me, but my parents came here with my grandmother a few trips back and have made a point to eat here every trip since. I will say that the food and entertainment did not disappoint.

Obligatory plate shot:

The apricot spread on the bottom right tasted so good with the pork. I promised my husband that I would not over indulge myself on this trip, so I kept dessert simple with a berry compote and vanilla sauce. I didn't take a picture because I was half way done with it by the time I got back to my table. It was really good. However, our waiter did talk me into getting a glass of warm spiced wine. It was amazing!

My first experience there was a very good one. I really enjoyed the food, entertainment, and overall atmosphere of the restaurant. It will definitely be a place that I will have to take Jordan on one of our future trips.

That is all for tonight, but tomorrow I will post an update on my first ever WDWMagic Meet 'n' Greet.

 

[Monty]

That is all for tonight, but tomorrow I will post an update on my first ever WDWMagic Meet 'n' Greet.

:sohappy:

:lookaroun

What? I'm excited! :shrug:

 

[DisneyPrincess5]

Love your TR so far! Ooo Beirgarten looks fun-that plate looks delicious!

 

[Nemo14]

That is all for tonight, but tomorrow I will post an update on my first ever WDWMagic Meet 'n' Greet.

:sohappy::sohappy::sohappy:

 

[popsicletrees]

:sohappy:

:lookaroun

What? I'm excited! :shrug:

You should be. :animwink:

Love your TR so far! Ooo Beirgarten looks fun-that plate looks delicious!

Thank you! I was very pleasantly surprised by Biergarten, and I will be going back.

Let's get back to this. After lunch we still had about two hours before our meet up with fellow WDWMagicers. Before I left I asked Jordan if he wanted me to pick up anything for him while I was there. For a while he told me that he didn't want anything. Then, right before I left he asked me if I could pick up the Nintendo hat that he saw in Mitsukoshi in January. This one:

Much to my dismay they did not have it. I was disappointed that the one thing he asked for I wouldn't be able to get, but I did eventually find the perfect gift for him. More on that later...

Continuing our way through WS, mom and I stopped by a display of Disney Precious Moments dolls. She wanted to get one for my niece and wanted my help in picking one out. It took awhile for her to make up her mind, and I was absolutely no help repeating "She's only 4 months old. She won't know the difference" over and over again.

We briefly saw Pere Noel.

Then, we made our way back to Germany for out meet. This meet-up started a few weeks before our trip when my mom said that Nemo14 was going to be down the same time that we were, and they discussed getting together. So, long story short the meet up grew considerably, and I was really excited to meet so many Magicers that I've talked to over the past several years. When I told Jordan about all of the people that I was going to meet he looked at me and said, "Now I'm sad that I can't go." I hugged him and told him that was so sweet and just what I wanted to hear. So, here we are:

From left to right we have: Uponastar, Nemo14, Master Yoda, Me, MontyMon, Disneybird, Morgan, and ClemsonTigger

Master Yoda and ClemsonTigger had reservations at Biergarten and had to cut the meeting to about 15 minutes. The rest of us stayed for nearly two hours standing around chatting. A photopass photographer even came up to us at one point to get a group shot with spouses included:

4:00 was approaching by this point. Dad actually was the unlucky target of a bird. Fortunately only his sleeve was hit. Plus, he wanted to get back to the room and watch some football before our dinner reservations, so he took that as his sign to leave. Mom and I needed to meet up with the rest of the family to get in line for the Candlelight Processional and 4:00 was our meeting time. So, we said our farewells and departed. It was nice to meet everyone, and I'm glad that we had time to hang around and talk. :wave:

 

[popsicletrees]

The rest of our family was already in line by the time we met up with them for the Processional. Even an hour before showtime the line was getting quite long. This was Corbin Bernsen's last night as the narrator. My mom is a fan of the show Psyche, so she was excited to see him. This was our first time going to the Processional. I went in with no expectations, but I knew that it is popular and something that you have to get in line early for.

Our seats were not the best, so I knew that pictures were out of the question.

The general consensus among us seemed to be pretty much the same. It was enjoyable, we were glad that we saw it, but it was not worth the amount of time that it took out of our day since we had such a short trip planned. Honestly, I think it is great that Disney does this, and I know that Jordan would really enjoy it. Corbin Bernsen also did a really good job with his narration as well as his own personal touches.

After the Processional we went our separate ways briefly. My aunt, uncle, and cousin went back to OKW to freshen up for dinner while my mom, grandmother, and I made a pit stop into Norway to get a sweater before heading to Mouse Gear.

Mom and I got a sweater for my sister for my brother-in-law to give her. He called me back to let me know which one he thought was the best, which was also the one mom and I liked the best. $250. I also picked up Christmas presents for one of my nieces and my nephew. It turned out that my sister didn't like the sweater that we picked up, and my brother-in-law had to contact Disney to find out how to return it for a refund. Seriously, I don't know what she was expecting.

We ended our night in Epcot in Mouse Gear. My grandmother didn't want to go in and told my mom that she was going to "go around to the front entrance." We assumed the front entrance of the store. Imagine our surprise and panic when she wasn't there. We split up to look for her while mom called her brother to let him know that we lost his mother and we would be at the Wilderness Lodge for dinner as soon as we found her. A good 15 minutes later we found her at the main entrance of the park. Our bad.

We went to Whispering Canyon to celebrate my grandmother's 80th birthday that night. It has been several years since I've eaten here, but this again has become another place that my grandmother wants to come back to every trip. Our waitress Sweet Sue was really good and took care of us very well even when my uncle was impersonating my aunt during these episodes of waking up screaming in the middle of the night that she has. I really don't think Whispering Canyon is worth it unless you get the skillet; none of us ordered it. I got the pork loin and substituted the mashed potatoes for the grits. It was good but not really anything special.

 

[HollyBelle]

I didn't realize you had a recent trip, Rachel. How fun! The story about your grandmother and the whole family in the Nemo queue makes me laugh. The visual picture you created is hysterical.

I completely agree with your assessment of the Contemporary bathrooms. While the sink basin looks cool, the lack of space really eliminates functionality. Not good. However, the rest of the room... LOVE IT. I'm a big fan of the lighting and decor. Plus the bedding is heavenly!

I'm looking forward to more! :sohappy:

 

[Disneyfalcon]

I loved the scooter story too! And how awesome you had a wdwmagic meet! Great report so far, Rachel!

 

[tiaragirl]

Great updates, girl! When I saw Monty's picture earlier in the month I was hoping you'd post a quick TR. Your family sounds like so much fun. =) Cuties.

 

[Nemo14]

Great report - we loved meeting up with you guys! Next time, we'll all do Germany together!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Loving the TR! Those Precious Moments dolls are now making me sort of thankful that we never made it all the way around the WS...I don't know if they would have let me leave w/o one. Can't wait to read more! :wave:

 

[diddy_mouse]

I totally cracked up at the Nemo queue story with your grandmother. :lol:

Gorgeous weather on your Epcot day. Truly one of my favorite parks to visit on a clear blue sky day.

 

[foreverbelle]

Ah love it. And your grandmother, I only hope I can be there when I am 80! Go Grandma go...scooter in all. I know its a big debate but I think your grandmother has every right to. I really do. The story about the Nemo and hitting the rails. It cracked me up. Thinks for the laugh my friend.

Sounds like guy had a good time.
And what a way to celebrate 80!

 

[Fashionista007]

I love your TR! I think it's awesome that you had a WDWMagic Meet and I hope these become a regular thing. I belong to other forums that have regular meets and I wish I could go more than once a year! When you meet other Disney Enthusiasts you make friends for life

Love the Nintendo hat in Mitsukoshi. DF looked at that one on our most recent trip but he opted for the blue one that said "Classically Trained" and it has the old school controller on the front. Nintendo rules!

 

[lisak09]

Looks like you all had a really good time, enjoying your TR and all your photos. Keep them coming