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Reporting for the first time - A work in progress

I just got back today and I am not done with the complete report but here is what I have so far. Feedback is welcome.

Day 1:
We left around 10 am (of course after multiple trips back into the house for items that I had forgotten), and headed out to begin our adventure. We were making good time so we decided to stop at Cracker Barrel to eat lunch. Lunch went well. We had 2 hours until check in and were only 1 hour away so we took our time (isn’t that what a vacation is for?). Just after exiting the turnpike the skies opened up. It was sort of a let down to pass under the Walt Disney World sign in a downpour but that was not going to damped our spirits only our clothes. We pulled into the All Star Music check in parking lot and knew it would only be a few more minutes till we could park the car for a few days and get to having some fun and much needed rest. Mom, DS Christopher and myself were greeted warmly and check in was a breeze. We got our room assignment and also got our park hopper tickets and was in the room by 3:20 pm. Our room was in the Rock building, kind of a walk to melody Hall where the food court and soda station is but none the less we were “home”. After dropping our bags and running around the room all giddy with excitement, we heard a knock at the door. It was mom, we had by accident shut the door on her. Not wanting to use one day of our hopper tickets, DS and I hopped a bus to Epcot and then transferred to the monorail to the TTC. We transferred to the resort loop and our first stop was the Polynesian. WOW is all I could say as we walked in to the lobby, there were people lingering around the lobby awaiting their restaurant ressies. I took a look a few photos and then it was back to the monorail to go to the next resort. DS decided he did not want to see the Grand Floridian so we stayed on to the Contemporary resort. DS looked in the shops as I look out the north windows at the construction site (I had worked on the north wing buildings during their remodeling 13 years ago and was sad to see a piece of my history gone). For me the Poly was a nicer resort, we found our way to the docks to take the launch to the Wilderness Lodge. That resort was amazing. We heard the cries of “Ketchup” a few times while roaming the lobby. Mom called and asked told us to meet at Downtown Disney to eat dinner. There were a lot of people in spite of the rain. We chose Wolfgang Puck Express and dinner was amazing. Mom had the ravioli, DS had the pepperoni pizza, and I had the lasagna. We ate inside which gave everyone else in line to take a peek of what we were eating. 1 couple even asked what the different dishes were and how they tasted. After dinner we walked through the various shops and DS mentioned that the LEGO store had changed and the had nothing he wanted (I was amazed he said that since he loves LEGOS) and wanted to go back to the room so we walked back to the bus stop. Bus ride, walk to room, off to bed. I won’t bore you anymore with our first day.
 
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celtic20

celtic20

Member
Original Poster
Day 2:
After the alarm had gone off and multiple snooze button mashes we decided to get up and figure out what we wanted to do today. I had made ressies the morning before for the Garden Grill at 4:50 pm, the only available time, so I knew we had to be at Epcot by 4:00 pm, but since we had hoppers I decided to see MGM (for the first time). There was about a 10-15 minute wait for the bus but I was kept entertained by the family in front of us. The mom was complaining about the wait for the bus and was actually trying to call the front desk “to get a bus here right now or we are checking out”, her exact words I kid you not. No sooner than she ended her call I see a bus rounding the way. “Complain loud enough and things go my way” she said to her husband (I suppose) as we took our seats behind them. DS had been with his mother years ago to MGM so I told him upon entering, “You lead the way since you are the expert at this park”. So without hesitation he pointed and said “Dad, you will just love this ride”. It was the Great Movie Ride, and you know what? I sure as heck did. I liked the fact that it was a mix of Audio Animatronics and live action. The Alien section was cool and creepy at the same time. After that ride we walked to see the Muppet 3-D show, and once again what a great show. He rushed me to the Star Tours line but he wasn’t sure if I wanted to go, so we got fast passes so we could think about it. After a bio-break we decided to skip Star Tours and head over to Epcot to wander though the countries. DS, once again, pointed the way to the dock to pick up the boat to Epcot. I really enjoyed the ride because, well for one, I got to sit for awhile, and two, I got to see the Boardwalk and Yacht club resorts as well as the Swan and Dolphin. My awe of the Boardwalk will play a major role on day 3 of the trip. Upon arrival to Epcot we headed towards America. It was around noon and we were getting a little hungry we decided to get a snack. I had a hot dog and he hand a burger. We looked around the shop there and kept at a slow (for me) pace around world Showcase to Norway. The was only a 10 minute wait for Maelstrom (sp) so we went in. While in line we talked about how we loved the ride and I told him that I was there when the ride first opened and went on to talk about how Epcot has had many changes (WOM, Horizons, etc…). I love the last 2 scenes in the ride, the drilling rig with the waves crashing all around and the fishing village where you disembark. I wish my living room was an indoor fishing village. We wandered the shop and afterwards I showed my son the Stave (sp) church. Very cool. Off to Mexico we went. I had not seen the new 3 caballeros overlay so I was excited. I must say that I kind of missed the old ride but was happy to see the new changes. We went and got fast passes for test track before heading to the west side of Future World. We had about 90 minutes so we went into JII. Walking up toward The Land I could not help but notice how all the strollers have blocked the murals on either side of the entrance.
 
CAPTAIN HOOK

CAPTAIN HOOK

Well-Known Member
celtic20 said:
The mom was complaining about the wait for the bus and was actually trying to call the front desk “to get a bus here right now or we are checking out”, her exact words I kid you not.
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Don't you just love some folk. She'd probably try and ring God if it rained on her vacation.

Nice report. Awaiting further updates
 
celtic20

celtic20

Member
Original Poster
On with the report

Walking into the land I noticed that they had changed the interior. It looks nice but I liked the little round tables and seats. It was cool to look down and see them all arranged like Mickey heads. Our ressies were for 4:50 pm and we were getting a little hungry. We seated on the second level, which was fine by me, but DS would have linked to be on the lower level. I must say the food was great The catfish was great, the turkey was great, the bread was great, heck even the salt and pepper was awesome (must be the Disney magic). I did leave room for dessert. It was a puff pastry with a vanilla cream filling topped with chocolate shavings and mixed berries on the side. To die for and I’m not a dessert fan. They let us sit and relax after the meal, which I really needed. The revolving of the restaurant was a little weird but you really didn’t notice it unless you were looking at the scenes go by.

After dinner we rode Living with the land. I miss the CM’s doing the spiel but it was not a drastic change to me. Walking out of The Land all you could see was Ponchos. It was raining and Ponchos were everywhere. Being from Miami the rain didn’t bother me since it was only a light rain. I was only worried about my cell phone and my camera getting wet. As we headed to The seas I was excited about seeing the new ride. I remember the original rides and missed it when the removed it. There was no line no waiting, which was nice. The ride was cool. I sat in my own clam mobile and DS sat with mom. We wandered around for a while and decided to go to The Universe Of Energy, my mom’s favorite thing to do. We avoided the ponchos as we walked between the raindrops singing “”and the rain, rain, rain came down, down, down” .We did get some strange looks from people but whatever I’m on vacation and I’m having fun.

We just made it to Energy to get in the last show (7:00 pm). Other than we hand the ride/movie vehicle to ourselves nothing much to report here. Moms decided to do some shopping in Mousegear and then return to the room so me and lil one went to Mission Space. We chose green because the last time I rode it, before they had 2 versions, I didn’t feel well afterwards. I must say that the green version is still a great experience. I was flipping switches and pressing buttons, just having a great time through out the ride. After Mission Space we went to Test Track. It was still raining so as we approached I thought it would be closed but just them we heard the cars above screaming by. While waiting to get in the car they kept repeating that it was raining outside and we would get wet maybe even soaked. We sat up front and son was a little nervous but not as nervous as the lady sitting next to me. When the car went up the incline she grabbed me leg as if the car had gone over a cliff. I laughed it off and I could see she was a little embarrassed about being scared. Yes it was raining when we went outside but we didn’t care. The car speedup and yep faster and faster and then just before the banked turn it happened. BAM. Lady next to me grabbing my arm for dear life. I couldn’t stop laughing. The rush was great and gave me the boost of energy I needed to keep going.

It was around 8:45 pm and we decided to skip the fireworks and take the monorail to the TTC then to The Magic Kingdom. Wow visiting 3 parks in 1 day. Park hopping rules. Nobody was waiting at the monorail station so I asked if we could ride up front and ride up front we did. I wish I could remember the drivers name because he was awesome. We talked about everything Disney. I have the monorail spiel as my ring tone and he laughed when my phone went off. Nameless monorail drive I say thanks for a great experience. We decided that we would only ride Pirates and do a little browsing on Main Street so off to adventureland we went.

There wasn’t much of a line and was loaded into our boat within 3 minutes. My son was excited and was telling me how he would redesign the ride when all of a sudden the lady in front of us yelled ” Keep Quiet”. What a ….the boat just then goes over the falls. Jack Sparrow was cool. Pirates are cool. Dragon lady screaming at my son, not cool. At the end where the boats stack up Dragon lady preceded to yell at someone in the boat in front of us for taking a picture using a flash. “She needs a vacation” my son whispered to me as we unloaded. Main Street looks so nice at night with all the lights on. We walked through the shops and deiced to head back to the room to get some sleep. Bus ride, Walk to room, Sleep.

[FONT=&quot]I will try to write more later today but I came home with a cold and am not feeling all that well[/FONT]
 

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