Hi everyone! :wave:
I just got back from WDW and thought I'd post my very first trip report.
Wednesday, November 10:
We arrived in Orlando at like 6:30 pm. By the time we rented our car and got our luggage it was pretty late and we were all starving. We had dinner at the Taco Bell at the Crossroads shopping center before heading to CBR to check in. First off, I was surprised at all the hurricane damage we saw, especially on Sand Lake Rd by the airport. I know hurricanes are very destructive creatures, but when you don't see it daily, you tend to sorta forget that it's still there.
But anyways, we checked in at CBR at like 8:45'ish and headed to our room. The lady who checked us in was nice, but gave out quite a bit of wrong information. She told us we had a first floor room, when we in fact had a second floor room. This wouldn't have been too bad, but there weren't any elevators (and my suitcase was quite heavy!). At least there weren't any that we saw. We also wanted to watch Illuminations from the resort. We had a great view from the balcony in front of our room, but we didn't know it right away and went to the area that the lady had told us was a good spot. She highlighted on a map, but we couldn't see any fireworks from the locations that she gave us, only buildings and trees. So, we could hear them, but not see them. We went back towards our room and saw the last couple of shots. We were disappointed, but did get to see them again later in the trip.
Then we went swimming and met this really nice family from Conneticut. The pool was pretty empty, but the hot tub was overflowing. The water felt okay when we were in it, but we were quite cold when we got out (but considering that it was warmer outside than even our daily high temps at home we didn't mind). We felt a little funny because we were just wearing our bathing suits and other people were wearing sweats.
Thursday, November 11:
Today we went to Epcot. It was a lot of fun! We saw about everything we wanted to see, but had to leave out a couple of things. We had lunch at Alfredos and it was wonderful! Then we did the Australian wine tasting trail. It was good and I was glad that I got to participate in my first "real" F&W Festival. My batteries died in my pal mickey and the cms in Japan were great in helping me out by letting me use a screwdriver to change the batteries. Those are hard to put in! I had to use my camera batteries, as they were the only ones that I had with me.
I spent quite a bit of time in TLS, which I hadn't spent any quality time with in a long time. It was fun, but we barely missed seeing Turtle Talk. I also went into The Land to see the balloons and fountain for one last time. I tried to take some pictures, but it was already dark outside and they didn't really come out.
When we went back to the resort, we went to Old Port Royal to refill our mugs and because I wanted to buy some new batteries for pal mickey and get my camera batteries out (my digital camera usually needs more than one set of batteries when I take as many pictures as I do in WDW). The cm in the Calypso Trading Post was great. I had a pack of batteries ready for purchase and I asked if she had a screwdriver and explained that it was for mickey. She went in the back and brought out four batteries and told me she'd just give them to me. Then she took mickey backstage and "operated"on him. She really went out of her way to change his batteries for me to help me out. I really appreciated it and I only wish I had thought to look at her name badge so I could compliment her, but I didn't and now I don't know who she was.
Friday, November 12:
Today we went to MK. We arrived about 15 minutes after opening and Mickey told us about the short wait for Pooh. We went straight there and walked right on. We were thankful that Mickey had given us that tip because when we left the line had grown significantly. After that, we went to Tomorrowland to see if SGE was open. It was and we were very excited to get to see it. However, I walked away slightly disappointed as the attraction just wasn't what I had expected. CoP was open and we got to see that too. I was thrilled, though it stopped on the first rotation and by the time they got it going again, we missed half of the first scene, but then it was back to normal by the second scene. The theater was pretty full so I took that to be a good sign.
Lunch was at Cindys and was very good. We all ordered the bibbidi bobbidi brew to drink and it was among the best smoothies I'd ever tasted. The sky kept threatening rain, but it never happened and we lucked out. We saw about everything we wanted to see, with the exception of Peter Pan. The only thing negative about the day is that we waited about 20-30 minutes at the bus stop before we saw the first CBR bus. Our queue probably extended halfway to the gate, but we luckily managed to get to the line soon enough that we were just about 2 bus loads back. We barely managed to fit on the second bus that came in standing room only (I think we were the last family on). We would have loved to have sat, but we didn't really want to take the chances on how long it would be until the next bus came along. And some woman got really mad and voiced her opinions loudly because she didn't like that wheelchairs get loaded first. I wanted to slap her (but I didn't).
Saturday, November 13:
Today we went to Disney-MGM Studios. The park was packed because of Super Soap Weekend. We waited in line like an hour just for lunch. But, my family is soap opera junkies and this is an annual girls weekend event for us. The crowds don't really bother us too much, as we expect it. It was great! I got hugged by Michael Easton (hot guy! and John McBain on OLTL) and Justin B? (I don't know his last name, just that he's Jamie Martin on AMC). I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. And I stood in line and saw Kassie De Paiva (Blair Cramer OLTL). She's from KY to so I made a comment like "Kentucky girls rock" and she asked me where in KY I'm from. Then we found out that the guest relations guy with her was also from Louisville. He asked where I went to school and I answered with U of L. Then he asked about high school. It was pretty cool.
After we finished seeing the stars, we rode some rides and left slightly after 8:00 (barely beating the Fantasmic and Street Jam crowds). For dinner we left and ate at IHOP, my favorite place to eat off property (I love breakfast foods!).
Sunday, November 14:
We went back to the Studios for day 2 of Super Soap. We saw more stars today. The first one was David Fumero (Cristian Vega on OLTL). He is so hot! I got really shy and I couldn't stop shaking when it was my turn. We had lunch at 50's Prime Time, but Aunt Linda wasn't there. We were told that she's on medical leave. It was still fun though and the food was great. In the afternoon I met Jacob Young (JR Chandler on AMC). He is hot and single! I asked him out (joking of course) but he turned me down. Too bad all the guys that turn me on turn me down. From there, my mom went and got Susan Lucci's (Erika Kane, AMC) autograph. I got one 2 years ago and had it made out to my mom, so my mom got me one too. She told Susan the story and she laughed and signed 2, One for me and one for my mom. Then we had Fast Passes to see Trevor St. John (Todd Manning, OLTL) but he left early and we didn't see him. We were very mad about that because he was supposed to be there and left as we were walking up because they said there wasn't anyone in his line. But, we walked up a minute before our time was to start, so I guess they didn't take that into consideration. To make up for it, we got hugged by Michael E. Knight (Tad Martin, AMC). I don't care that he could be my father, he's so cute and funny. He's a very pleasant man in real life. While we were there, they turned on the Osborne Lights! We were very surprised and excited. I took many pictures, but they didn't come out too well. I took them flashless, but didn't have a tripod and it was very windy and I was holding a sorta heavy shopping bag, all making it hard to hold the camera still. We ended the day with Fantasmic.
Monday, November 15:
We started with the Epcot princess breakfast. It was a lot of fun (I'm still a kid at heart!). After that, we rode SSE and then hopped over to DAK. There we saw Michael E. Knight again out in the park. I wouldn't have thought of saying anything, simply because I didn't want to draw any attention to him. But, my aunt remembered the guest relations girl from the day before and struck up a conversation with her, thus leading to one with him. I apologized for interrupting his day and asked for one quick picture. He then insisted that I get in it too, so I got another hug from him. We thanked him for the pics and apologized again for interrupting his day and he thanked us for being such great fans. It was great and I just couldn't believe how nice he was.
I also met up with NeedABreak from the boards and his girlfriend. They were very nice as well. We rode Dinosaur and then went our separate ways, but it was great to meet someone from the boards. I got some great pics of EE. It's looking great and I couldn't believe how big it is. Then we rode Kali River Rapids, where for the first time ever I actually got wet (on the first time ever that I actually didn't want to). How ironic. Then we rode Kilimanjaro Safaris and saw the baby elephants. They were so adorable! We also were treated by the fact that the lion was awake and walking around. Afterwards we watched the Jammin Jungle Parade and then had to head out to the airport (we stopped for dinner at Margaritaville on the way).
Overall, it was a great trip and I can't wait for next time (whenever that may be). Sorry for such a long post, but I wanted to share the important things from my trip. I'll try to get some pictures into my album, but first I'll have to decide what to remove because I'm at my space limit.
I just got back from WDW and thought I'd post my very first trip report.
Wednesday, November 10:
We arrived in Orlando at like 6:30 pm. By the time we rented our car and got our luggage it was pretty late and we were all starving. We had dinner at the Taco Bell at the Crossroads shopping center before heading to CBR to check in. First off, I was surprised at all the hurricane damage we saw, especially on Sand Lake Rd by the airport. I know hurricanes are very destructive creatures, but when you don't see it daily, you tend to sorta forget that it's still there.
But anyways, we checked in at CBR at like 8:45'ish and headed to our room. The lady who checked us in was nice, but gave out quite a bit of wrong information. She told us we had a first floor room, when we in fact had a second floor room. This wouldn't have been too bad, but there weren't any elevators (and my suitcase was quite heavy!). At least there weren't any that we saw. We also wanted to watch Illuminations from the resort. We had a great view from the balcony in front of our room, but we didn't know it right away and went to the area that the lady had told us was a good spot. She highlighted on a map, but we couldn't see any fireworks from the locations that she gave us, only buildings and trees. So, we could hear them, but not see them. We went back towards our room and saw the last couple of shots. We were disappointed, but did get to see them again later in the trip.
Then we went swimming and met this really nice family from Conneticut. The pool was pretty empty, but the hot tub was overflowing. The water felt okay when we were in it, but we were quite cold when we got out (but considering that it was warmer outside than even our daily high temps at home we didn't mind). We felt a little funny because we were just wearing our bathing suits and other people were wearing sweats.
Thursday, November 11:
Today we went to Epcot. It was a lot of fun! We saw about everything we wanted to see, but had to leave out a couple of things. We had lunch at Alfredos and it was wonderful! Then we did the Australian wine tasting trail. It was good and I was glad that I got to participate in my first "real" F&W Festival. My batteries died in my pal mickey and the cms in Japan were great in helping me out by letting me use a screwdriver to change the batteries. Those are hard to put in! I had to use my camera batteries, as they were the only ones that I had with me.
I spent quite a bit of time in TLS, which I hadn't spent any quality time with in a long time. It was fun, but we barely missed seeing Turtle Talk. I also went into The Land to see the balloons and fountain for one last time. I tried to take some pictures, but it was already dark outside and they didn't really come out.
When we went back to the resort, we went to Old Port Royal to refill our mugs and because I wanted to buy some new batteries for pal mickey and get my camera batteries out (my digital camera usually needs more than one set of batteries when I take as many pictures as I do in WDW). The cm in the Calypso Trading Post was great. I had a pack of batteries ready for purchase and I asked if she had a screwdriver and explained that it was for mickey. She went in the back and brought out four batteries and told me she'd just give them to me. Then she took mickey backstage and "operated"on him. She really went out of her way to change his batteries for me to help me out. I really appreciated it and I only wish I had thought to look at her name badge so I could compliment her, but I didn't and now I don't know who she was.
Friday, November 12:
Today we went to MK. We arrived about 15 minutes after opening and Mickey told us about the short wait for Pooh. We went straight there and walked right on. We were thankful that Mickey had given us that tip because when we left the line had grown significantly. After that, we went to Tomorrowland to see if SGE was open. It was and we were very excited to get to see it. However, I walked away slightly disappointed as the attraction just wasn't what I had expected. CoP was open and we got to see that too. I was thrilled, though it stopped on the first rotation and by the time they got it going again, we missed half of the first scene, but then it was back to normal by the second scene. The theater was pretty full so I took that to be a good sign.
Lunch was at Cindys and was very good. We all ordered the bibbidi bobbidi brew to drink and it was among the best smoothies I'd ever tasted. The sky kept threatening rain, but it never happened and we lucked out. We saw about everything we wanted to see, with the exception of Peter Pan. The only thing negative about the day is that we waited about 20-30 minutes at the bus stop before we saw the first CBR bus. Our queue probably extended halfway to the gate, but we luckily managed to get to the line soon enough that we were just about 2 bus loads back. We barely managed to fit on the second bus that came in standing room only (I think we were the last family on). We would have loved to have sat, but we didn't really want to take the chances on how long it would be until the next bus came along. And some woman got really mad and voiced her opinions loudly because she didn't like that wheelchairs get loaded first. I wanted to slap her (but I didn't).
Saturday, November 13:
Today we went to Disney-MGM Studios. The park was packed because of Super Soap Weekend. We waited in line like an hour just for lunch. But, my family is soap opera junkies and this is an annual girls weekend event for us. The crowds don't really bother us too much, as we expect it. It was great! I got hugged by Michael Easton (hot guy! and John McBain on OLTL) and Justin B? (I don't know his last name, just that he's Jamie Martin on AMC). I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. And I stood in line and saw Kassie De Paiva (Blair Cramer OLTL). She's from KY to so I made a comment like "Kentucky girls rock" and she asked me where in KY I'm from. Then we found out that the guest relations guy with her was also from Louisville. He asked where I went to school and I answered with U of L. Then he asked about high school. It was pretty cool.
After we finished seeing the stars, we rode some rides and left slightly after 8:00 (barely beating the Fantasmic and Street Jam crowds). For dinner we left and ate at IHOP, my favorite place to eat off property (I love breakfast foods!).
Sunday, November 14:
We went back to the Studios for day 2 of Super Soap. We saw more stars today. The first one was David Fumero (Cristian Vega on OLTL). He is so hot! I got really shy and I couldn't stop shaking when it was my turn. We had lunch at 50's Prime Time, but Aunt Linda wasn't there. We were told that she's on medical leave. It was still fun though and the food was great. In the afternoon I met Jacob Young (JR Chandler on AMC). He is hot and single! I asked him out (joking of course) but he turned me down. Too bad all the guys that turn me on turn me down. From there, my mom went and got Susan Lucci's (Erika Kane, AMC) autograph. I got one 2 years ago and had it made out to my mom, so my mom got me one too. She told Susan the story and she laughed and signed 2, One for me and one for my mom. Then we had Fast Passes to see Trevor St. John (Todd Manning, OLTL) but he left early and we didn't see him. We were very mad about that because he was supposed to be there and left as we were walking up because they said there wasn't anyone in his line. But, we walked up a minute before our time was to start, so I guess they didn't take that into consideration. To make up for it, we got hugged by Michael E. Knight (Tad Martin, AMC). I don't care that he could be my father, he's so cute and funny. He's a very pleasant man in real life. While we were there, they turned on the Osborne Lights! We were very surprised and excited. I took many pictures, but they didn't come out too well. I took them flashless, but didn't have a tripod and it was very windy and I was holding a sorta heavy shopping bag, all making it hard to hold the camera still. We ended the day with Fantasmic.
Monday, November 15:
We started with the Epcot princess breakfast. It was a lot of fun (I'm still a kid at heart!). After that, we rode SSE and then hopped over to DAK. There we saw Michael E. Knight again out in the park. I wouldn't have thought of saying anything, simply because I didn't want to draw any attention to him. But, my aunt remembered the guest relations girl from the day before and struck up a conversation with her, thus leading to one with him. I apologized for interrupting his day and asked for one quick picture. He then insisted that I get in it too, so I got another hug from him. We thanked him for the pics and apologized again for interrupting his day and he thanked us for being such great fans. It was great and I just couldn't believe how nice he was.
I also met up with NeedABreak from the boards and his girlfriend. They were very nice as well. We rode Dinosaur and then went our separate ways, but it was great to meet someone from the boards. I got some great pics of EE. It's looking great and I couldn't believe how big it is. Then we rode Kali River Rapids, where for the first time ever I actually got wet (on the first time ever that I actually didn't want to). How ironic. Then we rode Kilimanjaro Safaris and saw the baby elephants. They were so adorable! We also were treated by the fact that the lion was awake and walking around. Afterwards we watched the Jammin Jungle Parade and then had to head out to the airport (we stopped for dinner at Margaritaville on the way).
Overall, it was a great trip and I can't wait for next time (whenever that may be). Sorry for such a long post, but I wanted to share the important things from my trip. I'll try to get some pictures into my album, but first I'll have to decide what to remove because I'm at my space limit.
