April 2008 - Disney World ºoº- Noreen & Paul Chin (Noreen’s 40th Birthday Trip)


WHO ARE WE?

Noreen - 39 years old; turning 40 on the trip; First Vice President at an Investment Banking Firm in New York City. I will be the author of the report.

Paul (my husband) - 39 years old; Former small business owner.


PLANNING

Paul and I own a timeshare near Disney World at Vistana. We’ve had it for over 10 years and are very happy with it. We own a two bedroom, two bathroom timeshare villa. When it’s just Paul and I we usually book a 1 bedroom and based on the options/points scheme at Vistana are able to go for more than one trip (more than one week) using the 1 bedroom unit.

2008 is a big year for us. We are celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary in February. We are both turning 40 in 2008 (me in April and Paul in June) – yes I’m 8 weeks older than Paul.

In February we went on a 12 night Cruise to celebrate our anniversary. It was not on our actual anniversary but within a week of it.

Normally, we just work and do our normal thing on our birthdays and just celebrate on the nearest weekend. We’ve always said we want to be somewhere fun on our actual 40th birthdays (and I guess we’ll keep this tradition up for other milestones like 50 and 60 and so on). Disney has been my favorite vacation for years so where better to spend my birthday? For Paul’s birthday we will be doing a cruise to Bermuda and the Caribbean. Both of our birthdays fall on a Friday this year. I was thinking of flying down on Friday 4/11 (my actual birthday) but think I would rather already be there and not just flying down that day.

Our original plan was to fly down on Thursday 4/10 and stay until Saturday 4/19

I had everything booked except for my flight when in March I had to make a change to the dates due to work obligations. So our new plans are to fly down on Monday 4/7/08 and fly home on Tuesday 4/15/08. I couldn’t leave during the weekend of 4/6 since we already had weekend plans for my sister’s birthday (4/6). So instead of the 9 nights our original trip was, it’s down to 8 nights.

Lodging
On Sunday 2/17/08 I called to try to make the timeshare reservation for a one bedroom premium from Thursday 4/10/08 – Saturday 4/19/08 at Vistana. Unfortunately, they did not have any one bedroom premium villas available. They only had the smaller one bedroom. I really like the bigger one bedroom with the Jacuzzi and patio. I asked about checking in on Friday 4/11 instead or even Saturday 4/12 but nothing. Disappointed, I hung up not knowing what to do.

Paul had a good suggestion, he said “What about Vistana Villages?” So I called back and they have availability at Vistana Villages, a one bedroom premium villa. The only problem – I don’t have enough options for all 10 days since the options at the Villages have different seasons and this was a higher season. I have enough to book from Friday 4/11/08 – Saturday 4/19/08 so I did that.

I then called Disney and booked a room at Pop Century for Thursday night 4/10/08 with an AAA discount for about $95 including tax. For one night I didn’t need to do anything fancy.

Is it ideal? No since we’ll have to switch resorts on my birthday. But it will work out. We will be eligible for Extra Magic Hours those two days so that’s a plus. And we’ve never stayed at Pop Century.

On 2/23/08 I saw that the AP rates have come out and the Value resorts are $74 + tax a night. I called to see if I can switch to an AP rate. I spoke to Brody who said it was available and no problem. My new total with tax is $83.25. I have a credit of $11.42 from my initial payment that I can either use against room charges or can have credit back to my Amex when I check in.

Update after March 2008 Change. When I had to make changes to the dates at the timeshare, I called and was disappointed because there were no premium one bedrooms available at either Vistana or at Vistana Villages. After speaking with the woman for a while, I went with the smaller one bedroom. She said it has a whirlpool, but it isn’t the big one in the bedroom, rather it’s the tub in the bathroom which is a whirlpool. The unit is a bit smaller but has the same amenities. OK, we’ll try it. I cancelled our Disney Reservation for Pop Century since we’ll be at Vistana Villages now for the whole trip. I’m a little sad not to try Pop Century, but I like that now we can get settled at one place and not have to check out and check in the next day and be homeless a portion of the day.

I’m also going to have a decent amount of points left over after this trip that we probably won’t use this year since we have a cruise booked for Paul’s birthday in June and then another cruise booked for September. My sister Jennifer has been talking about wanting to go back to Disney since she had such a good time when Jen, Kevin (her husband) and Jillian (her daughter) came with us in September 2007 to Disney. If she wants to go, I can book a room for her at the timeshare using my extra points and they can stay without having to pay for a hotel. She’s still thinking about it.

Car Rental
I booked a car through National/Alamo Car Rental on line. A mid size SUV/full size with unlimited miles for approximately $300.

Update after March 2008 Change. I booked a MidSize car through Alamo on line for about $250. Moving up to a full size was about $100 more so we went with the midsize. I received an email about last minute specials from Alamo so plugged in our dates again and was able to get a Full Size for about $170 so reserved that and cancelled the other one.

Flight
When I was checking the flights for the original dates we wanted they were much more expensive than I usually pay going to Florida. I couldn’t figure out why since it wasn’t around Easter. I found out later that many of the schools in NJ are off that week so that’s why the prices are higher. I was seeing prices for over $200 each way.

Update after March 2008 Change. Our new dates had much more reasonable prices. $99 each way. On 3/14/08 I booked mine and Paul’s flights with JetBlue. Since I’m coming back on a Tuesday and going to work on Wednesday, I wasn’t sure what time flight to take home. I was debating between the 2:25 flight that would get me back to NJ around 5:30 or the 7:30 flight that will get me back to NJ around 10:20. I went with the later flight since we like to do things our last day, not just check out and head home. I was trying to book my flights on line but kept running into error messages. Picking the flights was fine. Adding mine and Paul’s information was fine. I have a $110 regular Jet Blue Credit (from prior flight prices being reduced) and applying that was easy. I also have a $10 Jet Blue voucher (from a flight with a defective TV) and applying that was easy. I ran into trouble trying to apply my $100 Jet Blue Gift Card. After numerous tries I called them. I was transferred to the department that handles Gift Cards. She said the system is still working out the kinks with using the gift cards on line. So she took care of the whole thing for me. We’re flying down on Monday 4/7/08 leaving Newark around 11:25am and arriving in Orlando around 2:30pm (row 23). Coming home we’re leaving Orlando on Tuesday 4/15/08 around 7:20pm and arriving in Newark around 10:30pm (row 9). After applying my credit, voucher, and gift card, the balance I had to pay was $218 in total for both of us.


Food
I bought the Disney Dining Experience (DDE) card prior to our June 07 trip so we’ll use that for some onsite meals.

I made several reservations (ADR) before we went. We probably will end up cancelling/changing some of them since it’s hard to plan exactly where you plan to eat six months in advance. At least by making the reservation now we will have it as an option.

After the March 2008 change to dates I had to add meals for Monday through Wednesday and lunch Thursday. Of course being less than one month away, my choices were slightly limited.

Monday 4/7/08 – Dinner at O’Hana at 9:10pm

Tuesday 4/8/08 – Lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern at 1:30pm
Tuesday 4/8/08 – Dinner at Boma at 8:20pm

Wednesday 4/9/08 – Lunch at San Angel Inn at 1:30
Wednesday 4/9/08 – Dinner at Kona at 7:40pm

Thursday 4/10/08 – Lunch at Captain Grille at 1pm
Thursday 4/10/08 – Dinner at Chef Mickey’s at 7:50pm

Friday 4/11/08 – My actual birthday. I wanted to eat in Cinderella’s castle for dinner on my birthday. The Magic Kingdom is closing early that day so the latest dinner is at 5:40pm. That’s really early for us to eat dinner, but I went ahead and booked it (180 days in advance in October 2007). I was told they don’t take DDE anymore for 2008 so I paid the full price as it needs to be paid in full - $99.84 but we can cancel up to 24 hours prior.

Friday 4/11/08 – Lunch at the Plaza restaurant at 11:15am. I know it’s early but since our dinner is so early, we needed an early lunch.
Friday 4/11/08 – Dinner at Cinderella’s Royal Table at 5:40pm. As mentioned above, this was paid in full when I made the reservation on 10/16/07 - $99.84.

Saturday 4/12/08 – I want to have lunch at Yak & Yeti but when I called in October they weren’t taking reservations yet. I was able to make this reservation in early December. Lunch at Yak & Yeti at 1:30pm
Saturday 4/12/08 – Dinner at O’Hana at 7:40pm

Sunday 4/13/08 – Lunch at the Garden Grill at 12:40pm
Sunday 4/13/08 – Dinner at Le Cellier at 7:40pm

Monday 4/14/08 – Breakfast at Kona Café at 9:50pm
Monday 4/14/08 – Dinner at Cape May Café at 7:25pm

Tuesday 4/15/08 – Lunch at Mama Melrose at 12:40pm
Tuesday 4/15/08 – Dinner at Sci Fi Dine Inn at 7:30pm

Wednesday 4/16/08 – Lunch at San Angel Inn at 12:45pm
Wednesday 4/16/08 – Dinner at Boma at 7:30pm

Thursday 4/17/08 – Lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern at 1pm
Thursday 4/17/08 – Dinner at Whispering Canyon Café at 8pm

Friday 4/18/08 – Lunch at Le Cellier at 1pm
Friday 4/18/08 – Dinner at Yachtman’s Steakhouse at 8pm

Saturday 4/19/08 – Lunch at the Yacht Club Galley at 1pm. This restaurant had it’s name changed to the Captain’s Grille.

Admission Media
Paul still has his Disney premium annual pass that doesn’t expire until June 2008. My annual pass expired in September 2007, but since this is probably going to be our only Disney World Trip this year, I will buy a 9 day park hopper for this trip (when the trip was 10 days I would have gotten a 10 day park hopper).

We also started talking about possibly spending a day at Sea World or Universal or Islands of Adventure or maybe the new water park Aquatica by Sea World. So if we do any of these, we’ll need to buy tickets.

DAY BY DAY

The week before the trip
The usual business with knowing I’d be out for a week. I took care of things like stopping the newspaper delivery, having the mail held, confirming with our dog sitter the dates we are away, trying to get my job stuff squared away, etc.

Things were also hectic because Paul’s father has been in and out of the hospital for the last few weeks. He’s back in the hospital but seems to be more stable now.

Usually my last day at work before a vacation, I’m at work pretty late wrapping things up. My sister wanted to change her birthday celebration dinner to Friday 4/4/08 (my last day at work before vacation) rather than the original Sunday dinner for her birthday. I managed to get everything done and leave by 6pm on Friday to drive into Brooklyn for my sister’s birthday dinner on Friday. I thought I would have to come back to finish up after dinner, but I managed to get everything done. Saturday 4/5/08 we had plans to go to Atlantic City with my sister and her mother in law. It was a birthday weekend celebration for my sister.

The day before the trip – Sunday 4/6/07
After my sister changed her birthday dinner to Friday from Sunday, I had Sunday free to do my packing and anything else I needed to do. Paul went to Brooklyn to visit his father in the hospital. If my sister had decided to change her birthday dinner sooner, we could have flown down to Florida on Sunday instead of Monday.

Monday 4/7/08
I couldn’t sleep and was up by 4am. I gave up trying to sleep around 5 and took Kiki (our dog) for a walk and started getting ready. On work days, I’m up either at 4:30 or 5 normally so this is our regular time for our walk in the morning. I was hoping that since I didn’t have to go to work today, we would have walked a little later when it was light out.

I drove to the bagel store to get bagels for us to make sandwiches to bring on the plane. I played with Kiki and played on the internet for a little while. I woke Paul around 7:45.

We left the house about 8:45 and had to stop at the bank. Then we were on our way to the airport. We left the car at Corporate Park and were quickly in a van to the airport. We tipped the driver $5.

We didn’t see a curbside check in so went inside and there was only 1 person ahead of us checking in. This was very quick and we were on our way through security. I forgot that I left a can of soda in Paul’s bag which showed up on the XRay. He brought it back out of the secure area to drink and then came back through.

We had plenty of time to kill before boarding so I called my sister to chat, then read part of a trip report I printed to bring on the plane.

I stopped in the little store and bought a bottle of water and soda to bring on the plane for $4.12. Paul bought some cheese doodles to go with our sandwiches for about $1.

We were supposed to board at 11:05 and started a few minutes early at 10:55. We had the aisle and middle seat with me in the middle. The weirdest guy sat at the window seat in our row. He chewed his fingernails/fingers the whole flight. It was kind of gross and he was really into it. I tried to ignore him. We ate most of our sandwiches on the flight.

We landed a little early. Paul took the two carry on bags and went to Alamo to get the rental car; while I went to get the luggage. I came down to meet him and he was at the kiosk already checking in. The girl helping at the kiosk was also from NJ. We headed to the garage to pick our car. The fullsize row was completely empty. We asked the guy working there what to do. He was confused and didn’t know. In the past when this happened, they had us take a different car class. Luckily, a full size pulled in and we took that. It was a white non-descript Chevy Impala with Ohio Plates. Paul wasn’t thrilled with it since he usually likes to choose from a row of various car choices, but it will do.

We were heading out of the airport around 3pm. Instead of driving straight to Vistana Villages, we got off at an early exit and stopped at a gas station to get a bottle of water and a slushie since we were thirsty. While there we noticed they had Dasani 24 packs for $4.99 and picked that up since it’s sometimes difficult to find Dasani in Publix (the grocery store).

We drove a roundabout route but ended up near Vistana Villages pretty quickly. We stopped at Publix first to get our groceries for the week and so we can make one trip up with the luggage and groceries. We bought basic stuff like soda, juice, English muffins, cheese, grapes and even bought a California Roll to share from the sushi section since our dinner at O’Hana isn’t until 9:10pm.

We checked in at Vistana Villages which was a slower process than I expected. Not so much waiting our turn, just when actually checking in. The girl was confused because my name on my ID doesn’t match the name in the system since we bought the timeshare before we were married so it has my maiden name. Both of our names are on it, mine is first and Paul’s is second. It has never been an issue before and we’ve been married over 10 years. Right after we got married, I inquired about changing my name on it, but we would have to re-close at a cost of a few thousand dollars. I was told it wasn’t necessary, so I didn’t change it.

I realized that we forgot to get detergent while we were at Publix so we’ll have to get some later.

We drove over to our Villa – Room 9508 and there were luggage carts near the elevator for us to use so we got all our luggage and groceries up in one trip. I like that the luggage cart was right there; it makes it much more convenient than having to make multiple trips.

This is the first time we’ve ever stayed in the smaller one bedroom. We’ve always stayed in either the premium one bedroom or the two bedroom. The room is definitely smaller than what we usually have but it’s very nice. It’s shaped like a long rectangle. When you walk in there is a living room area with a couch, chair, coffee table and end table. There is a TV in a wall unit directly across from the couch. There are 2 small closets on either side of the TV with things like a vacuum, the garbage can, a broom, etc in them. Right past the couch is the dining area which has a table with 4 chairs. Directly across from the table is the kitchenette. I wasn’t sure what a kitchenette would mean since we’re used to the full kitchen. It had almost everything, just very compact into a small straight strip. The stovetop was 2 burners instead of 4. There is no oven. There is a microwave above the stovetop which is also a convection oven, a small sink, a dishwasher, a full refrigerator with freezer (just a smaller model). There are regular appliances on the countertop such as a toaster, blender, coffee pot, etc. There are some cabinets. It’s very efficient and kind of cute. Continuing down right past the table is a bathroom which has a whirlpool tub/shower, sink and toilet. There is no big Jacuzzi in the bedroom. Again it’s smaller than what we’re used to but it is fine. Directly past the refrigerator and across from the bathroom, is a stacked washer/dryer. Next is the bedroom. It contains a bed, TV, dresser, night tables, closet, and safe. Beyond the bedroom is a screened in patio/balcony.

There are two doors into the bathroom, one from the bedroom which is a regular door, and one from the dining area which is a sliding door. The lock on the sliding door is broken. We also don’t have soap.

I unpacked the luggage and Paul unpacked the groceries. We snacked on the sushi while we did the unpacking. It was surprisingly fresh and tasty.

I bought a Baggalini messenger bag before we came to Disney. I ordered it on line through Bagsbuy.com since everyone was raving about it. I packed it, but am not sure if it will work for me; so I unpacked it and put my things in my Disney tote bag. I like carrying my Disney tote bag to the parks.

On the way out, we stopped at the front desk to tell them about the sliding bathroom door lock not working and also telling them we didn’t have any bars of soap. They said they would send someone over to fix the door and drop off soap.

We drove to Epcot. With Paul’s annual pass we don’t have to pay for parking. They were still directing traffic for parking and we parked in the Create section. After taking the tram to the front I had to buy my park pass, but all the ticket windows were closed. I went to Guest Services and bought a 9 day park hopper for $285.42. I also was able to get my birthday button. I was telling the cast member that I’m here celebrating my 40th birthday so she wrote 40 on the button under my name. I said jokingly “Now everyone will know how old I am” so she made me another one that said 21 on it.

We entered Epcot and took a picture with the Topiary Mickey, Minnie and Goofy and then headed into the park. The Flower and Garden festival is going on.

Spaceship Earth was our first attraction. When we got there it was down for technical difficulties. We waited a few minutes and it opened. This is our first time riding since it was down for refurbishment. It’s very nice. The changes are good but they don’t overwhelm the original story line – it enhances it. The little cartoon choices of planning your future near the end is a great diversion to what used to be a boring descent back down. Overall, I like the upgrades. We played an energy game after getting off where you use broom like devices to push energy to sectors.

By now it was after 7pm so much of Future World was closed, but not all of it. They really should just keep it all open until 9pm. Soarin was open but had a 65 minute wait and there were no more fastpasses. The Seas with Nemo had a 5 minute wait so we went there.

We went on the single rider line at Test Track and waited maybe 15 minutes. Standby was 50.

Next up was Mission Space. The less intense side for me and the full spinning side for Paul. We met at the exit and made our way out of the park since it was now 8:45pm.

We drove to the Polynesian and valet parked. We checked in at O’Hana and waited about 5 minutes to be seated. We were given our pineapple bread and our beverage order taken. They were out of Sprite so I had Coke. Paul had Coke too. This is the first time in a few years I have been here and willing to eat meat. I was a vegetarian for about 3 years and didn’t eat any chicken, meat or fish. I’m been here as a vegetarian and ordered a special meal (vegetables with noodles) in the past. I’m still a little squeamish with some things and can’t eat things on a bone.

We were brought salad first. It was very light and refreshing. I’m not a fan of vinaigrette but this was light enough that I enjoyed it.

Next the pork dumplings and wings came out. Paul cut some chicken off the bone for me. These were both good.

We were given the noodles dish and the string bean and broccoli bowl. Both of these were very good too. The noodles didn’t seem sweet just very gingery. These seemed more like side dishes to accompany the meat so we ate a little but waited for them to start bringing the skewers around. We waited and waited and waited. Tables around us that were seated after us were already getting served their meat from the skewers.

At 10pm we watched Wishes from our table. The music was piped in. It was very nice to watch without fighting the crowds.

Our waitress finally came by with the shrimp on a skewer and asked how we were enjoying the various meats. We told her this is the first skewer we have seen. She moved a little quicker then and brought out the steak skewer. A few minutes later she came by with turkey and pork. Paul had seconds on the shrimp. I liked dipping things in the peanut sauce.

The waitress wasn’t the most attentive. She was friendly and each time we would wave at her for more soda, she brought it, but she never would notice the empty glasses and bring it on her own.

The bread pudding dessert with vanilla ice cream and the banana caramel sauce on the side was delicious. Paul, who doesn’t like bread pudding, even had some.

Our total with DDE 20% discount and automatic addition of 18% gratuity was $55.71. Before they automatically added the 18% gratuity we normally tipped over 20% if the service was good. I didn’t think our waitress was very good so didn’t add any more gratuity to the 18% tip. It’s also kind of awkward since there is the line on the bill that shows the 18% gratuity already added, and then another line later for tip. So if you add a few more dollars, you feel like you should circle the original 18% that’s there as well as what you are adding additional so they know you are intentionally adding a few more dollars and not that you think the few dollars is the whole tip.

We walked around a bit since we were stuffed. Then we got the car from valet and tipped him $2. What was odd is that they didn’t ask for the DDE card which gives you free valet parking when eating, they didn’t know we had it, and they didn’t try to charge us.

On the way back to Vistana we stopped at Publix, but they closed at 10pm so we went into Walgreens and got detergent.

We drove back to Vistana Villages and I went in the whirlpool tub for a little while. Although smaller than the usual villa’s tub, it was fine. We watched TV and went to sleep.

About 6 little bars of soap were left for us but the lock on the sliding door to the bathroom is still broken.

Tuesday 4/8/08
Once again I was up bright and early. I showered and got ready then started writing some of these notes while Paul slept. I did two loads of laundry – one regular and one delicate.

I was still pretty full from dinner last night so didn’t want a big breakfast. I made Paul breakfast – eggs and cheese on an English muffin. This is one of our traditions on vacation that I cook breakfast once or twice when we are staying at the timeshare. Since I don’t normally cook, this is a big deal. I just had a toasted English muffin.

We drove over to Animal Kingdom around 10:30. The lines to get in were very long. We walked over to the new Nemo Show and were let right in – it was already almost full so we didn’t wait too long.

I’m wearing my birthday button and many people are wishing me a Happy Birthday – cast members and customers alike.

Next was to be Expedition Everest but it was over an hour wait and no fastpasses were available. We walked towards Kali River Rapids and stopped to watch the monkeys for a bit.

We were near Yak and Yeti around 12:30 so we walked in to see if they were taking walk ups. They were so we put our name on the list and waited maybe 15 minutes to be seated. The waiter asked if we were on the dining plan – no. I told him we have DDE and he said they don’t take that. He asked if we were DVC – no. I told him Paul has an annual pass – bingo, we get a discount for that.

We decided to split an entrée and some appetizers so we don’t get overstuffed. We noticed both egg rolls and fried string beans on both the appetizer section and the sides section with the appetizers being a few dollars more in both cases. We asked the waiter what the difference was. He said the appetizer version is bigger (ex. 3 egg rolls vs 2). We decided to split the honey chicken with rice entree and egg rolls (from the side menu) and fried string beans (from the side menu), I had sprite and Paul had coke. The food was good. We both enjoyed it. It was the perfect amount of food for the two of us. For dessert we shared the sorbet trio with mango, raspberry, and lemon sorbet. This was very light and refreshing. When our bill came 10% came off but the math wasn’t right – the waiter said it’s 10% off on the entrée only, not the whole bill. OK, that’s a little odd. Our total after tip was $46.

We were debating trying the mango pie from the dessert menu but saw that they had a version of it at the fast food place too so figured we would try that version another day.

After lunch we headed to Africa for the Safari. The wait was 75 minutes and no fast passes were available. We didn’t wait but wandered the park a little. It’s much more crowded than I expected.

Tough to be a Bug had a 5 minute wait so we went in. This show is always cute.
The weather has been very nice. It is a little chilly in the morning and evening but warm and sunny midday (low 80’s) with no humidity. Today midday seemed hot; I think it reached the mid 80’s. It was not brutally hot like in the summer as there were still breezes in the shade.

We headed out of Animal Kingdom and drove to MGM (or Hollywood Studios) around 3pm. We were impressed that all the signs have been changed from MGM to Hollywood Studios. Disney has great attention to detail. Just as we were driving along and saying that – we spotted it – the lone sign that still said MGM. And then we saw another one that still said MGM; I guess two that were missed out of all the ones that were changed isn’t bad.

Once in Hollywood Studios we caught the tail end of the new parade – Block Party Bash. The Great Movie ride had a 45 minute wait so we skipped it. Surprisingly, we were able to get into the Mermaid show with only a 15 minute wait.

Next up was Tower of Terror. Another big surprise as the wait was listed as 20 minutes and I don’t think it was even that long. We walked right into the library and then had a short wait for the elevators and we had the front row.

Rock N Roller Coaster had a single rider line so Paul went on and I waited. He was gone almost an hour. While waiting I was sitting near this family. The 4 kids were eating ice cream and making the biggest mess. The youngest daughter was so covered in ice cream; I don’t think there was a clean spot on her. I gave the mother some wet naps. I was texting my friend Kim and then called her. She just got back from Disney and noticed the same thing, that there were long lines for some attractions and not other and not always what you would expect. She said she walked right into Philharmagic but waited 45 minutes for Small World.

When Paul came out he said that the single rider line is not set up well here.

The Movie Ride still had a long line so we went to the Muppets. The pre-show was just ending so we went in.

We drove to Downtown Disney. As we were leaving I asked Paul if he wanted some water, he did so I handed him a bottle of Dasani. He tried taking a drink but didn’t realize I didn’t take the cap off it. I was hysterical laughing. It’s one of those things that you probably had to be there but it was hysterical.

We had reservations for Boma for dinner, but weren’t in the mood for something that heavy. We decided to go to Downtown Disney instead. The parking lot at Downtown Disney was packed. Once we found a spot we walked over to Wolfgang Puck Express. This is the fist time we have been here since they renovated it. Paul got in line to order and I got a table. We received a 10% discount with Paul’s annual pass. I had the BBQ chicken quesadilla and Paul had the BBQ Beef Focaccia melt. We both had soda. The total was about $23. The food was very good. The server who brought our food also refilled our soda. We tipped him a few dollars when we left.

Paul couldn’t find his wallet. He assumed he dropped it in the car or maybe he left it in the room. It wouldn’t be the first time he couldn’t find his wallet. I always tell him he’s a scatter brain.

We stopped in the Days of Christmas Store to see if they had the annual disc ornament that I like to get each year. They were out of them.

We stopped in Goofy’s Candy Co and ordered the 3 pretzel rods dipped in milk chocolate – 1 with mini white and dark chocolate chips, 1 with crushed butterfingers, and 1 with crushed Reese’s cups – all drizzled in caramel. It was crowded here and took at least 45 minutes before they were ready. It cost $3.73.

We went back to Vistana Villages after not seeing the wallet in the car. The wallet wasn’t in the room either. I called Lost and Found at Disney which was closed already (about 9pm). Paul went back to the car to check some more for it. Luckily he found it, under the seat in the car. We didn’t panic much over the wallet since Paul loses his wallet, his keys, etc often and he’ll usually find them after a little searching.

I showered again since it was kind of warm out today and then we watched Hells Kitchen while eating our pretzel rods – they were delicious. Then we got involved in a movie that I don’t remember the name of – maybe The Marine. We went to sleep after the movie ended.

Wednesday 4/9/08
I slept a little better tonight. Once up I showered and got ready. I did a little laundry again. Paul made us breakfast and then we headed out to Epcot. We stopped at the front desk at Vistana Villages first to get Paul a new key since his stopped working yesterday. We also stopped to pick up the Welcome Pack since they left us two messages already. There wasn’t really a welcome pack – they just tried to get us to sign up for the owner’s breakfast. We reminded them again about the broken lock on the sliding bathroom door.

Once done with those chores, we headed to Epcot. Our first stop was the land where we got a fast pass for Soarin which isn’t good until 5:45. There was a 30 minute wait for Living with the Land so we skipped it.

We went to Journey into Imagination. There was even a 15 minute wait here and it’s usually a walk on. After the ride, we looked for a Figment Ornament for my sister but they didn’t have any. I found a key chain that she can use as an ornament.

In Innoventions we sent a postcard, then we went into this cute game show called “What’s Your Problem” and it was a cute story about Velcro. We never saw this before.

We stopped in Ice Station Cool and had some watermelon soda. On our way to World Showcase we took pictures of the various topiaries. There weren’t as many as last time we were here during the Flower and Garden festival.

The 3 Caballeros ride in Mexico even had a 10 minute wait, but it was a cute ride.

We checked in for our ADR at San Angel Inn a few minutes early and were given a pager. We waited maybe 15 minutes to be seated. While waiting we overheard them tell people walking up without ADRs that the wait was 1 ½ hours. Once we were seated, we noticed a lot of empty tables so I’m not sure why they couldn’t seat walk ups or even seat us quicker.

Our waitress brought over chips and we each ordered soda. We skipped the appetizers and ordered entrees. I ordered the Plato Mexicano and Paul ordered the salad in the taco shell with chicken. I preferred Paul’s salad over my food so we sort of switched. After the DDE discount and the automatic gratuity our bill was about $33.

We walked through the Stave Church in Norway and then waited 20 minutes to go on Maelstrom. We stayed for the movie. I smelled the Lalia perfume but I don’t think I like it.

In China, we stopped and watched the acrobats perform. It’s amazing how they can contort their bodies like that. We wandered through the shops and Paul bought a lucky cat for about $4.

We saw the American Adventure at 4:30. Paul took a little nap in the theater.

Continuing around the countries, we stopped in England and shared fish and chips. We sat with a nice couple from Maine who told us they spend 6 months of the year in Florida.

We went back to Future World and into the last showing of Ellen’s Energy Adventure at 7pm. This was not crowded at all. We browsed through Mouse Gear.

We waited 15 minutes for Spaceship Earth. We chose a different ending for our future this time. In the beginning of the ride, it asks you what language you want and Paul always wants to push the button for something other than English. I think we should understand what the ride is telling us so we always fiddle with the buttons a few times as the ride starts. Luckily, I hit English right before it locked on the language.

We left Epcot around 8:40pm and drove to the Beach Club. We put our name in at Beaches and Cream and were seated a little after 9. We shared a double cheeseburger with onion rings. We both had soda. We shared so we would have room for dessert. We shared the No Way Jose sundae. It was good but I realized I’m not a huge sundae fan – it’s too messy and mushed together. Dinner after DDE and gratuity was about $26.

I stopped in the store in the Beach Club and bought panties – 3 pairs for $16 in a little plastic package. I know it’s weird, but I really like Disney panties. They haven’t come out with new designs in a while so I was glad to see something I didn’t have yet.

We tried to stop in Publix but they were already closed so went into Walgreens. We bought a pack of little individual cereal boxes and a little collapsible cooler for $5 to keep in the car with ice and soda/water.

Back at Vistana Villages, the bathroom sliding door lock was still broken. It’s not that big of a deal that it’s broken, but since they keep telling us someone will be by to fix it, I’m surprised it’s still broken.

Thursday 4/10/08
I cooked breakfast today – cereal and an English muffin for me. I tried making Paul eggs in a basket but I burned it. A woman I used to work with told me how to make this. You cut little squares or circles out of the center of a slice of either bread or toast (your preference) then put the bread/toast in a hot frying pan with melted butter in it. You crack an egg into the hole in the bread/toast and it cooks in there. You flip it to cook the other side. If you don’t burn it, it is usually pretty good.

Guest services called again today. They have called each day to get us to come to the Owners breakfast. I started unplugging the phone so we wouldn’t be bothered.

We left for the Magic Kingdom. After parking and taking the tram to the TTC, we took the ferry over to the park.

We got onto the railroad and rode to Toontown. Both Toontown and Fantasy Land were packed. Surprisingly, the wait for Philharmagic said 10 minutes. We wound through the queue and right in. One of the cast members yelled at a lady who wouldn’t move down the row. It was a good show as always.

We got a fast pass for Peter Pan which wasn’t good until 5:30. Small World had a 45 minute wait. We walked over to the Haunted Mansion which had a 50 minute wait and the line extended all the way to the street. These lines were too long for us.

We checked the Christmas Shoppe for the annual ornament – no luck. The cast member was helpful and said they have been out of it for a few weeks already. She suggested I try calling the number on the receipt if they don’t have it before we leave Florida and I can just order it.

We saw the 1:30 showing of the Hall of Presidents. Paul took a nap there.

After that we walked by Pirates but it had a 40 minute wait listed so we headed out, walking through the shops on Main Street.

We had trouble finding the car. I have been writing down the row each day but didn’t today since Paul was teasing me about doing it. We eventually found it using the panic button to make the alarm sound. We were in the right section just didn’t remember the exact row. Going forward, I will continue to write down the section and row of the parking lot and don’t expect to get teased about it anymore.

We drove to Animal Kingdom next. Dinosaur had a 20 minute wait listed, but it was a complete walk on. Primeval Whirl was next with only a 5 minute wait. I don’t think Primeval Whirl was built to comfortably accommodate 4 adults in a car. Paul and I were on one side of the car and a woman was on the other side. It was a tight fit. I think next time we ride, we will ask if we can have the car to ourselves to have a little more elbow room. Of course, if it’s a crowded day, we’ll go for the squished ride, but if there aren’t long lines, we’ll ask.

Today was ridiculously crowded at Magic Kingdom, but reasonable at Animal Kingdom so I’m glad we came over.

We had a late lunch at the Flame Tree Barbecue. We ordered the ribs. We didn’t want the beans so asked if we can substitute something else – only coleslaw so Paul ate that. If we wanted to substitute fries, it would have cost an additional $2. Paul also ordered chicken wings. We ate at one of the covered areas by the water. It was nice and breezy there. The food was very good.

We went to Africa to go on the Safari. The wait was listed as 20 minutes and it was about that. It seems like the poacher story is back. We even saw both the male and the female lion walking about.

We got the Mango Pie at the Yak and Yeti counter service place. It was OK but not something that I would go out of my way to get again.

We walked over to Expedition Everest and it was a long wait. Paul went through the single rider line. He rode twice. Then I went through the single rider line too. Why didn’t we just go together through the single rider line? I wasn’t originally planning to go on since we just ate the little mango pie. After Paul came back and was reminding me how fun it was, he convinced me that ½ of a little mango pie that we ate almost an hour ago was probably all digested by now. He was correct; I went on and had a fun ride.

I’ve been watching to see the different types of bags people are carrying around the parks. I found the Baggallini to be too small when I tried sticking water and soda in it. I like my Disney Tote. But Paul has this messenger type bag he got for free in St Martin in February for buying two bottles of Baileys that we’ve been using. So both my Disney Tote and my Baggallini have been staying in the room. It’s an odd feeling to be bag free. I haven’t seen many people carrying the Baggallini’s. I saw a handful of them. I see many people with big knapsacks. What I also see a lot of is the Vera Bradley type of bags (the quilted fabric bags) in all different shapes and sizes.

On our way out around 6:30 the phone rang. It was Phil (Paul’s brother) regarding the father and his progress in the hospital. We chatted a while and left the park at 7 when it was closing.

We went back to Vistana Villages. The maid came today and straightened up. There was a message about checking the balconies between Friday 4/11 and Monday 4/14 between 10-4. They need to come in to check it. I called to see what day our villa would have the balcony check; they didn’t know exactly but will call before showing up.

I took a quick shower than we headed to Chef Mickeys at the Contemporary. We valet parked the car. We sat near people from Fair Lawn, NJ. When Paul and I first got married and moved from NY to NJ, we had an apartment in Fair Lawn. We lived there for about 2 years until we bought our house in Ramsey. Sing along with me “It’s a Small World After All…”. The family from Fair Lawn were Elkie and her son Nick, Aunt Ray, and grandma Lucille. We chatted with them most of the meal and took pictures for each other. After our DDE discount and tip our total was about $62. We did a good deed and drove the Fair Lawn family back to All Star Sports since they didn’t have a rental car. They would have had to take the monorail to the TTC and then a bus back. We wandered the general store at All Stars for a bit.

We planned to go to the Magic Kingdom since they are open until midnight but Paul’s feet hurt so we went back to Vistana Villages instead.

At midnight Paul sang Happy Birthday to me.

Friday 4/11/08
Today is my 40th Birthday – Happy Birthday to Me!

I slept a little better and didn’t wake up until 8am. This is very late for me to sleep.

I showered and got ready then did a little laundry. Paul suggested an early lunch at the Captain’s Grille at the Yacht Club rather than our early lunch at the Plaza Restaurant at Magic Kingdom. We’ve never been to the Captain’s Grille (or the Yacht Club Galley before it changed over to the Captain’s Grill) and we cancelled our ADR for lunch there yesterday.

We went to Downtown Disney around 10:30. We wandered a little. In World of Disney we bought several cute little square plates and a 2008 photo album. With the 10% annual pass discount our total was about $38.

I was wearing my birthday button today.

We drove to the Yacht Club around noon. We were among the first lunch customers at the Captains Grille. What was odd is they gave us a beeper and said it would be about 5 minutes. We wandered through the lobby and gift shop and our beeper started buzzing. We were seated and had a very friendly waiter. I tried the lobster roll with fries; Paul had the soup (New England clam) and sandwich (shrimp salad on croissant). We both had soda to drink. Many cast members were wishing me a happy birthday throughout the morning.

Our waiter asked where we were planning to spend the day. We told him Magic Kingdom and then maybe MGM. He brought us maps for both of those parks. After we ate, a woman working there rang a bell and was saying something like “Everyday is special, but today Noreen is celebrating her birthday, let’s sing Happy Birthday.” Next thing all the waiters came over singing, the other customers were singing, and they brought me this cute little dessert with a candle and a Happy Birthday sign. We took pictures of the dessert but forgot to take pictures of the food. I wanted to do a separate food review with pictures. The food here was just OK. The service was very good and the atmosphere is very laid back.

After eating we walked around a bit to digest and then headed over to Magic Kingdom. We stopped at a gas station for Paul to get cigarettes. A guy there wished me a happy birthday and told me that I would get free ice cream in the Disney parks for my birthday. We drove to Magic Kingdom, parked, took the tram, and then the ferry boat across. It was about 2pm by the time we were entering the park. Magic Kingdom is closing today at 7pm for the Pirate and Princess Party. We were hoping that it wouldn’t be too crowded since people that aren’t going to the party may not want to go to a park that is closing so early, unless they have tickets that allow them to hop to another park later.

We started on the railroad and got off at Frontierland. Splash had a 1 hour wait and no single rider line. It’s crowded in some areas, but much less so than yesterday.

Pirates of the Caribbean was listed as a 30 minute wait but it was really about 10 minutes. There was a family with 3 young boys behind us on line and in the boat. They must come fairly often since they spent the whole ride commenting on what was new since the rehab. The kids joined in on this conversation. Then the parents were saying the Capt Jack Sparrow animatronic wasn’t very good and basically picking apart everything in the attraction. They ruined the fun of it for their own kids if you ask me.

Disney is such a magical place. As an adult, I know that a lot of work goes into making it magical. Why pick apart everything? Just enjoy it. And why ruin the magic for your own children? I don’t understand some people.

After Pirates we walked over to the Haunted Mansion. This was also listed as a 30 minute wait. We moved quickly and were in the stretch room in about 10 minutes. When the doors opened to the doom buggy room it was mayhem. There was no order or control. Too many people were being let in at once. It was a fire hazard with so many people crammed shoulder to shoulder jockeying for position to merge into the single file queue to get on the buggies. This was more stressful than the merge into the Lincoln Tunnel driving out of NYC after work. Once in our doom buggy the ride was as good as always. I really like the upgrades they made to the Haunted Mansion. I was very surprised that Disney allowed the guests to pile up like that in the Doom Buggy room. They easily could have spaced entry into the stretch room better to avoid that mess.

We walked through Fantasy Land and most of the attractions had long waits so we kept walking. Snow White only had a 10 minute wait so we went on.

When we passed the ice cream place – I think it was called Sleepy Hollow, we ordered a swirl cup. The CM wished me a happy birthday and didn’t charge us. I asked her if she needed to see my driver’s license to show that it actually was my birthday and she said No, I’m wearing my birthday button and that was good enough for her. She said it’s up to each individual CM to give out free goodies.

We sat in the place where Sonny Eclipse normally plays to eat our ice cream and a high school orchestra was performing. As we were leaving another CM wished me a Happy Birthday and asked me if I had cake yet. I told him we had cake at lunch. He asked if we were just coming in or leaving. I said we’re headed to the rides now. He wanted to give me cake. Since we were leaving, he said how about a cookie since it will travel better. We said OK and he gave me 5 chocolate chip cookies all individually wrapped. That was so sweet. Little things like that make Disney so special. Where else would a 40 year old adult get free ice cream and cookies just because it’s my birthday?

We walked onto Carousel of Progress and enjoyed our ride through a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow. Next we walked onto the TTA.

We waited about 10 minutes for Buzz Lightyear. I had a measly 7,700 while Paul had over 100,000. I’m not good at Video Games.

It was just about time for our dinner at Cinderella’s Royal Table so we made our way over to check in. We got there about 5:20 for a 5:40 ADR. They asked us to come back in about 10 minutes to check in. I guess since these are real reservations you don’t need to check in too early. We went in Sir Mickey’s gift shop. The cast member wished me a Happy Birthday and then said I had a phone call and handed me a phone. It was Goofy singing Happy Birthday to me.

We went back to Cinderella’s Royal Table to check in about 5:35. We went into the main lobby and had our picture taken with Cinderella. I was given a magic wand and Paul was given a sword. When families came in, the children received the wand and/or sword not the parents. Since it was just us, it was nice that they gave them to us. We waited and waited and waited some more for our name to be called. The woman that gave us the wand and sword saw that we have been waiting a while and asked our name and went to check. She explained that they only have 4 two persons tables (2 tops) so that may be why we are still waiting. We were called and seated a few minutes later at a four person table. We both had soda. The waiter brought us pretzel bread with two different types of butter (a honey mustard and a sweet butter). For appetizers I had the BLT salad and the spring roll; Paul had the BLT salad and the crab/corn chowder. We both ordered Prime Rib for our entrée. I had the pear with angel food dessert and Paul had the raspberry sorbet. The waiter took the whole order from appetizers to dessert at once. The food was coming very quickly and we felt a bit rushed at first. The salad was very good. We weren’t crazy about the spring roll. Paul liked his soup. The prime rib was good, but the gravy on the plate tasted like Franco American gravy from the can. The desserts were very good too. Once our entrees were served there was a show with Suzy and Perla (the mice) and the fairy godmother. They sang Happy Celebration (to the tune of Happy Birthday) to everyone celebrating occasions. They asked who was celebrating a birthday, anniversaries, etc and people would raise their hands. All the birthday people received a little round cake dome with a candle to blow out.

While eating the picture that we took with Cinderella was brought over to us. This is included in the price of the meal. It’s in a nice pink folder that says Cinderella’s Royal Table and has a big picture (maybe 8*10) of us with Cinderella and then some smaller ones (maybe 4*6) (same pose). There is also a big picture (again maybe 8*10) of the castle.

They announced that the family who won a stay in the castle suite was there. I asked the woman where she was when she won and she said she took a drink of water at a water fountain at Typhoon Lagoon.

The waiter asked us if we were on the dining plan. When we told him we had DDE, he asked for the card. He brought us a gift card for about $13.50 to account for the discount on the food portion of the meal.

The waiter also brought me a cute certificate saying that it was my birthday.

I knew I wanted to eat in the castle for my birthday. I was worried it would be kind of corny. We really enjoyed it. Everything was done very well. I would definitely do this again.

After dinner the park was already closed since it closed at 7 for the Pirate and Princess party. On our way out, we stopped at City Hall/Guest Services and I told them about the incident at the Haunted Mansion. The woman wrote down the time we were there and said they would look into it and make sure that doesn’t happen again. I wasn’t looking to get anything, I just wanted to let them know about what I perceived to be an unsafe situation. I know sometimes people mention problems or concerns because they want something for free. I just really love Disney and don’t want anyone to get hurt there or for there to be an unsafe situation that can easily be prevented. We made our way out and took the boat to the TTC. The line for the tram was long and we waited for about 4 trams to go by before we could get on.

Our original plan was to go to Hollywood Studios, but we didn’t get to the car until almost 8:30. By the time we would drive over, park, and get in it would be close to 9 so we skipped it since Hollywood Studios closes at 10 tonight. We would have been able to get in an attraction or two and then headed over to Fantasmic, but we’ve done all that before so decided not to rush over.

We stopped at the Orlando Premium Outlets on the way back to Vistana Villages. They had some sort of special promotion going on so it was packed. Local businesses were promoting sample sizes of their items (kind of like the food and wine festival). We didn’t buy anything.

We drove back to the villa and took a walk all around the lake.

It was really nice spending my 40th birthday in Disney.

Saturday 4/12/08
Today is going to be the hottest day of our trip at about 88 degrees. And it’s a Saturday. We decided it is probably a good idea to avoid the parks until later.

We left around 9:45am to go to the Polynesian for breakfast at Kona Café. We waited a while before being seated. I was planning to get the Pineapple / Macadamia pancakes. Paul convinced me to get the Big Kahuna breakfast instead since it included the pineapple / macadamia pancakes as well as French toast, eggs, home fries, bacon, sausage, and ham – just in case I didn’t like the pancakes. Paul had eggs Benedict. I had Sprite and Paul had coffee. Our waitress was slow. When she finally brought my Sprite refill she gave it to the guy at the next table who was waiting for water. She didn’t realize but he drank it and realized it wasn’t water. The pancakes were delicious; they were my favorite part of the whole dish and the only part I finished. I gave Paul the ham and the sausage. Next time I’m going just for the pineapple / macadamia pancakes. I used the $13.50 gift card we had from last night towards the bill so after our DDE discount and gratuity we only had to pay an additional maybe $15.

We wandered around the Polynesian outside for a while. We bought a chocolate croissant in Capt Cooks for later for about $3.

Since it was so hot out we were debating going to Typhoon Lagoon or the pool at the resort. We drove by Typhoon Lagoon but the parking lot was packed so we left and came back to Vistana Villages and went to the pool here. It was very hot out so nice to be in the water most of the afternoon. We came back up to the villa around 3:45 and Paul made a late lunch of hot dogs. I read some of my book while we decided where to go the rest of the afternoon / evening.

We spoke to Jess and Joe. We met them on our cruise in February and they recently moved to Florida. They are in Sebastian Florida and said there is nothing to do there. They will drive up to Orlando and want to go to Animal Kingdom tomorrow.

We went to Belz Outlets to wander around for a little while. Paul bought sunglasses – the cheap ones for 2 pairs for $20 since he always loses them.

We headed over to Magic Kingdom next. It has cooled off significantly and is very comfortable out. We went to Fantasy Land and rode Small World with a 15 minute wait. We chatted with a nice couple from Arizona.

Peter Pan was next. Then we waited about 20 minutes to go on Pooh.

We walked into TomorrowLand and Space Mountain had a 70 minute wait so we skipped it. We stopped to get a Root Beer Float and watched Wishes.

Stitch had a 5 minute wait listed so we walked right on. I think they may have changed the story a bit – I don’t remember them burning the fuzzy guy in the pre-show area this time. Maybe I’m mixing this up with when it was Alien Encounter and they don’t do that in the Stitch show.

Monsters Laugh Floor was next with a 10 minute wait.

We went on the TTA. Several cars of people stayed on when the ride ended. It was about 11:20 and the 11pm Spectro Magic parade was going on. The park was closing at 12.

We made our way to Main Street and walked through the stores to exit. We took the Resort Monorail to the TTC since the express monorail had a long line.

We were on the tram quickly and into the car. Paul ran over a traffic cone that was behind the car accidentally. After going back and forth a bit he was able to dislodge it. We stopped at a gas station for gas ($45) and some more soda and water. We bought more soda and water than we planned to but the prices were really good; a 24 pack of Dasani water for $3.99; two 12 packs of soda like Coke/Sprite/etc for $5 (we got Coke and fruit punch). You had to buy two 12 packs or 1 was $3.99. So for $9 we had 48 beverages.

When we got back to the timeshare we were hungry since we didn’t have dinner so Paul made us some grilled cheese.

Sunday 4/13/08
Jess, Joe, and Dominic (Joe’s cousin) arrived in Orlando around 10:30. We drove over to Animal Kingdom in our rental car since Paul has the annual pass and doesn’t have to pay for parking and it’s silly to take two cars. It’s very chilly out today.

Jess, Joe, and Dom had to buy passes. They haven’t updated their driver’s licenses to Florida yet so cannot buy Florida resident Disney annual passes. They ended up just buying 1 day hopping passes since they want to go to Epcot later.

Jess has a fancy camera and has been taking pictures of animals. Joe told us that they went to Sea World and she took over 500 pictures in one day. He’s trying to convince her to do something with the pictures she is taking – maybe submit them to National Geographic or something like that. He said they are really good shots.

We walked over to Africa and obtained a fast pass for the Safari that was good from 2-3.

We took the train over to Rafiki’s Planet Watch. We played with the goats at the petting zoo. It’s really nice how you are able to interact with the animals here.

When we got back Paul went on Kali River Rapids. There was no wait since it was chilly out and starting to drizzle. He was the only one that went.

We saw the Bird Show at 1pm. It started a little late because of the rain. I can’t believe how cold it is out. Normally I hate putting on my plastic rain poncho because it makes you so hot. Today I put it on hoping it would keep me warm.

We had lunch at the Flame Tree BBQ. Paul got a giant turkey leg from one of the carts. I ordered the ribs again.

After lunch Paul and Joe went on Expedition Everest while the rest of us waited. Jess is afraid of most rides. I won’t go on rides like a roller coaster so soon after eating. Paul and I were surprised that Dom didn’t want to go on – he’s a big guy with Tattoos but was nervous to go on.

We walked back to Africa to use the FP for the safari. They originally had the 5 of us in one row, but we didn’t fit so Paul moved and sat in the back row all by himself. Then we walked through the Pangani Forest Trail.

We went back to Asia and walked through the Maharajeh Jungle Trek. We spent a while watching the tigers – they were running and jumping; it made for some great pictures.

We left Animal Kingdom and drove over to Epcot. We were planning to ride Test Track using the single rider line but Jess was nervous and the single rider line was long so we went to Mission Space instead. The guys rode the Orange/intense side while Jess and I rode the Green/Mild side.

We met up and walked over towards the Land but the wait for Soarin was 70 minutes and there were no fast passes available. Even Spaceship Earth had a 20 minute wait. We went to Innoventions and did the Segway Expo.

We started our walk around World Showcase. In Mexico we rode the boat ride. Jess, Joe, and Dom bought Fiesta Margaritas that they finished during our walk around the world. I wanted to get the Grey Goose Lemon Slush in France but knew that if I drank that I would be too full to eat dinner.

We checked in for our dinner ADR at Le Cellier. While checking in a cast member was asking if everyone had reservations since they were full and not taking any walkups.

We were seated quickly and we all ordered soda and started eating breadsticks. Jess ordered the cheese soup; no one else had appetizers. For entrees Joe and I both ordered the Filet Mignon; Jess and Dom both ordered the Prime Rib; and Paul ordered the NY Strip.

For dessert Joe had cheesecake, Dom had Chocolate Mousse, Jess had Maple Crème Brulee, and I had Smores. We all shared our various desserts.

The food was very good. After the DDE discount and gratuity, mine and Paul’s share of the bill was $90.

We caught the end of Illuminations and then headed out. We said our goodbyes and made tentative dinner plans for tomorrow since they were thinking of coming back up to Orlando to go back to Sea World since they have bounce back passes where they bought 1 day passes but can return as much as they want for the rest of 2008.

Monday 4/14/08
Paul wanted to go to Denny’s for breakfast. That’s another one of our vacation traditions. We don’t have a Denny’s by us at home, so he likes to go while we’re in Florida. By the time Paul was ready it was almost 11am. We waited about 10 minutes to be seated. Paul ordered the Make Your Own Grand Slam with pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon, and home fries with coffee. I thought it was kind of late for breakfast food so ordered the chicken sandwich with bacon, swiss, tomato, and lettuce on grilled focaccia with fries and a sprite. The sandwich was very good. I ate ½ of it before Paul asked me where the bacon was. I asked the waitress so she brought a plate of bacon over. Our total with tax and tip was $25.

We drove to Tampa next to go to the Hard Rock Casino. I received a Birthday card in the mail from the Hard Rock that said I would receive $10 to play if we came during certain days in April. This was one of those days. When we stopped at the player services desk to turn in the card I got in the mail, they gave me a regular $10 voucher I can put in the slot machines and a birthday pin. Paul had to get a new card since he couldn’t find his.

They didn’t have many poker slot machines. We found some 50 cent machines and played. I put in the $10 voucher and played for a little while but ended up losing. I put in another $20 and continued playing. I was down to my last few credits and hit 4 Aces which was about $240 so I cashed out and was ready to go. Paul said lets play a bit longer so we did but lost of little of the winnings.

Then we left to drive back to Orlando. We were probably at the casino for maybe 1 ½ hours. Paul got off I4 to drive through some little towns in Florida. No particular rhyme or reason for this, it was just to look around.

He stopped at McDonald’s and had two double cheeseburgers from the $1 menu. He remembered to ask for no mustard. We think it’s rather odd that people put mustard on burgers I wanted Earl of Sandwich so skipped McDonalds.

Once back we went to Downtown Disney to Earl of Sandwich and I ordered the Caprese (fresh mozzarella and tomato). When it was ready we sat down so I could eat it and it had balsamic on it. It never used to have balsamic before. I don’t like balsamic. Paul brought it back to the counter and asked for one without Balsamic. I ate ½ of the new one.

We stopped at Goofy’s Candy Company and each ordered the 3 covered pretzel rods. I got mine all dipped in milk chocolate; one covered in crushed oreos, one covered in Butterfinger, and one covered in black and white mini chocolate chips; all drizzled with caramel and white chocolate. Paul had his all dipped in dark chocolate; one covered in Butterfinger; one covered in Reese’s; one covered in mini black and white chocolate chips; all drizzled in milk chocolate. Paul also bought a little bag of assorted candy. We kept all the candy in the car. Since it’s so chilly out we don’t have to worry about it melting.

We drove to Hollywood Studios next. The movie ride had a 50 minute wait and Tower of Terror had a 45 minute wait. We went to Walt Disney’s story and stayed for the movie. We spoke to Phil to see how the father is – he’s stable. We spoke to Jess and Joe and they are already on their way back to Sebastian Florida.

The move ride wait was down to 25 minutes so we waited and went on. We had the gangster side. I don’t think there is another version anymore since I haven’t seen it in many years.

Tower of Terror had a shorter wait listed too – 20 minutes so we went on. It was a very good sequence tonight – very unpredictable.

Rock and Roller Coaster had a single rider line so we went through. I was planning to take the chicken exit but ended up deciding to give it a try. I used to like this ride. We were in the same car but a few rows apart. It was OK. I’m glad I rode it but don’t feel the need to jump back on anytime soon. Once we got past the initial launch the rest of the ride was pretty fun.

We stopped in a few shops to browse but it’s freezing out.

We left Hollywood Studios and drove over to the Westside to look at the menu at Wolfgang Puck Cafe. Nothing appealed to us so we looked at the Wolfgang Puck Express menu that is right next to the regular Wolfgang Puck restaurant. This menu was different then the one we went to at the Marketplace and wasn’t as appealing to us. So we drove over to the Marketplace and ordered food at Wolfgang Puck Express to go. Paul had the ½ chicken with mashed potatoes. I had the BBQ chicken quesadilla. We brought it back to the timeshare and ate then did some packing.

Tuesday 4/15/08
We finished packing and getting our stuff together to check out. Paul wanted to finish some of the food so he ate a big crazy breakfast of eggs, grilled cheese, and a hot dog. I had a much more normal breakfast of cereal and an English muffin.

It’s freezing out again. Once we checked out we drove over to the Polynesian. We took the Monorail to the Magic Kingdom. The lines were long so we got a fastpass for Space Mountain.

We walked right into Philharmagic and enjoyed the show. Most of the FantasyLand attractions had waits of about an hour.

We checked the Christmas shop, but still no ornament.

We walked over to Big Thunder Mountain and got on the standby line even though the wait was posted as 60 minutes. We waited about 65 minutes. It was fun but not worth a 65 minute wait.

We walked into the Tiki Bird show and watched that.

We made our way to TomorrowLand since it was time for our fastpass for Space Mountain – 2:20. Even with fast passes we waited about 15 minutes. The entry to get to the ride is very dark. This ride jerks you around a lot. After Rock N Roller coaster yesterday, I was ready to go on Space Mountain.

It was just about time for us to leave so we took a last ride on the TTA then made our way to the Resort monorail.

We got off at the Contemporary to browse the shops. I saw panties in MGM that I liked (a different style than those I bought in the Beach club) and was hoping to find them here. No luck – I should have got them when I saw them. But I found a cute dish towel and some orange/creamsicle fudge that we bought.

We got back on the Monorail to the Polynesian. We had a quick lunch in Capt Cooks – the Teriyaki Noodle Bowl that we shared. It was not very good. I went in the gift shop here too – still no panties, but I found a cute pot holder that I bought for my friend Kim.

We used to spend a fortune buying souvenirs for friends/coworkers/family members. After many years of doing that we don’t go crazy anymore with it. If we see something we think someone would really like we’ll get it, but we stopped buying for everyone just because.

We headed out and towards the airport. We stopped at a gas station to fill up the car and Paul bought some cigarettes since they are much cheaper here than in New Jersey. Paul wanted to stop at McDonald’s to pick up food for the plane. Even after his ginormous breakfast, and some of the noodle bowl we didn’t like, he was hungry.

After dropping off the car, we checked our luggage and found out our flight is delayed. Instead of 7:20pm it’s now 8:40pm – how annoying!

We were delayed even longer. The flight didn’t leave until about 9:30pm. The Jet Blue workers were very funny. When they knew the plane was almost here they announced it. When no one responded one of them said something like “How about a response, it’s almost here?” So everyone clapped. They also said they would do their best to get us on as quickly as possible and that to help move this along, we should rip the boarding pass along the perforation since they only need the small part and that we can put away our ID since they don’t need that again. Of course, when they start boarding, this annoying woman runs up to be first to board and gives them a stack of papers with her passport, the whole ticket not ripped and not just for her but her whole family. The Jet Blue guy called her out on it and said didn’t you hear what I just said. So we get on and this annoying lady is sitting with 2 young kids in the exit row. Kids can’t sit in the exit row. So the stewardess tells her they need to move. In the few minutes they were there, the kids made a disaster out of the row – French fries and food and garbage all over the place. The poor stewardesses had to clean the row again. That lady was the idiot of the plane.

We got home after 1 am. We played with Kiki for a little while then went to bed since I have to go to work on Wednesday (same day).

FINAL THOUGHTS
Spending your birthday in Disney is a great way to celebrate. It was much more crowded than I expected. Either way, we had a great trip and we are looking forward to more trips. We are talking about going to Disneyland in California soon since we haven’t been there since 2002. And of course we will be back in Disney World.

I’m happy that we go to Disney fairly often so that we don’t feel obligated to stand in huge lines and we don’t worry if we don’t get a chance to see something because in most cases we’ve already seen it or it will be here next time we come back.

Disney is still my favorite place to go.

Any questions, I’ll be happy to answer

HI! I always enjoy your trip reports. Thanks for posting again. It sounds to me like it was a wonderful trip. Your food choices are always great. Thanks for all of the details you include.

I've never eaten at the Castle. Never. In all my trips. I think that I should do it for my 40th.....2 years away!!!

Wonderful as usual!! Thanks so much for another GREAT trip report.

Ellen