Trip Reports
01-09-2007, 12:37 PM
Tifany Lenoir - November 2001 - Offsite
Time of Year: Fall
Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
Resort: Offsite
Accommodations: Villa Vacation Home
Ages Represented in Group: Teen, Adult, Senior
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Frequent, Rookie
Comments: Tifany and Randy brought their moms and a nephew on this early November trip to WDW. The report includes a great pre-trip planning section as well as a fun-to-read play-by-play of the actual vacation. One of the trip highlights was a very "in-theme" meal at 50's Prime Time Cafe. You'll have to read the report to find out about it.
Tifany Lenoir -- November 2001 -- Walt Disney World (Offsite)
Travel Information for Trip:
Dates of Trip: November 3 - November 10, 2001
Travel Method: Airplane and Rental Car
Resort: Offsite: Fairfield Orlando Star Island Resort
Accommodations: 3 Bedroom Villa (Timeshare)
Ages in Group: Adult, Senior, and Teenager
WDW Experience in Group: Frequent and Rookie
Cast of Characters for this trip:
Tifany Lenoir (27) - trip planner and 3rd year in a row visit to Disney World; 5 visits to Disneyland (Last visit to Disneyland was 1988)
Randy Lenoir (29) - husband, 3rd visit to the world (it took 8 years to convince him to go, now I can't get him to go anywhere else)
Karen Philpott (61) my mother, 1st trip to Disney World, and first time to Disney in 24 years (last time was Disneyland for my 3rd birthday)
Becky Lenoir (53) - Randy's mom - 1st trip to the world
Kevin Smith (14) - Nephew on husband's side - 1st trip to the world
For those folks that read Tifany's pre-trip report before, feel free to skip down to the account of the actual trip.
Pre - Trip Planning and information
I am writing this 100 days out from our departure date so you can get an idea of what we have done to prepare for this trip. Let me start with a little background information that brought us to this current trip. My husband and I will be married for 7 years this December and together for 11 years this November. I started bugging him about Disney right before we got married up until we went. My husband is in the Marine Corps, so getting time off for vacations is always the hardest part. Our first trip was July of 1999 and we stayed at Shades of Green (SOG). This is a wonderful resort and it had a great price for the week. We returned October of 2000 for a "freebie" vacation that we received when we purchased our Timeshare and decided at that time that we would return in 2001 with the rest of the family.
Now that I have you up to date for the November 2001 trip, I will fill in the blanks. Originally the trip was to include my sister-in-law and her two daughters from MN, but, financially this will not happen for this trip. Randy and I decided to use our timeshare and stay at the Star Island Resort off of US 192 (4 miles from Disney) and pay the expenses of the room, rental car, and food. So, for a little FYI . . . my mom, nephew, and mother-in-law are responsible for their airline tickets, Disney tickets, and their spending money.
I am the one responsible for booking/checking all of the airlines, since my mom and in-laws are flying from Baton Rouge, LA and my husband and I are flying from Nashville, TN to Disney. Well, I have been checking prices and they were outrageous, from Nashville to Orlando it was $230 a person, and Baton Rouge was $285 a person. I decided to check Tampa and I found the tickets FOR ONLY $75 a person roundtrip from Nashville and $130 from Baton Rouge!! Also, the rental is $130 less for the week out of Tampa instead of Orlando. We are driving an additional 40 miles to make it to the resort, but I am saving almost $500 for Randy and myself by making this little change. The other perk is that I can get us all on the same connecting flights to and from Tampa so we all arrive at the same time into Florida.
**Update** Becky, MIL, decided to wait on buying her airline tickets and the price went up to $185 a person. Through a little on-line searching, I found two round trip tickets for $110 each out of Baton Rouge to Tampa. I went ahead and booked the flight for her, the only thing is that her flight arrives at 2:04 p.m. and our flight arrives at 11:53 a.m. This will give Randy & I time to go to Alamo and pick up the SUV while we wait; we were going to do the quicksilver check out to save time, but now we have to waste time, because my MIL decided not to take my advice and purchase her tickets when the rest of us did.
***UPDATE PART 2*** We are now 32 days out from our trip and are on pens and needles with all of the military calling to active duty. My husband is an active duty Marine and is stationed with a Reserve Unit here in Nashville, TN. If his unit gets called to active duty, then I will be continuing on the trip with my mom, MIL, and nephew. My MIL is now apprehensive about flying and wants us to cancel the trip. I will not allow a terrorist to disrupt my life and my vacation! I will continue to the world, spend money, fly, and help the economy by going on vacation. Time off is very precious to husband, & myself and we are anticipating that this will be the last vacation that we will have for several years if this turns into a war.
WHAT WE INTEND TO DO:
Saturday, November 3, 2001
Our flights are to get in at 12:00 at Tampa and we are to head over to Alamo and pick up the SUV for the trip (cost is $223.00 for the week with taxes). We will take the family onto the World's property and drive over to Shades of Green to purchase 6-day hopper plus tickets for the people that didn't buy them ahead of time. Then we will be off and driving around Disney and stop at the Marketplace so the family can have a sneak peak at all the Disney has to offer. After the marketplace, we will head over to Star Island and check in (we are going to try for the early check-in of 2:00 if we can). After we unload the vehicle and get everyone settled then we are off to Wal-Mart for groceries and other little odds and ends that we might have forgotten. We will also stop at the outlet center on US 192 for a little looking around at Disney items that the family might find a little more reasonable in price. We will end the evening with a meal (maybe fast food or something quick to cook). Maybe go to Pleasure Island this evening if we feel up to it.
Sunday, November 4, 2001
Our first full day at Disney . . . We are planning on hitting Magic Kingdom so the family can see the castle and start of the week with happiness (have to check and make sure it's not an early entry day) and winging it since the rest of the family is not familiar with the fast pace that Disney can sometimes be. I am hoping to catch Illuminations this night since I missed it and MK Fireworks for the past two years we have gone. I have seen Fantasmic numerous times, but never any of the other shows. We will return for supper out our resort and relax and unwind.
Monday, November 5
Our second day, we have priority seating for the Hollywood & Vine character lunch. This is a surprise for our moms and we are hoping they will be as excited as Randy and I are. MGM is our favorite park and I am really looking forward to the TOT and RNRC. (The mom's will be holding our belongings when we go on these rides, because we don't want to put them in danger.) We will also hit all of the major attractions and let the mom's do some shopping. As you can see, we are planning MGM for the day after SUPER SOAP WEEKEND.
Tuesday, November 6
Our third day, we have priority seating at Rainforest Café for lunch. I have $40 in gift certificates, and also the DC card for 10% off of lunch prices. We will hit the Safari, Rapids (if its warm enough), Pangani trail, ITTBAB, Dinosaur, and anything else that floats our boat. We will also head over to EPCOT for the rest of the day, since AK is such a small park. I am looking forward to the International Food & Wine festival while we are there. I will be looking for a White Wine that I had in Sorrento, Italy that was delicious. I should have bought a bottle while I was there in Italy, but I didn't. I plan on eating and drinking my way through the World Showcase while we are there.
Wednesday, November 7
Full day at EPCOT! Plan on seeing everything and doing some things I haven't done. (We haven't done Food Rocks or Living with the Land and we are looking forward to that.) Also, continuing through World Showcase and making sure we catch Illuminations! Finish out the evening with Pleasure Island.
Thursday, November 8
We have priority lunch seating at the Prime Time Café and we may or may not keep this in there. As for the rest of the day, we are winging it and doing what we want to do.
Friday, November 9
We have not come up with a plan yet, so we are currently looking at "winging" it.
Saturday, November 10
We are flying out this day to return home to Nashville and Baton Rouge. Three of us leave out at 11:30 and the other two, leave out at 4:15. When Randy and I get back home it will be non-stop! Our flight gets in at 2:30 and we have the Marine Corps Ball to go to this evening. So, after the flight, we have to rush home, get in our formal wear, and get across town for 7:00 p.m. I will be very exhausted and will have to update the trip report after I catch up on my sleep!
I will update and send the actual trip report and also a review of the timeshare when we return.
Saturday, November 2, 2001 - DEPARTURE DAY
We had to be at the airport for about 4:45 a.m., so we woke up at 3:00 a.m. and took a cab into the airport for our 6:25 a.m. flight on Delta airlines. When we checked in, we were allowed to fly on the 5:20 a.m. flight from Nashville to Atlanta on stand-by since we were there so early. We arrived in Atlanta and ate breakfast while waiting for my mother's flight to arrive from Baton Rouge before we went to the gate to catch our flight to Tampa.
The flight from Atlanta to Tampa was uneventful, but very, very packed!! Our luggage arrived to Tampa on the 9:10 a.m. flight, so we didn't have to worry about waiting in baggage claim for our bags. We caught the shuttle to Alamo and picked up our SUV for the week. (Had a slight problem of not being able to find the keys to the vehicle, because it was freshly washed and the washer had kept the keys but left the vehicle.) We had to drive back to the airport and pick up my mother-in-law and nephew before we could head to Disney.
We got everything packed up in the vehicle and headed on our way. My husband told me to take a wrong turn out of the airport, so I missed the turn to I-275 and had to turn around before we got to I-4 and headed in the right direction. The only problem during the drive up, was it was very windy and I was driving a top heavy Mitsubishi Montero Sport that was being blown all over the road. After about an hour or so on I-4 we finally made it to Star Island resort and checked in.
I lucked up and got a bottom floor, so the mom's wouldn't have that many stairs to climb. We put the entire luggage in the room, and then headed to Shades of Green (SOG) to pick up our 6 day hopper plus passes. We also ate supper at the Evergreen's Sports Bar and Grill. *** I believe anyone can eat at this restaurant; for the five of us with appetizers and drinks we paid $39.55 for supper that included 1/2 pound angus burgers and chicken fingers.*** I strongly recommended this place for a sit down supper at a cheap rate.
After supper, we went to Wal-Mart for groceries and snacks for the week. This also consisted of the mom's having to stop and look at everything in Wal-Mart, so by the time we got back it was close to 10:00 p.m. We unloaded groceries and got everyone in bed by 11:30 p.m. for our early morning the next day.
Sunday, November 4, 2001 - Magic Kingdom
Our first full day at Disney!!! Hubby and I woke up, showered and had breakfast and fought with the others to hurry up, eat, and get out the door in a timely manner. We did manage to make it to the landing dock at the TTC by 9:45 a.m. We were only a little behind schedule at this time. It was a little nippy that morning and overcast thanks to Hurricane Michelle, but we still wore shorts and enjoyed our day. We started with the Swiss Family Robinson Tree house after we made our way through the security checks. We had the mom's wait for us, while hubby & I took Kevin, our nephew, up the tree house. After our little climb we went on the Jungle Cruise and had a great captain. The mom's really enjoyed this little ride and didn't want to get off of the boat when it was time to leave.
After Jungle Cruise we headed to Pirates (POC) and again, this was a really big success. Of course after you get off of the ride it drops you into the shops, so we spent what felt like an eternity looking at items to buy. When we finally were able to drag everyone away from the shops, we headed for Splash Mountain (everyone rode but my mother; she waited and took a picture of us coming down the mountain) then everyone rode Big Thunder Mountain after that. We had to stop for a bathroom & smoke break for my mom-in-law (lost a lot of time during the trip thanks to these stops) then we headed to the Hall of Presidents. This was the first time I ever saw this presentation, and I really enjoyed it.
The next thing (after the shopping spree) was Haunted Mansion. We decided to wait instead of Fast passing because the Fast Pass time was 3 hours away. Well, we should have fast passed, because we waited about 45 minutes to an hour. I have never waited that long for HM, even during the month of July. I suppose the reason why Magic Kingdom was so busy was because it was Sunday and it was Super Soap Weekend. After our ghost ride and our hitchhiking ghost the mom's wanted to do It's a Small World After All so we waited another 20 minutes for this ride.
We decided to eat after this ride since it was after 1 p.m., and we ate at Pichnocci's village. I was really surprised on the prices and the excellent quality of food. After lunch we headed to Toontown and decided to turn around and ride the Indy cars instead. I drove my mom, hubby drove his mom, and Kevin drove himself. (It was really hard to keep that thing from hitting the track in the middle, but we did survive).
Next thing was Buzz Lightyear that we Fast passed and the mom's loved it!! Talk about a great hit! The ride broke while we were on it and both moms' wound up beating the kids because they found the really high scoring targets where we were stopped at. The next thing was Alien Encounter to see how Skippy was doing, and then we did Buzz again with a small break to take Kevin on Space Mountain. He is 14 and terrified of Roller coasters, so we fibbed and told him that it was just like the Astro Orbiter, but it was enclosed instead. Well, he loved his ride and wanted to do it again! Yea, we finally have him over his fear of roller coasters and free falls (or so we thought). We did Buzz again and were beat by the mom's again and then headed out of the park. We stopped for pictures at the castle and video taped the castle changing colors and we also stopped at every shop out of the Magic Kingdom so the mom's could shop.
We drove back to the timeshare and had supper of spaghetti with meat sauce and also helped Kevin do homework since he was missing school this week. We had each mom take a bath in the whirlpool bathtubs so they would be ready for MGM tomorrow.
Monday, November 5, 2001 - MGM Studios
We woke up early, had breakfast and headed to the parks for gate opening. After our bags were searched we headed to see the wait boards, but got stop by Jessie & the Gang right outside of Sid's Movie memorabilia (this turned into a 45 minute ordeal due to my MIL wanting pictures & autographs with all of the characters). After autographs were gotten & pictures were taken, we made our way to the Tower of Terror. We had the mom's meet us back at the villains store about 2 hours from the present time.
Randy & I took Kevin to TOT & he began to start making a scene & scaring the other children that were younger than him while we were waiting in the Library before we made our way to the maintenance elevator. Needless to say, the 14-year-old tough guy chickened out & waited for us after our elevator ride. There was a cute little 5 year old that was terrified to ride & when she got off of the ride she ran up to Kev and called him a big sissy & said that she was going to ride it again. The look on his face was priceless!! After his chicken out session, we went to the Rockin Roller Coaster & Kevin decided he wanted to ride. Remember, he hates roller coasters, especially the ones that go upside down; well, he loved it & wanted to ride it over & over again!
After our two exciting rides, it was time to meet up with the mom's and get fast passes for Who wants to be a Millionaire and ride the Great Movie Ride. Well, the Great Movie Ride had a wait time of 45 minutes (the first time I ever remember there being a wait longer than 5 minutes); so we waited because the mom's were getting a little tired & we decided they needed a bit of a break. After the GMR - we went out to find tons of characters around the big hat; so we had to wait in line for pictures & autographs.
We went to WWTBAMPI (millionaire) and played and really enjoyed it. I placed on the board ranking at number 5 all four times they showed the scores. (Was proud because I was smarter than hubby, since he never placed on the board.) After Millionaire it was time for our surprise lunch at Hollywood & Vine for the mom's to eat with Minnie & the gang! Talk about a hit with the parents! We were the greatest kids on the planet after that meal!! We left lunch and did Muppets & also, the Back lot tour. (Gave my mom the seat on the left for "better picture opportunities!) That was another hit with the family!
On our way down Mickey Avenue we had to stop and get pictures with Mickey and we also saw Tigger! Word of advice, never get in the way of a 50ish year old and her Tigger - she will clobber you! Next item on the agenda was 100 years of Magic - Walt's Life and then seating for Fantasmic! Well, it began to get cold thanks to Hurricane Michelle, so we left the park and headed home for supper and bed.
Tuesday, November 6, 2001 - Animal Kingdom
Same routine in the morning of breakfast & baths! Got to AK around 9ish for rope drop and bag checks. Headed straight to Africa for Fast passes for the Safari and then took the Panagi trail until our fast pass time returned. Moms and nephew really enjoyed the Safari and they took about 10 rolls of film together on that ride. Next we headed to Festival of the Lion King only to get there when there was no more seating until the 1:00 p.m. showing.
On the troops went to Dinosaur and to ITTBAB (Bug show) for rave reviews! Mom's really enjoyed this also and decided to do Dinosaur for a second go around. We decided to buy the picture since we all made funny faces for the camera shot! After the two shows, it was time for our PS at Rainforest Café. I had $30 in gift certificates, so lunch wasn't that expensive. **Editor's note - Rainforest Café in Animal Kingdom is $3.00 more on all of their food items on the menu compared to Nashville.**
After lunch we headed to the Kali Rapids and warned the mom's to not sit with either hubby or myself (we are the ones that look like we jumped into the lake when we get off of the ride). My mom, Karen, didn't listen to my warning and sat with my husband. Well, she got drenched luckily and not soaked. I came off of the ride with very little wetness, but the girl next to me got soaked to the bone! We took the Tiger trek to try and dry off before we left the park.
After Animal Kingdom, we decided to take the family to Epcot for a preview of Wednesday for them. We did Spaceship Earth first, then we did Honey I shrunk the audience and Test track. We left and went back to the resort for supper & decided to go to TGIF for supper. We had a super waitress by the name of Sunshine and she brought all of us balloon animals to keep us company until the food arrived. Then we went back to the room to freshen up a little bit before we headed to Pleasure Island.
Of course, we first headed to the World of Disney for a few purchases before we went on to Pleasure Island. We took the mom's to the Comedy Warehouse and ordered drinks for all of us. Well, not all of us, Randy had a coke, Karen (my mom) had a diet coke, I had a Blue Hawaiian, Becky (mom in law) had a Bloody Mary, and Kevin thought he was really cool with his Shirley Temple! The show was excellent as always, and the mom's really enjoyed herself. After CW we listened to the band for a couple of minutes then headed to the Adventures Club (we had to wait until 9:30 due to a private party).
The Mask Room was a real hit, considering the mask were picking on Professor Flat Bottom (a 8 year old boy in his dads sweat shirt) and they were trying to pick up a lady by the name of Janet (she was on her honeymoon). After the Mask Room we made our way to the main parlor and then into the show. All and all the evening was very enjoyable and also very relaxing! We got back to the resort around 1 a.m. and went straight to sleep!
Wednesday, November 7, 2001 - EPCOT
Same morning routines again breakfast and baths, then out the door for shopping at the Belz outlet. We decided to take this morning easy on the mom's and let them get some shopping in while Kevin stayed behind and worked on his school assignments. The shopping excursion was perfect; I even found some items that didn't really cost that much. After the mom's finished spending all of their money, we returned back to the resort to pick up Kevin and eat lunch before we returned to Epcot for the rest of the evening. Lunch was all of the leftovers from the night before, so we had energy and were ready to go!
We went to the parking lot at the TTC & got free parking due to computer problems so we got in line to enter the park. After bag searches we went to Living with the Sea and really enjoyed as always. We decided to do the Land after the sea only to find it had a 60-minute wait. We got fast passes & headed towards the world showcase. (The return time for the Land was 3 hours from the current time we had.) First stop Canada - all the way to Mexico for the last stop. I feel as if we were rushed through the World Showcase thanks to Becky. She wasn't too impressed with anything and kept trying to move us along. She wouldn't branch out on her own so everyone else could enjoy the countries, so needless to say, I didn't get to enjoy the Food & Wine Festival thanks to my MIL rushing us through the showcase. * Rant off *
However, they did get to see the Impressions of France, we did Norway with the Ride, we got to see the Japanese Drummers, and the Chinese acrobats, and also saw the Tapestry of Dreams Parade. Also, we got to see the Joker at Italy and he interacted very well with Kevin and we caught everything on tape for blackmail purposes later in his life. I do remember that we got Kevin a hotdog for supper & the rest of us went to the Lotus blossom for dinner. We sat outside of Norway & People watched while we waited for Illuminations to begin.
After Illuminations we went with the rest of the Stampede and got onto 192 and headed to Wal-Mart. Why is it that you always find the Wal-Mart when you are on vacation? Anyway, we did more shopping and then headed back to the resort for rest and relaxation.
Thursday, November 8, 2001 - Magic Kingdom & MGM
Same morning routine & we made it to the TTC in time for the rope drop and again went with the stampede to the Monorail and to go through all of the bag searches. Once in we were able to go through the castle on our way to The Snow White ride. While we waited for our car of five the CM made a comment that the ride was for kids only and that she wished adults would quit riding without children. I guess we were lucky that she was the only rude CM we had the pleasure of meeting this whole trip.
Next stop was Winnie the Pooh, but we decided to get Fast Passes & headed to It's a Small World for another spin. While waiting for our Pooh time, we did Haunted mansion again then we did Pooh! Pooh was so cute! I can't believe we never did that ride before! We next made our way around to Tomorrow Land and got fast passes for Buzz then went to ride Space Mountain while my mother shopped and my MIL smoked. Space Mountain was down & they said it would be about 2 hours before it was up again, so we rode Buzz twice then left to head to MGM.
Arrived at MGM & headed straight to 50's Prime Time for our 12:45 PS time. We finally got seated at 1:50 and had Cousin Roy as our server. This was the first time we had ever eaten here and it was great! The table next to us had decided to take all of their green beans and put them on one plate and cover it with napkins. Well, Roy discovered their little plan and also found out that one of the girls was celebrating her 15th birthday. Roy brought back a Green Bean Sundae in her honor for her birthday. It had a candle, cherries, whipped cream, nuts, chocolate, and caramel. We all sang "Happy Birthday" for her while she blew out her candle and then we all signed a card for her that Roy brought around for everyone to sign.
Our meals arrived and let me tell you, the meals are big enough for two people to eat. I decided to get the fried chicken and could only eat two of the three pieces. Roy made me take 3 more bites and told me to stop wasting mom's food before he would take the plate away. Dessert time came around and the mom's decided to split a sundae and Randy & I split a chocolate shake, while Kev had a chocolate float. The dessert's came back to the table and Cousin Roy decided we weren't eating fast enough so he began to spoon-feed my mom her sundae. It was priceless! Randy caught it all on tape for later blackmail purposes! This was actually a less expensive meal than I anticipated. For the five of us it was only $82.00. Not too bad if you ask me.
With lunch out of the way and it being close to 3:00 p.m. we went onto Drew Carey's Sound's Dangerous show. The CM told us we would miss the parade if we went to this, but we were ok with that. After the show we watched the rest of the parade and have to say it was actually pretty good. We saw about 20 minutes of the parade, then we fought the crowds to go back to the Muppets. After the Muppets we made our way back to TOT while the mom's got more autographs. This time we bribed my nephew into riding by saying we would buy a t-shirt for him. He rode with his eyes closed the entire time and a couple of times we thought he was going to vomit. Thank goodness he didn't!
We left TOT to get fast passes for RNRC and then set off to find the mom's. We found them then headed to get seats for Fantasmic! It was going on 5:15 so we sat in the middle section close to the bottom for picture and camcorder purposes. Randy and I were getting tired of waiting for the 6:30 presentation of Fantasmic!, so we took Kevin with us to meet our fast pass time for RNRC. Kevin decided he really wasn't up for the ride, so Randy and I rode in the very first seat for the best ride we ever had on the RNRC! We made our way back in time for Fantasmic! The moms have really enjoyed this show and were begging to be able to come back and see it.
After the stampede to the main gate, we made our way to the resort and began fixing supper. We had chicken potpies and watched Survivor for the night. I really am glad to see Silas got kicked off of the show. Hopefully next week Lindsey will get kicked off the show. *Editor's note: Lindsey did get kicked out last week.*
Friday, November 9, 2001, Animal Kingdom & MGM
Same morning routine and stampede for the morning rope drop as always. We headed straight to Festival of the Lion King and waited in line for the 10 a.m. showing. The mom's went to Camp Minnie Mickey for more autographs and they took our nephew with them. Randy told them that we were about to be let in and that they should get a move on it. DH and I continued through the line and decided that we would meet up with them after the show ended so we wouldn't ruin the show for anyone else.
We made our way to the Elephant section and then saw the rest of the family. They joined us in our seats, and then my MIL informed me that my mom fell after leaving from Goofy. The show was great as always, but I couldn't really enjoy it knowing my mom was hurt. We left from their and went to the first aide station where my mom got fixed up and also got stickers for being such a "good girl". My mom's words came back to haunt her after all of those years of raising me. She was such a good girl that she even got her picture taken with Trek.
After the little fiasco that we had at Camp Minnie Mickey we made our way to Flights of Wonder for the 11:15 showing. Again, this was another big hit with the family and I believe that they really got teary eyed when the bald eagle was brought out. When the show was over with we headed out to ride Dinosaur for one last time then we went to MGM to do Indiana Jones and try Millionaire for one last time.
Made our way to Indiana Jones and decided on fast passes since it was 2:30 already (fast pass return time was 4:50). We walked over to Millionaire and made it in at the last seating call. They had a fastest finger question and I got on the board at number 4! The list came up on the board for the 1000 point level and I was ranked number 3 and my nephew was number 7 (he admitted that he would watch me to see what button's I was pressing to be able to get on the board). That person missed the 4000-point question and some guy from New York got in the hot seat. This boy missed the 500-point question and was forced out of the hot seat.
The next ranking board comes up and seat number 620 was ranked number 5 (Kevin), seat 622 ranked number 3 (me) and seat number 618 ranked number 1 (Randy - DH)! His first words were oh s**t then he made his way to the Hot Seat (Randy doesn't really like a lot of attention). He got to the 4000-point question and time ran out so we returned for the next show. He did great up until he got to the 32000 question. The question was "What novel begins 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of time'?" Your choices were A) Tale of Two Cities, B) Christmas Carol, C) Great Expectations, and D) The Great Gatsby. Randy decided to take the 50/50 and was given the option of A or C; he jumped and chose C and said Final Answer without thinking it through and got it wrong. I am so proud of him for getting that far!
After the end of this show we checked out his hat, lanyard and 5 pins while waiting for the next show. (I demanded a re-match, because my hubby was going around saying, "I'm smarter than my wife" in a singing voice.) The mom's decided to get in line for Pooh signatures while we waited for the next millionaire show. The fastest finger question came up and I was ranked number 2! Can you believe that?????? Well, I never moved about number 2 the whole time we played. We got out of the show and found the mom's and made our way to the Indy show. We missed the first 5 minutes, but they still enjoyed it nonetheless.
Since it was after 5 and we had an early morning we decided to call it a trip and head back to the resort. While we were crossing over the Lion's Head Bridge at the guard shack, we saw a family of 5 raccoons. The security guard said that they come out every evening at that time for supper and have been coming by for about 2 months now. It turned out to be a momma raccoon and four babies. They were just too cute! We ate supper of lasagna and packed everything for the next morning. (Randy and I had to pack the mom's bags since they made so many purchases.)
Saturday, November 10, 2001 - Departure Day
We were up and ready to leave by 7:00 a.m. We had an uneventful drive back to Tampa and took the Alamo shuttle back to the airport. Randy, my mom Karen, and I had a 45-minute wait to check in at the Delta counter, while my MIL and nephew were checked in and got an earlier flight out of Tampa on Continental. The only really eventful thing that happened was I got frisked by a 70 year old woman security checker and my husband got a real kick out of it. Then when we got to Atlanta, he got randomly selected for a security bag check and frisk!
We made it home at 2:15 p.m. then we began to unpack and get ready for the Marine Corps Ball. The Ball began at 8 with supper beginning at 5, and yes, we did make it on time and only stayed for 1 hour before we headed home to sleep our lives away. I would like to thank all of you that made to the end of this report and also say if you have any questions, please contact me.
Highlights of Trip
Parents expression when first seeing the Castle
My mom being spoon-fed
Husband getting into Hot Seat
Low lights of Trip
My mom falling and hurting herself on the last day
My MIL having to smoke on the entire trip
Rude CM at Snow White
Thanks again!
Tifany Lenoir
Time of Year: Fall
Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
Resort: Offsite
Accommodations: Villa Vacation Home
Ages Represented in Group: Teen, Adult, Senior
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Frequent, Rookie
Comments: Tifany and Randy brought their moms and a nephew on this early November trip to WDW. The report includes a great pre-trip planning section as well as a fun-to-read play-by-play of the actual vacation. One of the trip highlights was a very "in-theme" meal at 50's Prime Time Cafe. You'll have to read the report to find out about it.
Tifany Lenoir -- November 2001 -- Walt Disney World (Offsite)
Travel Information for Trip:
Dates of Trip: November 3 - November 10, 2001
Travel Method: Airplane and Rental Car
Resort: Offsite: Fairfield Orlando Star Island Resort
Accommodations: 3 Bedroom Villa (Timeshare)
Ages in Group: Adult, Senior, and Teenager
WDW Experience in Group: Frequent and Rookie
Cast of Characters for this trip:
Tifany Lenoir (27) - trip planner and 3rd year in a row visit to Disney World; 5 visits to Disneyland (Last visit to Disneyland was 1988)
Randy Lenoir (29) - husband, 3rd visit to the world (it took 8 years to convince him to go, now I can't get him to go anywhere else)
Karen Philpott (61) my mother, 1st trip to Disney World, and first time to Disney in 24 years (last time was Disneyland for my 3rd birthday)
Becky Lenoir (53) - Randy's mom - 1st trip to the world
Kevin Smith (14) - Nephew on husband's side - 1st trip to the world
For those folks that read Tifany's pre-trip report before, feel free to skip down to the account of the actual trip.
Pre - Trip Planning and information
I am writing this 100 days out from our departure date so you can get an idea of what we have done to prepare for this trip. Let me start with a little background information that brought us to this current trip. My husband and I will be married for 7 years this December and together for 11 years this November. I started bugging him about Disney right before we got married up until we went. My husband is in the Marine Corps, so getting time off for vacations is always the hardest part. Our first trip was July of 1999 and we stayed at Shades of Green (SOG). This is a wonderful resort and it had a great price for the week. We returned October of 2000 for a "freebie" vacation that we received when we purchased our Timeshare and decided at that time that we would return in 2001 with the rest of the family.
Now that I have you up to date for the November 2001 trip, I will fill in the blanks. Originally the trip was to include my sister-in-law and her two daughters from MN, but, financially this will not happen for this trip. Randy and I decided to use our timeshare and stay at the Star Island Resort off of US 192 (4 miles from Disney) and pay the expenses of the room, rental car, and food. So, for a little FYI . . . my mom, nephew, and mother-in-law are responsible for their airline tickets, Disney tickets, and their spending money.
I am the one responsible for booking/checking all of the airlines, since my mom and in-laws are flying from Baton Rouge, LA and my husband and I are flying from Nashville, TN to Disney. Well, I have been checking prices and they were outrageous, from Nashville to Orlando it was $230 a person, and Baton Rouge was $285 a person. I decided to check Tampa and I found the tickets FOR ONLY $75 a person roundtrip from Nashville and $130 from Baton Rouge!! Also, the rental is $130 less for the week out of Tampa instead of Orlando. We are driving an additional 40 miles to make it to the resort, but I am saving almost $500 for Randy and myself by making this little change. The other perk is that I can get us all on the same connecting flights to and from Tampa so we all arrive at the same time into Florida.
**Update** Becky, MIL, decided to wait on buying her airline tickets and the price went up to $185 a person. Through a little on-line searching, I found two round trip tickets for $110 each out of Baton Rouge to Tampa. I went ahead and booked the flight for her, the only thing is that her flight arrives at 2:04 p.m. and our flight arrives at 11:53 a.m. This will give Randy & I time to go to Alamo and pick up the SUV while we wait; we were going to do the quicksilver check out to save time, but now we have to waste time, because my MIL decided not to take my advice and purchase her tickets when the rest of us did.
***UPDATE PART 2*** We are now 32 days out from our trip and are on pens and needles with all of the military calling to active duty. My husband is an active duty Marine and is stationed with a Reserve Unit here in Nashville, TN. If his unit gets called to active duty, then I will be continuing on the trip with my mom, MIL, and nephew. My MIL is now apprehensive about flying and wants us to cancel the trip. I will not allow a terrorist to disrupt my life and my vacation! I will continue to the world, spend money, fly, and help the economy by going on vacation. Time off is very precious to husband, & myself and we are anticipating that this will be the last vacation that we will have for several years if this turns into a war.
WHAT WE INTEND TO DO:
Saturday, November 3, 2001
Our flights are to get in at 12:00 at Tampa and we are to head over to Alamo and pick up the SUV for the trip (cost is $223.00 for the week with taxes). We will take the family onto the World's property and drive over to Shades of Green to purchase 6-day hopper plus tickets for the people that didn't buy them ahead of time. Then we will be off and driving around Disney and stop at the Marketplace so the family can have a sneak peak at all the Disney has to offer. After the marketplace, we will head over to Star Island and check in (we are going to try for the early check-in of 2:00 if we can). After we unload the vehicle and get everyone settled then we are off to Wal-Mart for groceries and other little odds and ends that we might have forgotten. We will also stop at the outlet center on US 192 for a little looking around at Disney items that the family might find a little more reasonable in price. We will end the evening with a meal (maybe fast food or something quick to cook). Maybe go to Pleasure Island this evening if we feel up to it.
Sunday, November 4, 2001
Our first full day at Disney . . . We are planning on hitting Magic Kingdom so the family can see the castle and start of the week with happiness (have to check and make sure it's not an early entry day) and winging it since the rest of the family is not familiar with the fast pace that Disney can sometimes be. I am hoping to catch Illuminations this night since I missed it and MK Fireworks for the past two years we have gone. I have seen Fantasmic numerous times, but never any of the other shows. We will return for supper out our resort and relax and unwind.
Monday, November 5
Our second day, we have priority seating for the Hollywood & Vine character lunch. This is a surprise for our moms and we are hoping they will be as excited as Randy and I are. MGM is our favorite park and I am really looking forward to the TOT and RNRC. (The mom's will be holding our belongings when we go on these rides, because we don't want to put them in danger.) We will also hit all of the major attractions and let the mom's do some shopping. As you can see, we are planning MGM for the day after SUPER SOAP WEEKEND.
Tuesday, November 6
Our third day, we have priority seating at Rainforest Café for lunch. I have $40 in gift certificates, and also the DC card for 10% off of lunch prices. We will hit the Safari, Rapids (if its warm enough), Pangani trail, ITTBAB, Dinosaur, and anything else that floats our boat. We will also head over to EPCOT for the rest of the day, since AK is such a small park. I am looking forward to the International Food & Wine festival while we are there. I will be looking for a White Wine that I had in Sorrento, Italy that was delicious. I should have bought a bottle while I was there in Italy, but I didn't. I plan on eating and drinking my way through the World Showcase while we are there.
Wednesday, November 7
Full day at EPCOT! Plan on seeing everything and doing some things I haven't done. (We haven't done Food Rocks or Living with the Land and we are looking forward to that.) Also, continuing through World Showcase and making sure we catch Illuminations! Finish out the evening with Pleasure Island.
Thursday, November 8
We have priority lunch seating at the Prime Time Café and we may or may not keep this in there. As for the rest of the day, we are winging it and doing what we want to do.
Friday, November 9
We have not come up with a plan yet, so we are currently looking at "winging" it.
Saturday, November 10
We are flying out this day to return home to Nashville and Baton Rouge. Three of us leave out at 11:30 and the other two, leave out at 4:15. When Randy and I get back home it will be non-stop! Our flight gets in at 2:30 and we have the Marine Corps Ball to go to this evening. So, after the flight, we have to rush home, get in our formal wear, and get across town for 7:00 p.m. I will be very exhausted and will have to update the trip report after I catch up on my sleep!
I will update and send the actual trip report and also a review of the timeshare when we return.
Saturday, November 2, 2001 - DEPARTURE DAY
We had to be at the airport for about 4:45 a.m., so we woke up at 3:00 a.m. and took a cab into the airport for our 6:25 a.m. flight on Delta airlines. When we checked in, we were allowed to fly on the 5:20 a.m. flight from Nashville to Atlanta on stand-by since we were there so early. We arrived in Atlanta and ate breakfast while waiting for my mother's flight to arrive from Baton Rouge before we went to the gate to catch our flight to Tampa.
The flight from Atlanta to Tampa was uneventful, but very, very packed!! Our luggage arrived to Tampa on the 9:10 a.m. flight, so we didn't have to worry about waiting in baggage claim for our bags. We caught the shuttle to Alamo and picked up our SUV for the week. (Had a slight problem of not being able to find the keys to the vehicle, because it was freshly washed and the washer had kept the keys but left the vehicle.) We had to drive back to the airport and pick up my mother-in-law and nephew before we could head to Disney.
We got everything packed up in the vehicle and headed on our way. My husband told me to take a wrong turn out of the airport, so I missed the turn to I-275 and had to turn around before we got to I-4 and headed in the right direction. The only problem during the drive up, was it was very windy and I was driving a top heavy Mitsubishi Montero Sport that was being blown all over the road. After about an hour or so on I-4 we finally made it to Star Island resort and checked in.
I lucked up and got a bottom floor, so the mom's wouldn't have that many stairs to climb. We put the entire luggage in the room, and then headed to Shades of Green (SOG) to pick up our 6 day hopper plus passes. We also ate supper at the Evergreen's Sports Bar and Grill. *** I believe anyone can eat at this restaurant; for the five of us with appetizers and drinks we paid $39.55 for supper that included 1/2 pound angus burgers and chicken fingers.*** I strongly recommended this place for a sit down supper at a cheap rate.
After supper, we went to Wal-Mart for groceries and snacks for the week. This also consisted of the mom's having to stop and look at everything in Wal-Mart, so by the time we got back it was close to 10:00 p.m. We unloaded groceries and got everyone in bed by 11:30 p.m. for our early morning the next day.
Sunday, November 4, 2001 - Magic Kingdom
Our first full day at Disney!!! Hubby and I woke up, showered and had breakfast and fought with the others to hurry up, eat, and get out the door in a timely manner. We did manage to make it to the landing dock at the TTC by 9:45 a.m. We were only a little behind schedule at this time. It was a little nippy that morning and overcast thanks to Hurricane Michelle, but we still wore shorts and enjoyed our day. We started with the Swiss Family Robinson Tree house after we made our way through the security checks. We had the mom's wait for us, while hubby & I took Kevin, our nephew, up the tree house. After our little climb we went on the Jungle Cruise and had a great captain. The mom's really enjoyed this little ride and didn't want to get off of the boat when it was time to leave.
After Jungle Cruise we headed to Pirates (POC) and again, this was a really big success. Of course after you get off of the ride it drops you into the shops, so we spent what felt like an eternity looking at items to buy. When we finally were able to drag everyone away from the shops, we headed for Splash Mountain (everyone rode but my mother; she waited and took a picture of us coming down the mountain) then everyone rode Big Thunder Mountain after that. We had to stop for a bathroom & smoke break for my mom-in-law (lost a lot of time during the trip thanks to these stops) then we headed to the Hall of Presidents. This was the first time I ever saw this presentation, and I really enjoyed it.
The next thing (after the shopping spree) was Haunted Mansion. We decided to wait instead of Fast passing because the Fast Pass time was 3 hours away. Well, we should have fast passed, because we waited about 45 minutes to an hour. I have never waited that long for HM, even during the month of July. I suppose the reason why Magic Kingdom was so busy was because it was Sunday and it was Super Soap Weekend. After our ghost ride and our hitchhiking ghost the mom's wanted to do It's a Small World After All so we waited another 20 minutes for this ride.
We decided to eat after this ride since it was after 1 p.m., and we ate at Pichnocci's village. I was really surprised on the prices and the excellent quality of food. After lunch we headed to Toontown and decided to turn around and ride the Indy cars instead. I drove my mom, hubby drove his mom, and Kevin drove himself. (It was really hard to keep that thing from hitting the track in the middle, but we did survive).
Next thing was Buzz Lightyear that we Fast passed and the mom's loved it!! Talk about a great hit! The ride broke while we were on it and both moms' wound up beating the kids because they found the really high scoring targets where we were stopped at. The next thing was Alien Encounter to see how Skippy was doing, and then we did Buzz again with a small break to take Kevin on Space Mountain. He is 14 and terrified of Roller coasters, so we fibbed and told him that it was just like the Astro Orbiter, but it was enclosed instead. Well, he loved his ride and wanted to do it again! Yea, we finally have him over his fear of roller coasters and free falls (or so we thought). We did Buzz again and were beat by the mom's again and then headed out of the park. We stopped for pictures at the castle and video taped the castle changing colors and we also stopped at every shop out of the Magic Kingdom so the mom's could shop.
We drove back to the timeshare and had supper of spaghetti with meat sauce and also helped Kevin do homework since he was missing school this week. We had each mom take a bath in the whirlpool bathtubs so they would be ready for MGM tomorrow.
Monday, November 5, 2001 - MGM Studios
We woke up early, had breakfast and headed to the parks for gate opening. After our bags were searched we headed to see the wait boards, but got stop by Jessie & the Gang right outside of Sid's Movie memorabilia (this turned into a 45 minute ordeal due to my MIL wanting pictures & autographs with all of the characters). After autographs were gotten & pictures were taken, we made our way to the Tower of Terror. We had the mom's meet us back at the villains store about 2 hours from the present time.
Randy & I took Kevin to TOT & he began to start making a scene & scaring the other children that were younger than him while we were waiting in the Library before we made our way to the maintenance elevator. Needless to say, the 14-year-old tough guy chickened out & waited for us after our elevator ride. There was a cute little 5 year old that was terrified to ride & when she got off of the ride she ran up to Kev and called him a big sissy & said that she was going to ride it again. The look on his face was priceless!! After his chicken out session, we went to the Rockin Roller Coaster & Kevin decided he wanted to ride. Remember, he hates roller coasters, especially the ones that go upside down; well, he loved it & wanted to ride it over & over again!
After our two exciting rides, it was time to meet up with the mom's and get fast passes for Who wants to be a Millionaire and ride the Great Movie Ride. Well, the Great Movie Ride had a wait time of 45 minutes (the first time I ever remember there being a wait longer than 5 minutes); so we waited because the mom's were getting a little tired & we decided they needed a bit of a break. After the GMR - we went out to find tons of characters around the big hat; so we had to wait in line for pictures & autographs.
We went to WWTBAMPI (millionaire) and played and really enjoyed it. I placed on the board ranking at number 5 all four times they showed the scores. (Was proud because I was smarter than hubby, since he never placed on the board.) After Millionaire it was time for our surprise lunch at Hollywood & Vine for the mom's to eat with Minnie & the gang! Talk about a hit with the parents! We were the greatest kids on the planet after that meal!! We left lunch and did Muppets & also, the Back lot tour. (Gave my mom the seat on the left for "better picture opportunities!) That was another hit with the family!
On our way down Mickey Avenue we had to stop and get pictures with Mickey and we also saw Tigger! Word of advice, never get in the way of a 50ish year old and her Tigger - she will clobber you! Next item on the agenda was 100 years of Magic - Walt's Life and then seating for Fantasmic! Well, it began to get cold thanks to Hurricane Michelle, so we left the park and headed home for supper and bed.
Tuesday, November 6, 2001 - Animal Kingdom
Same routine in the morning of breakfast & baths! Got to AK around 9ish for rope drop and bag checks. Headed straight to Africa for Fast passes for the Safari and then took the Panagi trail until our fast pass time returned. Moms and nephew really enjoyed the Safari and they took about 10 rolls of film together on that ride. Next we headed to Festival of the Lion King only to get there when there was no more seating until the 1:00 p.m. showing.
On the troops went to Dinosaur and to ITTBAB (Bug show) for rave reviews! Mom's really enjoyed this also and decided to do Dinosaur for a second go around. We decided to buy the picture since we all made funny faces for the camera shot! After the two shows, it was time for our PS at Rainforest Café. I had $30 in gift certificates, so lunch wasn't that expensive. **Editor's note - Rainforest Café in Animal Kingdom is $3.00 more on all of their food items on the menu compared to Nashville.**
After lunch we headed to the Kali Rapids and warned the mom's to not sit with either hubby or myself (we are the ones that look like we jumped into the lake when we get off of the ride). My mom, Karen, didn't listen to my warning and sat with my husband. Well, she got drenched luckily and not soaked. I came off of the ride with very little wetness, but the girl next to me got soaked to the bone! We took the Tiger trek to try and dry off before we left the park.
After Animal Kingdom, we decided to take the family to Epcot for a preview of Wednesday for them. We did Spaceship Earth first, then we did Honey I shrunk the audience and Test track. We left and went back to the resort for supper & decided to go to TGIF for supper. We had a super waitress by the name of Sunshine and she brought all of us balloon animals to keep us company until the food arrived. Then we went back to the room to freshen up a little bit before we headed to Pleasure Island.
Of course, we first headed to the World of Disney for a few purchases before we went on to Pleasure Island. We took the mom's to the Comedy Warehouse and ordered drinks for all of us. Well, not all of us, Randy had a coke, Karen (my mom) had a diet coke, I had a Blue Hawaiian, Becky (mom in law) had a Bloody Mary, and Kevin thought he was really cool with his Shirley Temple! The show was excellent as always, and the mom's really enjoyed herself. After CW we listened to the band for a couple of minutes then headed to the Adventures Club (we had to wait until 9:30 due to a private party).
The Mask Room was a real hit, considering the mask were picking on Professor Flat Bottom (a 8 year old boy in his dads sweat shirt) and they were trying to pick up a lady by the name of Janet (she was on her honeymoon). After the Mask Room we made our way to the main parlor and then into the show. All and all the evening was very enjoyable and also very relaxing! We got back to the resort around 1 a.m. and went straight to sleep!
Wednesday, November 7, 2001 - EPCOT
Same morning routines again breakfast and baths, then out the door for shopping at the Belz outlet. We decided to take this morning easy on the mom's and let them get some shopping in while Kevin stayed behind and worked on his school assignments. The shopping excursion was perfect; I even found some items that didn't really cost that much. After the mom's finished spending all of their money, we returned back to the resort to pick up Kevin and eat lunch before we returned to Epcot for the rest of the evening. Lunch was all of the leftovers from the night before, so we had energy and were ready to go!
We went to the parking lot at the TTC & got free parking due to computer problems so we got in line to enter the park. After bag searches we went to Living with the Sea and really enjoyed as always. We decided to do the Land after the sea only to find it had a 60-minute wait. We got fast passes & headed towards the world showcase. (The return time for the Land was 3 hours from the current time we had.) First stop Canada - all the way to Mexico for the last stop. I feel as if we were rushed through the World Showcase thanks to Becky. She wasn't too impressed with anything and kept trying to move us along. She wouldn't branch out on her own so everyone else could enjoy the countries, so needless to say, I didn't get to enjoy the Food & Wine Festival thanks to my MIL rushing us through the showcase. * Rant off *
However, they did get to see the Impressions of France, we did Norway with the Ride, we got to see the Japanese Drummers, and the Chinese acrobats, and also saw the Tapestry of Dreams Parade. Also, we got to see the Joker at Italy and he interacted very well with Kevin and we caught everything on tape for blackmail purposes later in his life. I do remember that we got Kevin a hotdog for supper & the rest of us went to the Lotus blossom for dinner. We sat outside of Norway & People watched while we waited for Illuminations to begin.
After Illuminations we went with the rest of the Stampede and got onto 192 and headed to Wal-Mart. Why is it that you always find the Wal-Mart when you are on vacation? Anyway, we did more shopping and then headed back to the resort for rest and relaxation.
Thursday, November 8, 2001 - Magic Kingdom & MGM
Same morning routine & we made it to the TTC in time for the rope drop and again went with the stampede to the Monorail and to go through all of the bag searches. Once in we were able to go through the castle on our way to The Snow White ride. While we waited for our car of five the CM made a comment that the ride was for kids only and that she wished adults would quit riding without children. I guess we were lucky that she was the only rude CM we had the pleasure of meeting this whole trip.
Next stop was Winnie the Pooh, but we decided to get Fast Passes & headed to It's a Small World for another spin. While waiting for our Pooh time, we did Haunted mansion again then we did Pooh! Pooh was so cute! I can't believe we never did that ride before! We next made our way around to Tomorrow Land and got fast passes for Buzz then went to ride Space Mountain while my mother shopped and my MIL smoked. Space Mountain was down & they said it would be about 2 hours before it was up again, so we rode Buzz twice then left to head to MGM.
Arrived at MGM & headed straight to 50's Prime Time for our 12:45 PS time. We finally got seated at 1:50 and had Cousin Roy as our server. This was the first time we had ever eaten here and it was great! The table next to us had decided to take all of their green beans and put them on one plate and cover it with napkins. Well, Roy discovered their little plan and also found out that one of the girls was celebrating her 15th birthday. Roy brought back a Green Bean Sundae in her honor for her birthday. It had a candle, cherries, whipped cream, nuts, chocolate, and caramel. We all sang "Happy Birthday" for her while she blew out her candle and then we all signed a card for her that Roy brought around for everyone to sign.
Our meals arrived and let me tell you, the meals are big enough for two people to eat. I decided to get the fried chicken and could only eat two of the three pieces. Roy made me take 3 more bites and told me to stop wasting mom's food before he would take the plate away. Dessert time came around and the mom's decided to split a sundae and Randy & I split a chocolate shake, while Kev had a chocolate float. The dessert's came back to the table and Cousin Roy decided we weren't eating fast enough so he began to spoon-feed my mom her sundae. It was priceless! Randy caught it all on tape for later blackmail purposes! This was actually a less expensive meal than I anticipated. For the five of us it was only $82.00. Not too bad if you ask me.
With lunch out of the way and it being close to 3:00 p.m. we went onto Drew Carey's Sound's Dangerous show. The CM told us we would miss the parade if we went to this, but we were ok with that. After the show we watched the rest of the parade and have to say it was actually pretty good. We saw about 20 minutes of the parade, then we fought the crowds to go back to the Muppets. After the Muppets we made our way back to TOT while the mom's got more autographs. This time we bribed my nephew into riding by saying we would buy a t-shirt for him. He rode with his eyes closed the entire time and a couple of times we thought he was going to vomit. Thank goodness he didn't!
We left TOT to get fast passes for RNRC and then set off to find the mom's. We found them then headed to get seats for Fantasmic! It was going on 5:15 so we sat in the middle section close to the bottom for picture and camcorder purposes. Randy and I were getting tired of waiting for the 6:30 presentation of Fantasmic!, so we took Kevin with us to meet our fast pass time for RNRC. Kevin decided he really wasn't up for the ride, so Randy and I rode in the very first seat for the best ride we ever had on the RNRC! We made our way back in time for Fantasmic! The moms have really enjoyed this show and were begging to be able to come back and see it.
After the stampede to the main gate, we made our way to the resort and began fixing supper. We had chicken potpies and watched Survivor for the night. I really am glad to see Silas got kicked off of the show. Hopefully next week Lindsey will get kicked off the show. *Editor's note: Lindsey did get kicked out last week.*
Friday, November 9, 2001, Animal Kingdom & MGM
Same morning routine and stampede for the morning rope drop as always. We headed straight to Festival of the Lion King and waited in line for the 10 a.m. showing. The mom's went to Camp Minnie Mickey for more autographs and they took our nephew with them. Randy told them that we were about to be let in and that they should get a move on it. DH and I continued through the line and decided that we would meet up with them after the show ended so we wouldn't ruin the show for anyone else.
We made our way to the Elephant section and then saw the rest of the family. They joined us in our seats, and then my MIL informed me that my mom fell after leaving from Goofy. The show was great as always, but I couldn't really enjoy it knowing my mom was hurt. We left from their and went to the first aide station where my mom got fixed up and also got stickers for being such a "good girl". My mom's words came back to haunt her after all of those years of raising me. She was such a good girl that she even got her picture taken with Trek.
After the little fiasco that we had at Camp Minnie Mickey we made our way to Flights of Wonder for the 11:15 showing. Again, this was another big hit with the family and I believe that they really got teary eyed when the bald eagle was brought out. When the show was over with we headed out to ride Dinosaur for one last time then we went to MGM to do Indiana Jones and try Millionaire for one last time.
Made our way to Indiana Jones and decided on fast passes since it was 2:30 already (fast pass return time was 4:50). We walked over to Millionaire and made it in at the last seating call. They had a fastest finger question and I got on the board at number 4! The list came up on the board for the 1000 point level and I was ranked number 3 and my nephew was number 7 (he admitted that he would watch me to see what button's I was pressing to be able to get on the board). That person missed the 4000-point question and some guy from New York got in the hot seat. This boy missed the 500-point question and was forced out of the hot seat.
The next ranking board comes up and seat number 620 was ranked number 5 (Kevin), seat 622 ranked number 3 (me) and seat number 618 ranked number 1 (Randy - DH)! His first words were oh s**t then he made his way to the Hot Seat (Randy doesn't really like a lot of attention). He got to the 4000-point question and time ran out so we returned for the next show. He did great up until he got to the 32000 question. The question was "What novel begins 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of time'?" Your choices were A) Tale of Two Cities, B) Christmas Carol, C) Great Expectations, and D) The Great Gatsby. Randy decided to take the 50/50 and was given the option of A or C; he jumped and chose C and said Final Answer without thinking it through and got it wrong. I am so proud of him for getting that far!
After the end of this show we checked out his hat, lanyard and 5 pins while waiting for the next show. (I demanded a re-match, because my hubby was going around saying, "I'm smarter than my wife" in a singing voice.) The mom's decided to get in line for Pooh signatures while we waited for the next millionaire show. The fastest finger question came up and I was ranked number 2! Can you believe that?????? Well, I never moved about number 2 the whole time we played. We got out of the show and found the mom's and made our way to the Indy show. We missed the first 5 minutes, but they still enjoyed it nonetheless.
Since it was after 5 and we had an early morning we decided to call it a trip and head back to the resort. While we were crossing over the Lion's Head Bridge at the guard shack, we saw a family of 5 raccoons. The security guard said that they come out every evening at that time for supper and have been coming by for about 2 months now. It turned out to be a momma raccoon and four babies. They were just too cute! We ate supper of lasagna and packed everything for the next morning. (Randy and I had to pack the mom's bags since they made so many purchases.)
Saturday, November 10, 2001 - Departure Day
We were up and ready to leave by 7:00 a.m. We had an uneventful drive back to Tampa and took the Alamo shuttle back to the airport. Randy, my mom Karen, and I had a 45-minute wait to check in at the Delta counter, while my MIL and nephew were checked in and got an earlier flight out of Tampa on Continental. The only really eventful thing that happened was I got frisked by a 70 year old woman security checker and my husband got a real kick out of it. Then when we got to Atlanta, he got randomly selected for a security bag check and frisk!
We made it home at 2:15 p.m. then we began to unpack and get ready for the Marine Corps Ball. The Ball began at 8 with supper beginning at 5, and yes, we did make it on time and only stayed for 1 hour before we headed home to sleep our lives away. I would like to thank all of you that made to the end of this report and also say if you have any questions, please contact me.
Highlights of Trip
Parents expression when first seeing the Castle
My mom being spoon-fed
Husband getting into Hot Seat
Low lights of Trip
My mom falling and hurting herself on the last day
My MIL having to smoke on the entire trip
Rude CM at Snow White
Thanks again!
Tifany Lenoir