Janice O'Hanley - March 2003 - Boardwalk Resort

Time of Year: Winter
Travel Method: Plane, Shuttle
Resort: BWR
Accommodations: Standard, Concierge
Ages Represented in Group: Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Infrequent, Veteran
Comments: Janice found that one of the unexpected perks of working at the Disney Store was a annual trip to WDW with fellow store employees. What an opportunity to visit the park with other that love Disney World as much as her.

Janice O'Hanley -- March 2003 -- Walt Disney World (BWR)

March 21-25, 2003

Cast:

Me – Disney Lover and 1 year and 3 month Disney Store Cast Member
Kerry – Disney Lover and soon to be a 10 year vet @ Disney Store
Nancy – Disney Lover and getting close to being an 8-year vet @ Disney Store
Tara – Adult niece of Kerry, willing to become a Disney Lover like us
Prelude to a WDW Disney Store Cast Member Trip

This is a trip that I’ve been waiting to go on for over a year. I started working at my local Disney Store the beginning of December 2001. After I was given the good news that I would be staying on as a part-time cast member, I heard about an upcoming trip planned by a few of the cast members to go down to WDW in May. I was dying to know all the details and hoping that I would be able to go on next year’s trip if one was planned. So I put my name on the “imaginary” list of cast members wanting to go in 2003. To me this would be a very special trip. Although I love going with family and friends, they are not into Disney as much as I am. I’m a so-called commando-touring guest when in Disney. Close to being obsessive is what some people would think. LOL! I’m usually on the go from early morning until late at night the whole time I am there. The girls I work with have a love of Disney and a similar style of touring as I do, but we have decided that this type of touring is not set in stone for this trip. I’ve never really relaxed and lounged by the pool before, so this may be a good chance to do it. Besides enjoying the attractions, we may explore more of the secret places and look for hidden spots (including Hidden Mickey’s) this time around. Each park and resort seems to have so much to offer. This trip is all about enjoying WDW along with enjoying each other’s company.

The girls seemed to have had a terrific time during their trip in May. We found out that only 3 of us could go at a time for this year, so since Kerry and Nancy (co-founders of the cast member annual trip) were already on the “list” and I had put my name on that “list”, we had our trip members. Kerry’s adult niece Tara would also be joining us (her first time in a very long time). We decided to go in March and the best weekend for all of us was the third weekend. So we planned on going from the Friday through the Tuesday of the next week. Five fun-filled days at our favorite place. Woo Hoo! Nancy made the phone call down to CRO for reservations. We were able to get the Boardwalk (waterview) for an excellent rate! I’ve never stayed at a deluxe resort before. Now things were starting to happen. The three of us (Tara was letting us make all the plans and she would just go along with whatever we decided on) made a list of the restaurants we wanted to go to (including a few character meals) and I pulled up the dates to call for priority seatings. When each date came I called CRO in the morning and I got our ressies for that meal. Also I made up a “Disney Planner” in excel (the Disney fanatic that I am) which shows a tentative day to day schedule of the parks and other things that we want to do. I’ll do anything to keep the excitement going. Kerry has her own way of keeping the anticipation going. She will email the “countdown” and a Disney trivia question at least once a week to us. Kerry comes up with some hard questions and it takes a little searching to come up with the answers, but it is so much fun to do. We have had a couple of group meetings, during our wait for our trip, to discuss our plans in more detail. This is just another way of continuing our excitement.

This will be a trip of many firsts for me. 1. Just staying at a deluxe resort is my greatest first. 2. I am anxious to go to Jellyrolls on the Boardwalk. Since we are staying there, we should be able to visit this club at least once. 3. We have decided to get a massage while we are down there and this is something that I am extremely excited about. I had a recent trip to my local spa for a half hour massage but having one at WDW is still a first for me. 4. We also plan on having afternoon tea at the Grand Floridian when we arrive. I have only visited this hotel just to see what it looked like so now I will be spending some quality mealtime here on our first day. 5. Another special event is happening on the night that we arrive and that is E-Ride Night. This will be my first one and I can’t wait for it! I am crossing my fingers that Disney will not decide to cancel this E-ride Night; lately they have been doing a lot of last minute cutbacks. 6. Besides our ressies for meals we are thinking of visiting some of the resort restaurants to sample desserts. This will accomplish getting a chance to eat at these fine eateries and satisfying our sweet tooth that we all seem to have. 7. We also hope to share “a little bit of this and that” (food wise) as much as we can “around the world” in Epcot. 8. We are celebrating anniversaries and birthdays this trip (my birthday is on the following Thursday). So we will make sure we go get our buttons and wear them all weekend long. I never thought that I would ever be down in WDW close to my birthday, a real nice way to enjoy it.

Nancy bought each of us a small photo album with an area for autographs under each photo. We can’t wait to have the characters fill this album. She also is getting us colored t-shirts to wear while we are down there. I bought the new Hidden Mickey book and will bring that along so that we can hunt all through the world. We bought some cheap pins from the store to trade with the WDW cast members. I’ve enjoyed doing this from my past trips. I have been named the “official” photographer for the trip. I brought in photos of my last two trips to show the girls at the store and they thought that they came out quite good, so I got nominated for this coming trip. Sorry to say, I don’t have a scanner.

Needless to say, we have a lot packed into this weekend. Tara doesn’t know what she’s got herself into! LOL!

Thursday night – March 20th

Kerry has invited Nancy and I over to her house the night before we leave so that in the morning we can all drive to Providence to meet Tara and arrive at the airport at the same time. This will be like a good old fashion sleepover, but we don’t expect to get much sleep at all.

To make the evening before our trip go by a little faster, I suggested that we take a drive over to our store manager’s house and visit with her and her new baby boy. We miss her since her maternity leave and are dying to visit with the new little one again. After getting home to Kerry’s from our visit it was almost 11 pm so we knew that we better get some sleep, 3:00 am will come before we know it. We wanted to leave the house no later than 4:00 am so that we could get to the airport before 5:00 am. We were hoping to be bumped for either an earlier or later flight (Delta was offering $400 cash to anyone who was willing to change flights). There was a 6:15 am flight but when we got to the airport our flight was no longer overbooked, so we ended up taking our scheduled flight at 7:10 am. That was fine with us; we knew that we would get to Orlando as originally planned with our towncar waiting to pick us up.

Here’s how the rest of the trip went…

Friday – March 21, 2003

Our flight down was uneventful, which was great since the war over in Iraq started this week. Our excitement was overflowing on the way down and we were almost the first ones off the plane (we only took carry-ons so that we wouldn’t be detained at the baggage claim). Love riding on the glass shuttle that brings you from one section of the airport to the other, we consider this our first ride of the trip. We headed down toward the baggage claim area and spotted our towncar driver. His name was Dennis and he was great! We had such a good time driving from the airport to the hotel. We used Your Ride as our towncar service and would highly recommend it. When Dennis dropped us off at the Boardwalk Inn, we hinted to him that it would be nice to be picked up in a limo – LOL!

Once we arrived at the Boardwalk we walked up to check-in and hoped to get at least some of what we faxed down to them. We ended up getting a nice view with a balcony overlooking part of the Luna Pool and the Boardwalk. We were suppose to get a waterview and had hoped to have been upgraded to the concierge but there was a convention in at this time. Oh well, I guess concierge wasn’t in the cards for me. All in all, it was a nice room and I was just so happy to be at WDW and the Boardwalk that I didn’t care what our view was. We were lucky enough to be fairly close to the elevators. Also another plus was that we were able to go right up to the room. This worked out well because I wanted to change out of my jeans and into a cooler outfit. Our first plan of the afternoon was to have “afternoon tea” at the Grand Floridian.

While we were checking into the hotel, it started raining outside. So our plans to walk thru Epcot and take the monorail over to the Grand Floridian had to be revised. We decided this time to take the Magic Kingdom bus and then transfer over to the resort monorail. We could have walked into the GF a little bit drier but we weren’t too bad. Our priority seating was for 2:00 pm. We were a little early so we window-shopped around until we were able to be seated. Let me tell you how nice this tea was! It is very elegant and you feel like British Royalty sitting in this lovely room with flowers all over surrounded by glass windows. They have a nice menu to choose from and we all elected to have the “Buckingham” which consisted of a choice of tea (I chose raspberry flavored), tea sandwiches (egg salad, watercress & cucumber, chicken salad, pear and one other that I don’t recall at this time), warm scones with jelly and Devon shire cream (to die for) and finally fresh strawberries and cream. This was so special and we all loved it and would highly recommend doing it. It would be such a nice thing to do with either your mother, grandmother or daughter. I will definitely book this event again in the future.

Luckily while we were having tea, the rain eased up. We decided to head over to the Magic Kingdom and get our wristbands for E-Ride Night. We went over to City Hall and a cast member changed a ressie for us (Boma instead of Spoodles for dinner on Sunday night) and he gave Kerry and me our birthday buttons. We both are having birthdays around this time of the year (mine is two days after we leave WDW) also Tara will be celebrating her 30th this year. I put my button on right away and as soon as we stepped back onto Main Street the 3:00 pm “Share a Dream” parade started, so we stayed to watch it. After the parade we headed over to Tomorrowland and directly onto Buzz Lightyear. I was the only one who had ever been on this ride so it was fun sharing it with new riders. We rode this two times in a row without even using fast pass. We really had a great time in this ride and hoped that we would find time to ride it again during our trip. We wanted to do one more ride before picking up our wristbands and heading back to the resort. We decided on the Haunted Mansion. This was a walk on also and we thoroughly enjoyed cast members role-playing and the ride itself. I also pointed out the Hidden Mickey and Hidden Donald along the way. We left this area of the park and headed back down to City Hall, knowing that we would be back later on this evening and got our wristbands for our nighttime activity.

We now decided to head over to Epcot and walked thru it towards the International Gateway and back to the Boardwalk. We were able to ask the cast member if we could sit in the front of the Epcot monorail and he said yes. Here is one of my firsts to check off my list. Although this was a cool way to ride the monorail, we didn’t have a very talkative driver and as hard as we tried we couldn’t get him to lighten up. Oh well, maybe the next time. By this time my new sandals were beginning to hurt my feet so walking thru Epcot to the Boardwalk was a little painful but we made it. I’m still glad that we went this way because Tara has only been to the Magic Kingdom. It was so much fun to see her reaction to seeing Spaceship Earth for the first time. She seemed in awe. That alone was worth the long trek back to the hotel. I do love the walk from the International Gateway to the Boardwalk. Definitely a plus to staying at the Epcot resorts. We didn’t have too much time to get ready for our ressie at 1900 Park Faire (Cinderella’s Gala Feast) so once we all changed into more comfortable attire (also preparing for E-Ride Night) we took the monorail back to the Grand Floridian. Because we were celebrating my birthday today we told the check-in cast member my name and I knew that I would get an extra dessert because of it. Tee Hee! We were given a pager and we waited in the lobby to be called. While waiting, the Fairy Godmother appeared and Kerry and I (the biggest kids of the group) got in line with the children and had our picture taken with her. After that, our pager went off and we were seated. The birthday button was a huge success; I don’t think that a single cast member missed wishing me a Happy Birthday. It was so much fun. The buffet dinner was excellent. I loved the Prime Rib and the Bread Pudding, for which I can only say that it is “out of this world”. Cinderella, Prince Charming and Perla (I know now that Perla wears purple) came over during the evening to take pictures with us. Then towards the end of the meal I got my birthday cupcake and ate as much of it as I could fit in. I had pigged out on the variety of food while we were there. I would recommend this priority seating but just beware that it is very noisy with so many little ones about. All in all, it was a good time.

Now it was time to head back to the Magic Kingdom for E-Ride Night. We got there about 20 minutes before e-ride night started so we went straight to Fantasyland and rode “It’s a Small World”. Have you ever heard of Magic Trips Radio? That is just one of a few internet radio stations that broadcasts WDW music and attraction themes, etc. Well we have a real live radio station accompanying us on this trip. You name it and Kerry can sing every word of every song. She’s amazing with the songs in her head. When we exited this ride we tried to go onto Peter Pan’s Flight but it had just closed for the day due to e-night. We headed towards Tomorrowland and while passing the Winnie the Pooh ride the cast member was saying last call for a ride. Well you didn’t have to tell us twice, we jumped right into a hunny pot and enjoyed this delightful ride. When we were getting off and exiting through the shop you could tell that the cast members working the shop were trying to close as quickly as possible so they could go home. We headed right onto Buzz Lightyear with not much of a wait. This is so much fun but I have to tell you, my thumbs get so sore after I ride this. My score was pretty bad this time around but the others seem to be scoring a lot higher than their first go round. Now Tara has never been on Alien Encounter and Kerry and I really don’t care too much for it but we still wanted her to experience it. Nancy said she wouldn’t mind going on it with her, so off they went while Kerry and I browsed in the Merchants of Venus shop. It was a nice night, a little cool but we enjoyed sitting on a bench outside of the shop while waiting for the girls to disembark from the ride. It must have been about 20 minutes before they came out (sure seemed longer) and Tara actually enjoyed it. I’m just glad that I didn’t have to endure it again. We headed over to Space Mountain for our first ride there. Kerry sat this one out too because she says this coaster is too rough for her. Nancy, Tara and I headed up the ramp with barely a wait at all and before we knew it we were riding through space. This is one of my favorite rides in the Magic Kingdom. I love the speed and also riding in the dark. Kerry was sitting outside of the arcade enjoying the people watching when we came out and she asked if we wanted to ride again. Well you didn’t have to twist my arm so off to the entrance went Tara and I. Nancy decided to sit with Kerry on this time. The second time around was just as fun and when we came out Kerry and Nancy decided they were too tired to go much further (it had been a very long day) so they headed back to the resort. Tara and I headed over towards the Haunted Mansion. I wasn’t about to poop out on my first E-night!

It was another walk-on into the Haunted Mansion. Darkness had come, so this made the atmosphere just perfect. The stretching room was just about full to capacity. The cast member did a superb job at being spooky. He ended up following one girl around the room whenever she tried to get away from him. It had me in stitches! The rest of the ride was just great as usual. As we exited I saw another cast member and asked him to show me where the wedding ring was embedded in the sidewalk. After seeing it, I never would have found it because I didn’t think that it looked like a wedding band at all. We decided to head towards Big Thunder Mountain but along the way the Country Bear Jamboree was just about to start so we went right on in. Tara wanted to see it and it was cute as always but I wouldn’t mind skipping it the next time I’m down in the world. Now over to Big Thunder. This ride is the best at night and this time around was no different.

Then we trekked over to Splash Mountain. I’m not crazy about getting wet when it’s not hot outside but still decided to “take the plunge” anyway so that Tara could experience the ride. Our logs were a little wet to begin with but the big drop really didn’t get us too wet at all. I sat on the right side, which was my mistake because even though the drop wasn’t too bad there were still spots here and there that seem to splash you by surprise. I was wetter than I had hoped but all in all not too bad. It was close to closing time, we had 10 minutes left so we rushed over to do the Haunted Mansion one more time. I believe that we were on the last tour of the mansion. There was also another couple with us. Remember I still had on the birthday button so as we were leaving the stretching room the cast member yelled at the top of his lungs “Happy Birthday”. I responded loudly back “Thank you” and off we went to the doombuggys. Right before boarding our doombuggy another cast member came up to me and said that she had a birthday present for me. Cupped in her hand was a piece of cobweb. I felt honored to have received such a gift. LOL! Time to leave the park, so we headed to the bus stop, which was for Grand Floridian, Yacht & Beach Club and Boardwalk. We got there about 11:10 pm and a bus did not come until 11:45 pm. Why did we have to wait so long? We were the only park open late so there was no need of the delay in busses. Tara and I we the lucky ones to have gotten on the first bus. This stop was going to need at least two more busses. That was the lucky part; now that we were on the bus we had to wait until we stopped at the other three resorts before arriving at our hotel. What a long journey! I think my head finally hit the pillow around 12:30 pm. Now that was a long first day!!

Saturday – March 22, 2003

Today we were headed to MGM. Before we left from home, Nancy had t-shirts made up for us to wear one day. They ended up being a gorgeous color of royal blue and we had a Mickey head icon over the pocket area with our name printed. This t-shirt became very popular during the day. We had a 9:00 am priority seating at the Hollywood and Vine. We found out only a short time before leaving on this trip that they would be ending the character breakfast and lunch here at the H & V in two days. Too bad because it is such a nice buffet and a great time. I don’t think there is much else available for breakfast in this park except for Starring Rolls. What a shame! When we first entered the park we headed for Tower of Terror and the Rock n’ Roller coaster to get a fastpass for either one of them. We wanted to have the fastpass for after our priority seating. I love TOT and could ride it over and over so that was the fastpass that we acquired. Now we headed over to Hollywood & Vine for our meal. Anyway we thoroughly enjoyed this breakfast (both the food and the character interaction). The restaurant wasn’t that crowded at the time of our seating, which was great for us. We immediately filled our plates with a little bit of everything. I tried the breakfast pizza for the first time and made sure that I had the Mickey waffles. Being as excited as I get while in WDW and at the character meal, I was sitting down at our table and accidentally picked up the solid color pitcher of syrup and thought that it was cream for my coffee. I only poured in a little bit so I just considered it a type of sweetener. LOL! All of the usual suspects were here – Minnie, Pluto, Goofy Chip and Dale. Goofy came by and messed up my hair. Each character came by and was so lovable and we were able to get some great photos with each of them.

After breakfast we headed back down Sunset Blvd. to ride the TOT. Kerry and Tara opted not to ride but Nancy and I couldn’t wait to hit the elevator! With our fastpass we quickly walked right thru the queue and into the library, ready to watch the television with Rod Serling telling us about the Twilight Zone. When the doors opened up we headed towards the furnace room and then it seemed quite crowded. We headed to the farthest left elevators and luckily the bellhop needed only two more riders. We anxiously volunteered. This was our first time with the new added sequences and we got an elevator that had only seat belts. I was a little apprehensive about not have a lap bar but since there was a handle next to me on the seat to hold on to, I felt a tiny bit better. To be perfectly honest with you, I was so into the thrill of the ride that I didn’t really notice too much of a difference in this newer version but did notice that we went up and down a few more times than before. I actually enjoyed the seat belts more! I felt you get more air- time and a bigger thrill. We checked out the photo afterward and even though it came out quite good of us (especially with out bright blue shirts) we didn’t buy them. When we got off the ride we couldn’t wait to do it again. So using Kerry and Tara’s fastpasses, we headed right back up the fastpass return entrance and had another enjoyable ride. Kerry and Tara were waiting for us at the exit and we headed toward R n’ RC when all of a sudden I spotted a cast member with a plaid vest walking towards us. Well this turned on a light bulb in my brain. I knew from past trips during Super Soap Weekend that when you see a plaid vested cast member, he or she is a tour guide for a V.I.P. This time was no exception. I saw someone who was kind of tall and slender with blonde hair and he looked familiar but I couldn’t quite put my finger on who it was. I asked the other girls and Kerry said it looked like the guy from the Dukes of Hazard tv. show. Sure enough it was John Schneider with his family. I quickly took his picture and Kerry scurried off after him to ask for his autograph while the rest of us headed towards the R n’ RC. We picked up a fastpass for later in the day. There wasn’t much of a wait time for this ride, so we stood in line for about 10 minutes and before we knew it we were in the building. This was the first time for Tara to ride this so Nancy and I were anxious to see her reaction to the take-off of the limos. Tara loves to drive her car fast so this ride suited her just fine. I could tell she couldn’t wait to get in the limo and the attraction did not disappoint her. Once in a while after I ride this I get a headache but not today, I braced myself by leaning my head back and ended up having a very smooth ride. I came off the ride exhilarated! Usually once is enough for me with R n’ RC, but I couldn’t wait to ride it again later.

The Great Movie Ride was down for rehab, so unfortunately we missed this classic attraction but we moved on to “Who Wants to be a Millionaire – Play It”. I love going to this show! We got in fairly early and sat about in the middle of the section behind the host. Now remember the four of us had on our bright blue t-shirts so I thought we might be spotted to be put up on the big tv. screens. The game began and we had a great time trying to answer the questions. I was the first one to get my name on the board, I believe I was number 7 out of the top 10. It didn’t take much for me to mess up a question and drop out of the top 10. On the next contestant’s round of questions, Tara was number 1 at one point but of course the contestant answered the question correctly and continued on with the game. Tara eventually slipped down in the list. Too bad she couldn’t have made it to the “hot seat”, because she would have been the only one of the four of us who would have been eligible to participate. Being cast members we are not allowed to go for prizes so if one of us did make it to the “hot seat”, we would have to disqualify ourselves. If Tara had made it and she went all the way (she’s a very smart girl) then that would be the only way that all four of us could go on the Disney cruise for free. LOL! It was not in the cards I guess. On the last round of questions, Kerry also made the top 10 board but like me she dropped off after the next round of questions. By the way, the camera did put our picture on the big screen and we were known by the host as the “blue shirt family”. LOL! We saw him as we were leaving the studio and he recognized us from earlier.

After we left Millionaire we headed towards Voyage of the Little Mermaid show. We were not able to go into the show that was just beginning but were able to get a fast pass for the next show, which was only 20 minutes away. Before we knew it, it was time to get in the fastpass line. Once we went into the “pre-loading” room, we seemed to be in there for a good 10 – 15 minutes. Finally we were let in to be seated and the show started. Most of us had seen this show before but it’s been a good while for me and I really enjoyed it. I love the “sea spray” that you feel when the ship comes heading towards you. This show is not very long so before we knew it we were out the doors in the Animation courtyard.

At this point Kerry and Tara were ready to go back to the resort. Tara was dying to go lay in the sun by the pool and Kerry was needing some down time too. We planned on meeting in front of Mama Melrose’s for our priority seating around 4:30 pm. Nancy and I felt that we had a lot more to do in this park so we headed back down Mickey Ave. and decided to on the Backlot Tour. Before heading into the entrance to this, we passed by the building where Mickey the Sorcerer was stationed for photo ops. I had never had my picture taken with this particular version of the mouse so I “needed” to go in and have it done. Nancy was perfectly satisfied with being my photographer. The photo came out quite well. Now we went straight to the Backlot Tour and saw the pre-show and then went on the tram ride. I made sure that I didn’t sit on the left hand side because I was in no mood to be wet. I do enjoy watching first timers on this ride and seeing their reaction to the “fire and water” portion of the ride. We checked out the store at the end of this attraction for a few minutes. Nancy is an “I Love Lucy” fan and has a lot of memorabilia at home but didn’t find anything to add to her collection this time around. We headed back down Mickey Ave. and into the Animation courtyard. We decided to take the Animation Tour, which I haven’t done, in a real long time. I saw that Lilo and Stitch were situated behind the animation building for photo ops and thought I would get in line for a chance of having my picture taking with them, but the line was quite long and moving very slowly. I stayed for a few minutes and was entertained by Stitch because every few minutes he would run off around the corner and a moment later come right back. It happened more often than I thought needed, so I knew that this would only delay the line from moving any quicker. I headed back over to Nancy, who was almost at the front of the line for the tour. A few minutes later we were entering the animation building and watching Walter Cronkite and Robin Williams telling us about how animation works. The tour continued into the next building where the animator “taught” his portion of the program. Onto the part of the building that shows where all the animators do their work at their desks and some exhibits. Lastly we landed into the store and enjoyed a lot of the collectibles displayed.

At this time we headed onto Hollywood Blvd. to do a little shopping. I bought a few things that were on my list to bring back to my office (ruler, pens, etc.) plus I bought the Fantasmic CD and the Magic in the Streets CD, which features all of the parades that are in each of the parks now. Both CD’s are great and I was glad that I purchased them. Nancy was at the point of wanting to buy also and she went into one of the stores that had adult clothing and even though she tried on a few things, she stored these items in her mind for future purchases before we leave for home. When we stepped out of the shops the afternoon Stars and Motorcade parade was starting so we picked a spot and enjoyed that for the duration. It was Nancy’s first time seeing this parade and I took quite a few photos of each car so that I could add them to me photo album that I started last November. This is such a cute and colorful parade and definitely worth seeing. We then headed towards Star Tours knowing that we had about 40 minutes until our priority seating at Mama Melrose’s. We are planning on meeting Kerry and Tara at 4:30 in front of the restaurant. Star Tours was just about a walk-on. When we got up to the area were they tell you which row to get into, I asked if we could go into row 6 (no one was in it at this time) knowing that it would be the back row and I’ve been reading that this is the best seating on the ride. Well luckily we took this row because there were a few screaming teens in the middle rows, screeching even when they didn’t need to and it would have been worse if they were right near me. The ride was alright, too bad it couldn’t be updated, but I still enjoy it. Now onto Muppet vision 3-D. This actually is becoming one of my least favorite attractions in MGM. I think I am just tired of it and this time was no exception. I can only laugh so much at the same jokes in the pre-show and it seems to take forever to be over so that we can sit in our seats. Then as the show starts, I have a very hard time not falling asleep halfway thru it. Nancy said that she was having the same problem. Good, I don’t feel as bad now. LOL! Maybe if I was with someone who hasn’t seen it before I might be more inclined to enjoy his or her reaction to everything. Well it was a good resting place for me. Since Mama’s is right around the corner from Muppets, we didn’t have far to walk. We were a little early so we looked in the Christmas shop for a few minutes and then checked us in for our dinner. We waited outside on a bench for Kerry and Tara and about five minutes later they came around the corner. They seemed in a very good mood coming down the road towards us, so I guess the downtime did them a lot of good. We headed into the restaurant and got seated within a minute. This is the first time I’ve been to this eatery and I liked the atmosphere a lot. Our waitress was very attentive and we began to look over the menus. Now Kerry was overly excited at this time and it seems that she had something to say to Nancy and me. Finally they pulled out two new room keys and handed them to us. They said that they had to change our rooms. Well these keys were gold in color but being a newbie to a deluxe hotel, I didn’t think much of it. Kerry couldn’t contain herself any longer and she said that these keys represent concierge level!! I couldn’t believe it! I guess when the girls went back to the resort, Kerry thought she would inquire again about upgrading. When we checked in on Friday, the cast member told us that no rooms on the concierge level were available due to a convention. Well she asked again this time and a different cast member she that they did indeed had a room. Tara and Kerry had already discussed this possibility before entering the resort and they wanted to go for it even if Tara had to chip in a little more than planned. She thought it was worth it and was able to accommodate us. Before they came back to the park to meet us they had already moved our stuff up to the concierge and met the staff. Only one problem, I had the key to the safe and they had to have maintenance go to our original room and open the safe to get our valuables. Kerry promised that I would return the key as soon as we got back to the hotel. This was too good to be true! Never did I expect this and the girls were so excited to be able to do this for me. Last year Kerry and Nancy got upgraded at the Beach Club and Tara has already stayed in deluxe hotels and I’m sure at the highest level due to her job. I was the only one who was never able to do this before. As much as I wanted to enjoy the rest of the park (including Fantasmic), I was very excited to go back and see our new room.

Now back to dinner. We had ordered our meals and Kerry and I had the flat bread pizzas, Nancy had, I think, chicken parmesan and Tara had something else that I can’t seem to remember what it was, but we all thoroughly enjoyed our meals. Now it was time for dessert. We celebrated Kerry’s birthday here and she got to choose a free dessert. We all had heard about the tiramisu here at Mama Melrose’s and were dying to try it, so that’s what Kerry ordered. She was generous enough to let us share this delicious dessert.

It was getting close to the time for us to head over to the Fantasmic venue so we would be sure to get decent seats. We had over an hour to wait but that’s what you must do for this show. The stadium benches are very uncomfortable and the girls were getting a bit restless (I know they were dying to get back to the resort for evening cordials and desserts in the concierge lounge) but they had never seen this show before and I was anxious to have them experience it. Finally it started and once again this show takes my breath away. I love the music (that’s why I bought the CD) and the special effects, characters and production. If you haven’t had the chance to see this show, please make it a point to go, I don’t think you will be sorry. Now I’ve seen both the WDW and Disneyland versions and I must admit that Disneyland’s is a bit better but WDW’s is still an enjoyable experience. After the show we followed the other patrons towards the entrance of the park and then decided to walk the walkway back to the Boardwalk resort. It was a nice evening and we all could use the exercise.

Well Nancy and I finally arrived at our new living quarters for the next 3 nights. We went first to the front desk so that I could give them the safe key and then straight to the elevators and up to the concierge floor. When you get your gold room key, it is suppose to be able to open the locked doors to concierge but unfortunately the whole time we were up there, the doors were unlocked because they needed to be repaired. Too bad we couldn’t get the thrill of the privileged few but no matter. Our room was right next to the lounge so we hardly had a walk at all to it. Perfect for those who like to “crawl out of bed” to get coffee (right Tara?). LOL! Our room wasn’t all that much bigger but did we get a great view! Out on our veranda we could see the quiet pool, hot tub, other DVC complexes but most of all we could see the Eiffel Tower from the World Showcase and at 9 PM each night we could enjoy the fireworks display from Illuminations. How special is that? I was on cloud 9, never expecting this. I guess dreams do come true once in a while. Kerry and Tara had already transferred our things over from the old room so there was nothing to do but to go next door and see what dessert offerings were to be had. As Nancy and I walked into the lounge, we were introduced to 3 of the nicest cast members (Jackie – who is in charge of the staff in the lounge, Dan and Eric). We headed straight to the dessert trays and enjoyed all of the special treats that were laid out for us. The lounge was pretty quiet tonight and it felt like we had the whole place to ourselves. After hanging around and chatting for a while we decided to head back to the room and hit the sack. We had a long day and another one to attack tomorrow.

Sunday – March 23, 2003

We got up and headed for a quick “continental” breakfast in the lounge. We only wanted something to hold us over until we went to Ohana’s for our character breakfast around 10:30 am. It was a rainy day so I brought my poncho to wear. First stop was the Magic Kingdom. We took the bus over and hoped to get there in time for the “opening ceremonies” but because of the rain they did not have them. Darn, it would be the only change that we would have to view this. I guess we will have to wait until out next visit to the world. We knew that we wanted to go on Buzz Lightyear again, so off in the direction of Tomorrowland. I had a terrible score, just couldn’t seem to hit many targets at all but my other three Disneynuts did quite well. After getting out of Buzz we rounded the corner and lo and behold, there was Buzz standing in the area near the Timekeeper entrance. Also standing for photo opportunities was Daisy Duck. Once again, both Kerry and I had to have our pics taken, so with our yellow ponchos on we stood in line and had a great time. I believe that we went to Fantasyland and rode “It’s a Small World” and “Peter Pan’s Flight”. (Girls you can correct me if I’m wrong anywhere throughout this report, my memory isn’t what it use to be – LOL!) I think we also went on Haunted Mansion right before heading out the front gate. It was time to catch the resort monorail to the Polynesian for our character breakfast. We got there in plenty of time for our p.s. but still had to wait around for at least a half hour, they seemed swamped with guests due to the fact that it was raining I assume. We had our group picture taken but decided not to purchase it. Finally our table was ready and we enjoyed a terrific brunch (it was close enough to lunchtime by now). We had enough interaction with the characters and enjoyed watching the kids join in the games. Now it was onto a shopping venture. We decided to go over to the Contemporary and the Grand Floridian to check out the shops. Kerry was looking for a particular dress for her new granddaughter, Maddie. We spent a good deal of time exploring the stores in this resort, each of us buying some items to bring home. Unfortunately we didn’t see the dress in the correct size in this hotel. I guess we will just have to go to the GF to get it there where we had originally saw it. (Oh well, I guess we can “shop some more” – LOL!) Back onto the monorail and over to the GF and straight to the store were the dress was. Guess what? They did not have the size that Kerry needed either. Now what? We would keep on looking until we found it, it was becoming our mission! Earlier we decided to change our appointments for our massages from Monday to today since it was raining. So now it was time to head back to the Boardwalk and enjoy this luxury. Nancy and I went first and I know that Nancy was quite nervous but the hour massage changed her way of thinking. We both loved it and wished that it would go on for at least another hour. What a relaxing way to enjoy a vacation. Before I knew it I could hear Kerry and Tara waiting for their turn. This is something that everyone should partake in if at all possible!

Now it was time to get ready for our dinner at Boma’s. When we all got back to our room we relaxed a little in the lounge and then dressed for dinner. We called a cab and headed down to the front of the resort to wait for it. Well here’s where it seems that one cab outsmarted another. We saw a cab drive up to us and he asked us if we were the ones going to the AKL. We said yes and jumped into the cab. As we were driving off another cab came up to the front of the resort and looked like they were the cab that we called. I guess the cab that we were in heard on his radio that there was a fare at the Boardwalk going to the AKL and he hightailed it over to us and stole us from the original cab. We didn’t realize this until after we were driving off. Oh well, it wasn’t our fault but we did feel a little guilty.

We arrived at the AKL in plenty of time for our p.s. at Boma’s, so I decided to check in hoping that they would seat us early. We went upstairs to the lounge and had a drink and Kerry took Tara to see the Savannah and hopefully some animals. It wasn’t too long before we were called for dinner. A lovely young woman escorted us to our table from Africa. She chatted with us for a few minutes and told us a lot about herself and where she was from. She seemed so excited to be in the United States and to be working for Disney. We really enjoyed talking with her and planned on telling her supervisor that we thought she did a great job as our hostess. Then our waiter came over and took our drink orders and told us what was available at the buffet. I wanted to try as many things as possible, that I thought I might like, but still wanted to make sure I had plenty of room for dessert. My heart was set on trying the Zebra Dome. I did sample a lot of different things including Couscous. It was all right but not really to my liking. I did enjoy the Prime Rib and the Potatoes Afritude. Also I tried the Coconut Curried Chicken Soup, which was very good but a little spicier than I am use to. Everyone else seemed to be enjoying their selections and we ate as much as we could. Now it was time for dessert and the only way to have the Zebra Domes was to select the miniature ones along with quite a few other selections. I filled my plate with quite the samplings. Now I was a bit disappointed in the Zebra Domes. Maybe because I had stuffed myself or maybe because the smaller serving just wasn’t made the same but was not impressed. I would like to give them another try someday when they offer them as a regular dessert and not a sample size. I actually enjoyed the other offerings better including a chocolate mousse sample. Now that we were quite full we made out way out the door and had the bell captain get us another cab back to the Boardwalk. Once we arrived back on our floor we headed again straight to the lounge to visit with our friends Jackie and Dan. It was a perfect night for a swim, so Nancy and I decided to hit the hot tub. Tara and Kerry headed over to Jellyrolls and I said that I would meet them there after my trip to the hot tub. Nancy and I thoroughly enjoyed this little piece of heaven and had a nice chat with an older couple. After our soak, we went back up to the room and changed. Nancy didn’t want to go to the club but she was planning on doing some nighttime shopping along the boardwalk. I went with her to a few stores along my way to the club.

Jellyrolls is a “dueling piano” bar where you can sing along all night long. I walked into the bar and found Kerry and Tara and sat next to them. They were having so much fun and I could see why. On stage were two piano players and they were taking suggestions for songs, no matter what type of song that was written on the slips of paper from the customers. They were quite entertaining and comical besides talented. We sang for a few hours and then decided to head back and get some sleep. Morning will be here before you know it and we had an early p.s. at Donald’s Breakfastosaurus in the Animal Kingdom.

Just an added note. It had rained all day long and by the time I headed to bed I could feel the start of a cold coming on. Thankfully it didn’t keep me up all night but I knew that I wouldn’t be able to avoid it from attacking me. Why do I seem to get something whenever I am on vacation???

Monday – March 24, 2003

We got up early enough for us to get our showers and dressed in enough time to make our bus. Yes I was feeling lousy due to the cold that I got but it wasn’t going to stop me from enjoying the rest of my time in Disney. We did stop in to the lounge to say our good mornings to our new friends and then headed down to the bus stop. We arrived at the Animal Kingdom just in time for our early p.s. at Donald’s.

This was my first time at this restaurant and it won’t be my last. I loved it! The themeing was well done and the buffet was do die for. They had items that you usually don’t see at breakfast buffets, which included – chocolate chip pancakes, breakfast pizza and Krispy Kreme donuts. Our server was very accommodating and we enjoyed his funny jokes. We got to visit with Mickey, Goofy, Chip, Dale and of course our host – Donald Duck. We didn’t feel rushed and had enough time to go back up for seconds. I can’t wait to come back here in September with my girlfriend and our daughters. Now we wanted to do a few things at this park so we tried the Safari but the wait time was too long and we didn’t bother to get fast passes. It was actually quite crowded in this park today. We did go on the Dinosaur ride much to Kerry’s dismay. She didn’t have to go on but decided to anyway. This was so much fun! I use to be a little “afraid” of this ride myself at first but still loved it. I’m not good with things jumping out at you so it took me a few times to get use to the Cantersauous. I sat in the middle with Tara on my right and Kerry on my left. Now a month ago I fell on the ice and fractured my left shoulder bone. It was healing but I still had to be careful and not do too much physical stuff with it. Well I should have switched places with Kerry because she grabbed onto my left arm and squeezed it through the whole ride. I don’t even think she saw any of the ride because she had her head down and her eyes shut the whole time. LOL! The picture at the end was so funny because all you could see was the top of her head. Too bad because we might have bought it otherwise. Nancy wanted to go on Primeval Whirl with me but the wait was 25 mins. And even with a fast pass it would be out of our way to bother. I’ve ridden it last fall and loved it but I guess I will just have to wait until this fall to ride it again. We wanted to see the Festival of the Lion King so that’s the direction that we headed towards. Since the park was so crowded today, it took quite a few minutes to enter the FTLK arena. We sat in the Lion section and had an enjoyable time watching the show.

After this show we thought that we would attempt to go to the safari (maybe getting FP’s), but going over the bridge into the Harambe Village, it was packed with people. It was so hot at this park (even I was dying of the heat and that takes some doing) we decided to leave this park and head to Epcot. We really didn’t get a chance to do Future World yet, so that was our intention. First we headed over to Test Track and picked up FP’s for later on. Then we went over to the Imagination pavilion for two reasons. First to ride the new Figment attraction and second to get our picture taken together. The ride itself was o.k. I had been on it before the last time I was here in November so I knew what to expect. It was fun watching the expressions of my friends when the skunk smell filled the room. They definitely could add more to this attraction (especially since the last half of the ride is kind of boring). Now we were on a mission to get our picture taken. We went to the area were they do it and looked over all the backgrounds. We finally decided on the one with the Monsters, Inc. characters surrounding us. It was a lot of fun to do and it came out really cute. I got a 5 x 7 to bring back and show the girls back at the store and then we also each got a magnet picture to remember it by. Since we were right next door to Honey I Shrunk the Audience we did that. Tara had never done this before so it was a lot of fun watching her reactions. Now it was time for our Test Track fast passes. As my past experiences, this ride is awesome! We got to ride it twice and thoroughly enjoyed it each time. I love the rush you get at the very end of the ride driving around the top of the attraction at top speed.

It was getting close to our p.s. at Alfredo’s so we headed into World Showcase and strolled along the left side and enjoyed the countries along the way. When we arrived in France we stayed a few minutes and watched the Living Statue work the crowd. It was a girl this time and she was very good. It’s interesting to watch the crowd try their chance to stand next to the statue. So many times one person will run in the center and half to go back to their spot because someone ran a little faster than them and beat them to it. We would have loved to have had our picture taken with the statue but the time for our reservation was coming up, so we headed over to Italy and walked towards the back of the pavilion and into Alfredo’s. By this time we were starving! We had to wait about 10 minutes before a very cute and young Italian waiter seated us. Tara was smitten by him and she was flirting big time with him. Tara told this waiter (who only seated us unfortunately) that it was her “birthday” (wink) and that she wanted him to sing to her in Italian. He agreed to be back to sing to her when it was time. I already had my heart set on the Fettuccine Alfredo (the house specialty) but felt that the appetizer portion would be enough for me. Usually meal portions at WDW are enough for two people, so thinking in these terms Nancy and Kerry decided to split the Trittico de Pasta (a sampler of lasagna, fettuccine alfredo and gnocchi) and I believe that Tara got some kind of veal dish. Well my portion was just perfect for me (price wise too) but Kerry and Nancy were very disappointed. Their meal was not big enough for two and since they didn’t care too much for the gnocchi, they were still starving after eating their dinner. It was quite laughable but sad too because they were so hungry. We had told our main waiter that it was Tara’s “birthday” (wink) so it was not time for him to bring over her Tiramisu and three other waiters came also to sing to her in Italian but not the cute one that seated us. She was a little disappointed but was still determined to keep him to his promise. Well the rest of us wanted dessert too but we weren’t asked so we had to speak up and I think the waiter thought that we weren’t big eaters so he didn’t think we would want dessert. We each ordered something and I had the sampler, which had tiramisu, a cannoli and something else that was delicious. Tara spotted “her” waiter and called him over and he did sing to her and she also sang the song herself, knowing the words due to the fact that she spent two weeks in Italy not too long ago. She also had pictures of Italy on her digital camera and showed the waiters. Even though the meals at this restaurant are expensive we still had a great time and will rethink how to order the next time.

It was our last time to watch Illuminations, so we continued around till we got to the bridge near the International Gateway. Nancy decided not to stay and was to head back to the hotel room. I was in shorts and no jacket so I was freezing and this was not good for the cold that I was getting but when you are in WDW you tend to ignore what you should do and do what you want to. The show was excellent as always and we walked back to the concierge lounge shivering. This was our last time to spend with Jackie and Dan because they would not be working in the morning when we checked out. We had our pictures taken with our new friends and asked Jackie how early Company D opened in Epcot. We told her that Tara needed a one- day hopper for tomorrow because Kerry unfortunately left the pass back at home. Jackie made a phone call and came back and told us that under our door in the morning would be a comp pass for Tara to use. How nice is that!! We paid her for the pass and thanked her for saving us the time of getting it ourselves. We must have sat around the lounge for about an hour, until they had to close it up at 10 PM and reluctantly said our goodbyes. Back at our room we did some packing while we chatted and then finally fell asleep on our last night in our beautiful room.

Tuesday – March 25, 2003

Unfortunately our last day has arrived. When we woke up we went next door to the lounge and had our last concierge breakfast (I love the chocolate croissants). The pass wasn’t under the door but the staff member in charge of the lounge that morning knew about the arrangement and she made sure we got it. We decided to go over to MGM to do a few more things (TOT, RnRC, etc.) and then head over to the World Showcase and check out Company D and then our final meal at LeCellier for lunch. We decided to walk the path to MGM and got there around 9:30 am. This is probably my favorite park due to Tower of Terror but mostly due to the atmosphere of the Hollywood era. Too bad we had to miss the Great Movie Ride due to its rehab but it will be there the next visit. We checked out a lot of shops for last minute things to take home and said goodbye to Sunset Blvd. We walked back to the Boardwalk and passed Jellyrolls (wish we made it there again but that will have to wait and until next time). Headed along the boardwalk and through the International Gateway. Nancy decided to have a pedicure and manicure done so she made reservations at the Beach Club. So her and I headed over to Company D and found a few items to our liking. I bought a cute top with an outlined Mickey head embroidered over the pocket area in a pretty mint green color. Nancy bought an annual pass for a fellow cast member back home for his wife. We bought a few more little things and headed out to find Kerry and Tara. We met then at Le Cellier and enjoyed a delicious lunch (including the cheddar cheese soup and the pretzel breadsticks). It was nice and cool in this dining area and our meal was nice and leisurely. When we left Canada, Tara and Nancy went for their pedicures and Kerry and I went to Company D. (I showed her my top and she wanted one too). She was glad that she went and bought a peach colored one plus a few more items. We then walked around the countries again and looked for characters to take pictures with. Kerry was on a quest to have her picture taken with the Beast. We stopped in China and got our pic taken with Mulan and then headed towards France and was only able to get our pic taken with Belle, the Beast wouldn’t be out until after our departure time for the airport. Boo Hoo! Kerry was disappointed but planned on making that a priority on her next visit. We rounded around by the United Kingdom and took a walk in the maze garden and saw The Beatles standing around for pictures. We must have just missed their performance. I did take a quick snapshot of them and then we headed out of Epcot for the last time thru IE and along the boardwalk. We met up with Nancy and Tara and they showed off their nails (fingers and toes). It was now time for our driver, Dennis to pick us up. Remember when we first came in and kidded Dennis about picking us up in a limo? Well that is exactly what he did. We had our pictures taken with him and the limo and had an enjoyable time riding in luxury all the way to the airport.

Our time was way too short but had so many great memories. I am so glad that I was able to join these girls on this trip and can’t wait to do it again next year. Our plane took off without a hitch and we were very quiet on the flight home. Tired and a little depressed I assume. Kerry’s car was right were we left it in the parking lot and we drove back to her house and gave her a hug and kiss goodbye. Tara already had her roommate pick her up at the airport. I then drove Nancy back to her house and said our goodbyes and got home around midnight. Even though I came home with a cold, I wouldn’t have missed doing this for the world. It is so much fun going to Disney World with friends who are into it as much as you are. My next trip is to Disneyland in California with my two soap opera pals (Kathy from Chicago with her daughter Maggie and Carolyn from Long Island). We will be out there the weekend over the end of May beginning of June for California Adventures’ Super Soap Weekend. Looking forward to that. Then in September I will go back down to Orlando with my daughter Michelle and my best friend Margie and her girls for a week off site. One more trip down in mid October for a very long weekend with Michelle and my sister Joyce and my niece Stacey staying at Caribbean Beach Resort. We are planning on going to the MNSSHP and the Food and Wine Festival during our stay. An extra bonus will be that Kerry and her family will be there during the same time as us, staying at the Boardwalk concierge again. We will make sure to get together.

Thanks for reading and enjoying the trip along with us!

Janice O'Hanley